Airfare changing anyone else's plans?

[captainkidd]

Our trip is booked and all paid for, except for return airfare. I'm seriously considering canceling this summer though. Airfare is through the roof. We live near Boston and have 3 airports to fly from. Flight down cost $1,000 for the 5 of us. Flight back is gonna run us even more.

I just can't stomach what the oil companies are doing to the economy. Literally, choking it to death. I'm feeling like part of the problem if I contribute to this insanity. The government tells us we need to put money into the economy to get it back on track. How can we do that when it costs $3.60 for a gallon of gas, or it costs a family of 5 over $2,000 to fly to Orlando? To think, just 3 years ago, we could all fly to Orlando for about $600 round trip.

 

[Tiggerfanatic]

Return flights from Dublin to Orlando for four of us going in August cost 3,500 EUROS!!!

Yikes! My daughter just got accepted for her Master's at St. Andrews University. While I am proud and glad for her, my first thought was, what's it going to cost me to get her there? I don't even want to think about what a plane ticket to the UK is going to cost by September!

And keeping the original thread on track, DD and her boyfriend are in Disney now (left this morning) and I'm glad I bought their tickets in January. Round trip from Pittsburgh was $300 for the 2 of them.

 

[gnuts0306]

I just booked our flights minutes ago with Airtran....they finally had our dates available!! Sept 29-Oct 9th...cost us $1151 roundtrip for 3 adults one child! I wish i could say it was less, but Im happy just to be taking the trip!!

 

[minnie2000]

I don't think we will be able to visit WDW for a long time. DD is nearly 14, and we can't take her out of school any more. Flights to Orlando from Gatwick, for the 4 of us in August would cost £5700. And that's just the flights, we need to add the hotel, food, car hire and insurance and park tickets.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I dunno if it would help anyone but I got an email from Airtran last night for a spring sale they have going. Just took a peek. Looks like you gotta travel before the end of May (?) w/a 10 day advance booking. For my family of 4 to fly round trip from Houston Hobby to Orlando would be $1077. The flights were $114 each way per person. That's actually pretty good. I doubt we'd ever fly Airtran, tho. The layover in Atlanta would be a total deal-breaker for us. :wave:

 

[NYwdwfan]

I've become completely obsessed with swagbucks (one of those dumb internet sites that gives you points for taking surveys, watching videos, etc.) because for 5,700 points you can get a $50 Southwest giftcard. W're planning on going back to WDW in about a year to year and a half so I am hoping (a) airfare/price of oil goes down and (b) I can snag a few of those $50 giftcards to ease the sting. My luck by the time I get enough points they will change the rewards!!

 

[mickeysshoes]

I've become completely obsessed with swagbucks (one of those dumb internet sites that gives you points for taking surveys, watching videos, etc.) because for 5,700 points you can get a $50 Southwest giftcard. W're planning on going back to WDW in about a year to year and a half so I am hoping (a) airfare/price of oil goes down and (b) I can snag a few of those $50 giftcards to ease the sting. My luck by the time I get enough points they will change the rewards!!

You too??? I though I was the only one this happen too!! :lol::wave:

 

[Disney Family 5]

We are not flying but we are driving an RV down in September for a week and I feel your pain. If the prices keep going the way they are, by the time we leave in September it will cost us almost $700 just in gas to get there and get home. Hopefully the prices are lower by then.

 

[Le Twins Day]

(minnie2000 -I don't think we will be able to visit WDW for a long time. DD is nearly 14, and we can't take her out of school any more. Flights to Orlando from Gatwick, for the 4 of us in August would cost £5700. And that's just the flights, we need to add the hotel, food, car hire and insurance and park tickets)

Have you considered flying indirectly - we took Aer Lingus via Dublin last year no complaints from us excellent all round - for 4 adults in August 2011 £3500 from Birmingham - they also fly from Cardiff - could give you £1200 for hotel etc

 

[Jay & Sue]

About six weeks ago I bought two roundtrips in May on AirTran from Denver to Orlando for $400. Glad I didn't wait as a day later the prices about doubled.

 

[disneygirl1]

Same here!! We booked back in January and paid 660 roundtrip for 3. The same flights today go for over 1200!!

I know how crazy is the price jump! I am still thanking my lucky star we booked when we did!

Now I'm just wishing that the trip would hurry up an get here!

 

[atsolomon]

It totally stinks that the airlines and oil companies are taking advantage of instability in the Middle East to price gouge the flying and driving public. Saudia Arabia has already opened the taps to increase the supply by the amount that's gone off line in Libya. Anway...

