Flight cost advise

[DarthVader]

I know the membership here is spread out, across the globe but I hope with what I provide, some wisdom can be imparted on how best to proceed on my coming trip to WDW.

Background, as per my earlier thread we are planning a quick (and as inexpensive as possible) trip to Disneyworld. The game plan is leaving Boston Mass on a Saturday morning, arriving in Orlando and checking in what would be mid-morning, i.e., noon-ish. We'd then leave for home Tuesday.

This will mean we pull our kids out of school for two days, we did something similar last year but we pulled them out for 7 days. They struggled to catch up because of the extended vacation. We felt now that 2 days of missed school is more manageable and the 2 days will create lasting memories that are more important in the big picture sort of way.

The problem
The cost of the flying is excessively high, its clearly the most expensive component of our vacation (excluding the Annual Pass price).
Flight costs are in excess of 1400 round trip for us (family of 4) on JetBlue. I'd rather take them because of sky miles. Expedia isn't that much help because I'm not really seeing much price differences either.
If I go to southwest.com, I'm able to find sub $1,000 flights but They're connecting flights that will literally eat up the whole day and night

The quandary.
I can find flights on a Friday to Tuesday time frame that puts me in the 1,100 range, both are direct and the arrival time is early enough that we can actually visit the parks. Of course that also means adding a day's cost at the resort (I'm currently at the ASM standard room for 105) so I'm saving some money, and I am gaining a day of park time. The down side is my kids lose 3 days of school - I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that.

I realize that looking at flights now in the middle of July for the middle of November may not be the wisest but just for price comparison if I look at flights 60 days from now - I'm not really seeing much differences.

Thoughts or advice (sorry for the sprawling post but I wanted to give as much details as possible).

 

[HolleBolleGijs]

While there's a huge difference between 2 days vs. 7 days, I don't think 2 vs. 3 is that big of a deal, but I guess it depends on how old they are. You could always have them get the work ahead of time and do some early catch-up on the plane as a trade-off for getting an extra day in the park.

 

[Jahona]

I'm not sure how Jet Blue handles prices but with Southwest their prices will continue to climb until the day of your departure. The major airlines will raise and lower their prices up till about 45-50 days before departure; at that point prices will continue to rise. Check with google flights to see current pricing trends for airlines.

 

[Nemo14]

As far as flights go, have you looked into flying out of Manchester,NH or Providence (actually Warwick,RI)? Southwest flies out of both of those and JetBlue flies out of Providence (actually Warwick), or even Bradley in Hartford is within reasonable driving distance from Boston if the fares are low enough to justify it.

Another thing to consider is that in November you have Veteran's Day, November 11 which is a Wednesday this year. By booking around that you could extend your stay a bit without them missing another day of school. Good luck with your planning - hope it all works out for you!

 

[DarthVader]

You could always have them get the work ahead of time and do some early catch-up on the plane

That's a great idea but unfortunately my kids school system forbids this, I guess to dissuade parents from pulling them out. Any make up must be done after they return.

 

[HolleBolleGijs]

That's a great idea but unfortunately my kids school system forbids this, I guess to dissuade parents from pulling them out. Any make up must be done after they return.

Really??? That's one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard. I wonder if there are any regular assignments that they might just happen to know about ahead of time? Or maybe if they have a book to read for class, they could read ahead? Just trying to throw some ideas out there, since I have no input about the flights (we always drive).

 

[DarthVader]

The major airlines will raise and lower their prices up till about 45-50 days before departure; at that point prices will continue to rise

That's good to know, I'll take another snapshot of JetBlue 45 days from today to see if I notice any different prices.

As far as flights go, have you looked into flying out of Manchester,NH or Providence (actually Warwick,RI)?

Yes and No. We have considered it, but I live like 15 minutes from Logan Airport, so its kind of a wash, i.e., the cost of getting to another airport offsets the savings we may enjoy. For us, its like a 20 dollar (with tip) taxi ride

That's one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard

Agreed and it really hasn't stopped parents from pulling kids out of school, I know of a number of parents that continue to do that much more frequently then we did.

 

[SAV]

Have you looked into Friday night flights? Maybe the flight cost, and not being a non-stop would offset the cost of the additional night. Then you gain a half-day on Saturday.

 

[dreamfinder]

Look into JetBlue out of Worcester? Flight choices are pretty limited, but may give you options other than flying out of Boston.

 

[DarthVader]

Look into JetBlue out of Worcester? Flight choices are pretty limited, but may give you options other than flying out of Boston.

That's a little too far for our taste, but thanks

 

[HRHPrincessAriel]

I'm not sure how Jet Blue handles prices but with Southwest their prices will continue to climb until the day of your departure. The major airlines will raise and lower their prices up till about 45-50 days before departure; at that point prices will continue to rise. Check with google flights to see current pricing trends for airlines.

