Cheap Airfare

[me_stitch]

I was thinking about taking advantage of the summer discounts but when I checked on airfare it was about $3000 round-trip for my family of five. We would be flying from Portland, OR or Seattle. Anyone know of any good deals out there? Might have to stick with our original plan and just go to Disneyland this year.

 

[oogravyoo]

We got our tickets for June, Friday - Friday. Delta Non stop from DTW for 325.xx per ticket.. 4 tickets.

I miss the 150.00 round trip days..

 

[DaddyDisneyMan]

Yes, do that! I am in the fare club with Spirit and if it wasn't for that, I would have never gotten that great deal.. $167 round trip tickets per person! The next day, they went way up!

That's absolutely amazing!

 

[Pghdrumr]

We got lucky when spirit began non stop service from our local regional airport to mco. My family of 4 Round trip - $600

 

[Lucyred]

Could you please tell me a bit about the $9 fare club. Would it be worth it for a family of 5 - we only fly from Detroit once every two years? What do they consider a personal item vs. carry on? Personally I am confused about their bag fees ect and have not been excited about trying them. However, you see to have some success - could you tell me more. Thanks

We have has success flying with Spirit and don't mind them. Its $59.95 a year for the $9 fare club. It gives you discount on flights, bag and in flight snacks (i think). I usually don't enroll in it until I find a flight I want, I will cancel it at the end of each year that way they don't auto enroll me again. This year our flight for three was $413.34 + $59.95 + $80 (2 checked bags) = $553.29 total. I know in previous years I got flights to MCO for less, I think around $450 with bags.

You can sign up to receive notification of their cheap flights on their home page at the top. They will send you emails just about every day for different times of the year to different places. If you see something you like though you usually have to act fast.

They will charge money you if you want to pick your seat before you leave. You don't have to do this, I only did it one time. All our other times I didn't and we've always been seat together no problems. Even with our party of 12 that went to NY by Spirit was seat pretty close to each other, we had smaller groups but I think we were all within 5 or 6 rows.

As for the fees for bags, its cheaper to check bags then to do a carry on, $20 versus $25, I prefer to checked bags. I personally don't want to have to worry about watching extra items. You have to pay for your bags before you do your online check-in 24 hrs before your flight or is more, other wise is $25 checked and $30 carry on, when you pay for them at check-in. Crazy I know but if you can follow their rules, they have cheap flight deals. Checked bags can only weight 40 lbs too. Each person is allow a personal item (backpack, purse, tote or laptop) that has to fit under the seat in front of you.

I think that's about it. I've never done an international flight with them. I do know that if you wait to do anything at the check-in counter or your bag is more then the 40 lbs, they have crazy fees.

I suggest just looking around their website and signing up for the $9 flight notifications, its free and can't hurt.

 

[Cindee75]

We have has success flying with Spirit and don't mind them. Its $59.95 a year for the $9 fare club. It gives you discount on flights, bag and in flight snacks (i think). I usually don't enroll in it until I find a flight I want, I will cancel it at the end of each year that way they don't auto enroll me again. This year our flight for three was $413.34 + $59.95 + $80 (2 checked bags) = $553.29 total. I know in previous years I got flights to MCO for less, I think around $450 with bags.

You can sign up to receive notification of their cheap flights on their home page at the top. They will send you emails just about every day for different times of the year to different places. If you see something you like though you usually have to act fast.

They will charge money you if you want to pick your seat before you leave. You don't have to do this, I only did it one time. All our other times I didn't and we've always been seat together no problems. Even with our party of 12 that went to NY by Spirit was seat pretty close to each other, we had smaller groups but I think we were all within 5 or 6 rows.

As for the fees for bags, its cheaper to check bags then to do a carry on, $20 versus $25, I prefer to checked bags. I personally don't want to have to worry about watching extra items. You have to pay for your bags before you do your online check-in 24 hrs before your flight or is more, other wise is $25 checked and $30 carry on, when you pay for them at check-in. Crazy I know but if you can follow their rules, they have cheap flight deals. Checked bags can only weight 40 lbs too. Each person is allow a personal item (backpack, purse, tote or laptop) that has to fit under the seat in front of you.

I think that's about it. I've never done an international flight with them. I do know that if you wait to do anything at the check-in counter or your bag is more then the 40 lbs, they have crazy fees.

I suggest just looking around their website and signing up for the $9 flight notifications, its free and can't hurt.

Thank you - this is so helpful. I felt like I wasn't getting something. I'll look at it again. It may save us some $ in the end.

 

[PREMiERdrum]

We're going Southwest... CMH (Columbus) to MCO, roundtrip for about $240/ticket... not to shabby.

 

[GabeP]

A lot of third party travel forums suggest buying your tickets early on a Tuesday afternoon, as that is the low point in the airlines' pricing cycle. Usually anytime Tues afgternoon-Thurs midnight (ET), will result in the lowest fares. I have used this advice and have found good (not great) sucess in using this strategy. It all depends on the destination.

 

[Hot Lava]

Some of these have been mentioned, but these are some tips that I have gathered here and there and try to keep in mind when looking for flights.

Buy at 3 p.m. EST on a Tuesday: Most sale fares kick in on Monday at 8 p.m., and end on Thursday at 8 p.m., and according to Rick Seaney, co-founder of FareCompare.com, the greatest number of cheap seats will be available at 3 p.m. on Tuesday. Avoid flying on weekends: Be mindful of booking weekend flights because these are popular with both business travelers and vacationers. More specifically, you should avoid flights on Friday afternoon through Monday morning, if you can Fly hungry: The least expensive flights tend to take off at dawn (also best for avoiding delays), or around lunchtime, as well as after 6 p.m. Shop for one seat: Reservation systems are programmed so that if there’s one too few cheap seats for your group, all members get bumped up to the next price level. So if you’re traveling with a group, establish the base price fro one passenger and compare it with the price for all. Cheapest day to fly: Wednesday.Other low-cost days to fly are Tuesday and Saturday, says Farecompare (Friday and Sunday are the most expensive days to travel).

I usually start by putting dates into Orbitz and getting a good overview. Then look at Kayak. Then I look at each individual airline website. For airlines such as SW or JB, you have to, as they are not part of Orbitz. But sometimes I find better prices on the UA website than the aggregators.