Since the OP said he already bought a flight down to FL, perhaps this blog post will be useful: http://blog.touringplans.com/2011/0...ne/?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

You can rent a car from some companies in FL for a small daily amount of money if you agree to drive it back to another state. It's called a "snowbird rental".

--Adam

 

[plutospal]

It totally stinks that the airlines and oil companies are taking advantage of instability in the Middle East to price gouge the flying and driving public. Saudia Arabia has already opened the taps to increase the supply by the amount that's gone off line in Libya. Anway...

Since the OP said he already bought a flight down to FL, perhaps this blog post will be useful: http://blog.touringplans.com/2011/0...ne/?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

You can rent a car from some companies in FL for a small daily amount of money if you agree to drive it back to another state. It's called a "snowbird rental".

--Adam

I don't think the airlines have a choice but to raise fares, due to the high cost of fuel.

 

[captainkidd]

I don't think the airlines have a choice but to raise fares, due to the high cost of fuel.

Fuel prices aren't 3 times what they were last year. Airfare is. They're gouging us.

 

[NYwdwfan]

Fuel prices aren't 3 times what they were last year. Airfare is. They're gouging us.

I heard someone on the radio say they are charging us now what they expect they will need to pay for future inventory replenishment. They don't even know if it's what they will need to pay...but they are charging us for it now just in case. :fork:

 

[plutospal]

Fuel prices aren't 3 times what they were last year. Airfare is. They're gouging us.

Good point!

 

[joannecasey]

I wish I felt bad for ya... but I don't! Try flying out of NL, Canada if you want to talk expensive! :fork:

It sucks to live in rural NL when you want to fly anyway.

I hear ya ! We are in PEI and praying for a good deal for October-November !!

 

[SpoonOfSugar]

Ugh I know what your saying. We are from Western Mass and are thinking about going this August but plane tickets are outrageous!
We are also a family of five, trying to fly out from either Logan or Bradley.

 

[mickeysshoes]

Ugh I know what your saying. We are from Western Mass and are thinking about going this August but plane tickets are outrageous!
We are also a family of five, trying to fly out from either Logan or Bradley.

have you looked at Southwest out of Albany??? Might have a lay over in Dulles but will not have to change planes..just land and let people off and on. But might be worth checking into!!! :shrug:

 

[Phonedave]

I was shocked by the airline prices when I did a bit of browsing yesterday. We are planning to drive down from NJ at the end of June but, I just wanted to see if maybe, just maybe it would be cheaper to fly if I was lucky enough to snag a good deal. I checked a bunch of airlines and even tried sidestep.com (we have used them before and gotten some good deals and never any issues using them), all the flights were basically over $300 pp round trip. Then I checked Jetblue and was so surprised when I saw $211 from Newark to Orlando. The flight was scheduled to leave after 9pm and arrive in Orlando around midnight (kind of a waste to pay a night at a hotel when you probably won't check in until after 1am or later if the flight is delayed but, that was a good airfare vs. what I have seen recently). So I mention it to DH and he looks slightly interested then he says "well what time is the return flight", and guess what I can't find that info., then stupid me remembers that JetBlue lists their flights each way so the $211 is pp ONE WAY! The best return price I could find for the day we want to leave was $141 pp. So that would make flying for us via JetBlue $352 pp round trip plus taxes and fees. The other airlines were pretty much the same in their pricing.
So for our family of 4 to fly it would cost us=$1408 plus taxes and fees.
We would also have to rent a car because we are spending a few days with family on the Florida gulf coast after we spend a few days in Disney.

Even if gas hits $5.00 a gallon it's still cheaper for us to drive.

I just (last night) booked to trips.

EWR - MCO - EWR around the same time frame (early June) - $361 per person - tax and fees included ($335 before tax and fees) - on CO

and

ATL - LGA - ATL over the summer - $328 per person (including tax and fees) on DL

I would rather fly CO, because they are SkyTeam, but when Delta is $130 cheaper a ticket, I can sit around LGA's dinky terminal for a hour or so.

I looked, and looked quite a bit for lower prices. Nothing is out there. I also made some concessions to get these prices, like leaving at a less desireable time (no red-eyes or be at the airport at 4:00 AM flights).

Driving is not really an option for me, and there really was no backing out of these fights either. So you do what you have to.

Next year vacation may be the park down the street

-dave

 

[njDizFan]

Thought I had a great deal. Bought a timeshare in Buena Vista 5 years ago. Beautiful place(Vistana Villages), paid it off already, thought I could have years and years of reasonablly priced vacations ready to go. Well now it will cost my family 1500-2500 in airfare (depending on time of year) to get there.

Time to pack of the family truckster.