Best way to get lower airfare during peak season?

[singermom4]

I've been looking at airfares to Orlando from chicago since august and they've all been relatively high. Currently the best deal is around $350 round trip. Does anyone know if packages block out seats - can I get cheaper airfare buying a package (air/hotel only)? I was hoping to get a decent price on SouthWest and have been visiting their site every few days - well, they just extended booking to April 8th and all the lower fare seats are already gone! I'm thinking of booking and then hoping for a sale so I can get the difference back in a voucher. I travel a fair bit and could easily apply the voucher.

[Dominic]

I just bought my tickets from ATA out of Midway for $145 round trip including fees and taxes if you order online. Thats an incredible deal I think. Ive never had a problem with ATA and I dont need all the frills so this was what I wanted and I got it. Check ATA.com they had specials going on if you booked now and flew before Feb. 13,2003. Good luck. This was the best deal Ive found.

[Jillpie]

Just so you know for your next trip...the way to get the lowest fares at peak season is to get on the phone at midnight, at I think 331 days in advance of your departure. This is exactly what I did for our upcoming April (Easter week) trip and it worked. However, the tickets were sold out in 20 minutes. I got very lucky. And even then, a one way ticket from Boston was 104.00. The one way fares for that day now is 294.00!! But they know that these seats will be sold eventually, so the prices don't come down. Anyway, getting on the phone at midnight to your airline is kind of a hassle, but worth it. Check the amount of days though first, I don't know if thats an accurate amount.
PS. By the way, if you use this way of getting tickets, don't try the online method at midnight. My DH was online to Delta at the same time I was on the phone and the rates weren't coming up as fast as they were talking to someone directly. Speed is the key when getting these low fares.

[ October 18, 2002, 01:00 PM: Message edited by: Jillpie ]

[singermom4]

thanks for the feedback.

I did check ATA but for the dates I want, I'm getting around $332 round trip and I'd rather fly out of O'hare for just a bit more.

thanks for the tip on the 331 days prior - unfortunately we're going alot sooner than that. Also, I only find out in August when my kid's vacation schedule will be so it will always be impossible for me to hit the 331 day mark.

[Jillpie]

Are you certain you have to wait till August of each year to find out about your child's vacation dates? I usually call the school in April each year to find out the next year's vacation dates, they usually know. It sure is worth the extra savings.

[Disney-4-Me]

I went to the ATA site as soon as I read it here. Although St. Louis isn't an option, I would be willing to drive to Springfield to save a couple of hundred dollars. Each time I put in our dates for this current trip on their form to try to compare it, I got bumped to a new blank screen to fill out again. This happened three time. Does anyone know why that would happen?

[singermom4]

Originally posted by Jillpie:
Are you certain you have to wait till August of each year to find out about your child's vacation dates? I usually call the school in April each year to find out the next year's vacation dates, they usually know. It sure is worth the extra savings.

There is a school calendar issued at the end of the school year but the finalized version doesn't come out until August and I've seen a few dates change. I don't feel comfortable purchasing tickets unless I know the dates for sure.

[singermom4]

Well, I have a $338 per person including taxes on hold with American. I will probably just book and then hope for a fare reduction later.

[Dominic]

i just checked the ATA site for you jillpie and flying on ATA from Springfield is a connecting flight to Midway than to Orlando for around $429 with tax roundtrip. If you were flying out of Midway it would only be $300 roundtrip. Hope that helps a little. Good luck.

[Missouri Bell]

You're always taking a chance in waiting to book flights but I understand you not wanting to commit to something for fear the dates don't work out.

I was lucky to get a great price last month for my trip to Orlando but I would not have found it if I only looked at my local airport. There was a good $100.00 difference in flying out from another airport not that far away!

I would suggest you look at all the towns you'd be willing to drive to fly out of. The town I'm flying from is in another state but only 1 hour away and the parking charge is very small compared to what is charged at a large airport.

The price was so good, $130.00 I later went back and booked my trip for December because I felt I would not be able to find anything better!
I'm glad I did because since then the price has gone up quite a bit.

I used to think I had to drive all the way to St Louis to get a decent airline price but have found that with some work you can get good deals and not have the hassle of driving a good 3 hours, paying for the parking which gets pretty pricey and then when you return tired and just wanting to get home you have another 3 hour drive ahead of you!

It's also worth it to go ahead and sign up for the airline mileage club, especially if a family is flying you can really add up a lot of miles to help pay for some of these trips!

Another option is to try something like priceline but the one problem I have with priceline for flights is you have no choice on your times and can not change them. I did use them a few times and got good prices but the last time I had a very late flight getting there and a very early flight coming back so it cut into my time of enjoying the trip by quite a bit and I decided it wasn't worth what I saved.

[SuzyQue]

We're in the same boat flying out of Detroit (Feb. 20 - March 1). I've been watching flights since we came home last Feb. and they have gone no where but up. Right now Spirit (hubby wants non-stop) wants $411 for the flight we paid $303 for Feb. 2002. I didn't make ressies for Feb. 2002 until Nov. 2001 so I think I'll hold out a little longer. ~ [img]smile.gif[/img] ~

[Missouri Bell]

I forgot to mention a good way to check prices.
Go to yahoo.com and check flights. Do not put in the actual dates, leave it where it says your dates are open. You will find that their bottom prices come up. You then can check on the dates they have available to see if it will work with your plans.

[singermom4]

Thanks again for all suggestions (which ,actually, I had tried) - I have booked at $338 round trip and will hope for a decrease so I can get a refund voucher at least.

[TiggerRPh]

Originally posted by singermom4:
Thanks again for all suggestions (which ,actually, I had tried) - I have booked at $338 round trip and will hope for a decrease so I can get a refund voucher at least.

Just a word of warning....check your airline's rebooking penalty. Most airlines are charging $50-75/ticket to rebook. In other words, the fare needes to drop more than that for you to really save money.

[singermom4]

Originally posted by TiggerRPh:
[Just a word of warning....check your airline's rebooking penalty. Most airlines are charging $50-75/ticket to rebook. In other words, the fare needes to drop more than that for you to really save money.[/QB]

The fee you refer is for making a change to your booking. If the lower fare is available for the flights you have already booked, American will issue a refund voucher good for a future ticket within a year. I have done this many times and re-confirmed their policy (as policies do change often) prior to finalizing my booking. Thanks for the warning though - it's better to be safe than sorry. Also, in case others are following this thread, every airline has a different policy with regard to fare decreases and how they handle them so it's best to ask explicitly about their policy.