Not true. SWA often goes on sale. About a 3 weeks before our trip last summer the price dropped a lot. I got the equivalent of about $150 back in points that's not the 1st time I've done that either. That's one of the many reasons I love SWA. The price drops and you can rebook for free and get a credit on what you already spent

 

[KJ1081]

Not true. SWA often goes on sale. About a 3 weeks before our trip last summer the price dropped a lot. I got the equivalent of about $150 back in points that's not the 1st time I've done that either. That's one of the many reasons I love SWA. The price drops and you can rebook for free and get a credit on what you already spent

I do that all the time! I've rebooked as many as 4 times for 1 trip and saved quite a it that way! You have 12 months from the date of original purchase to use the credit.

 

[Jahona]

Not true. SWA often goes on sale. About a 3 weeks before our trip last summer the price dropped a lot. I got the equivalent of about $150 back in points that's not the 1st time I've done that either. That's one of the many reasons I love SWA. The price drops and you can rebook for free and get a credit on what you already spent

Only if your route goes on sale. I've used Southwest for years and it's hit or miss for me if they decide to put a specific route on sale. Up to my day of departure DAL to MCO never dropped significantly in price. Other options to MCO did but not my route.

 

[HRHPrincessAriel]

Only if your route goes on sale. I've used Southwest for years and it's hit or miss for me if they decide to put a specific route on sale. Up to my day of departure DAL to MCO never dropped significantly in price. Other options to MCO did but not my route.

Well, yes it's not a 100% given it will go on sale but it DOES.

 

[hollymc3]

I know the membership here is spread out, across the globe but I hope with what I provide, some wisdom can be imparted on how best to proceed on my coming trip to WDW.

Background, as per my earlier thread we are planning a quick (and as inexpensive as possible) trip to Disneyworld. The game plan is leaving Boston Mass on a Saturday morning, arriving in Orlando and checking in what would be mid-morning, i.e., noon-ish. We'd then leave for home Tuesday.

This will mean we pull our kids out of school for two days, we did something similar last year but we pulled them out for 7 days. They struggled to catch up because of the extended vacation. We felt now that 2 days of missed school is more manageable and the 2 days will create lasting memories that are more important in the big picture sort of way.

The problem
The cost of the flying is excessively high, its clearly the most expensive component of our vacation (excluding the Annual Pass price).
Flight costs are in excess of 1400 round trip for us (family of 4) on JetBlue. I'd rather take them because of sky miles. Expedia isn't that much help because I'm not really seeing much price differences either.
If I go to southwest.com, I'm able to find sub $1,000 flights but They're connecting flights that will literally eat up the whole day and night

The quandary.
I can find flights on a Friday to Tuesday time frame that puts me in the 1,100 range, both are direct and the arrival time is early enough that we can actually visit the parks. Of course that also means adding a day's cost at the resort (I'm currently at the ASM standard room for 105) so I'm saving some money, and I am gaining a day of park time. The down side is my kids lose 3 days of school - I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that.

I realize that looking at flights now in the middle of July for the middle of November may not be the wisest but just for price comparison if I look at flights 60 days from now - I'm not really seeing much differences.

Thoughts or advice (sorry for the sprawling post but I wanted to give as much details as possible).

You can fly nonstop on Southwest out of Manchester. We take the 740am and land at 1110am

 

[DarthVader]

Have you looked into Friday night flights? Maybe the flight cost, and not being a non-stop would offset the cost of the additional night. Then you gain a half-day on Saturday.

That's on the table, we've looked and will continue to look into this as a viable option. At this point, after discussing this further with the wife, I don't think either one of us are comfortable with pulling them out of school for 3 days. Yeah how much of a difference is really 1 day but at this point its in affect the majority of the school week. I think it will be easier for my kids to catch back up from missing two days vs. 3. I think 2 days is the line in the sand where missing more becomes a bigger detriment. I realize everyone is different, and schools systems are different but in our case 2 days is our best bet.

 

[JIMINYCR]

Too bad the school system wont work with you. We were fortunate that our DS's teachers were understanding and cooperative when we pulled him out of school because we had no other choice at the time. What if you had your kids text their friends who are in classes with them and find out what the assignments were or material that was covered on the days they missed. They could keep up with the work in the evenings after the days in the parks and it would make it easier on them upon returning to class. It would mean bringing some text books with them.

 

[DarthVader]

Too bad the school system wont work with you.

Agreed, in one sense their position makes sense. Don't make it easier for parents to pull the kids out of school. Yet their theoretical position doesn't match reality. As I mentioned parents still pull the kids out and the the only ones being punished are the kids.

I'm not trying to make it harder of our kids in school which is why we're limiting the the time out of school to only 2 days and its in the beginning of the school year - they have plenty of time to catch up/

I'm not going to rush into buying ticket, I'll keep an eye on them each tuesday and as we get closer to the intended day we'll figure out what works best. So far the Saturday morning flights are 250, I need them to be lower then that.

I suspect because its a Saturday, I'll not see much movement.

 

[DManRightHere]

if you want cheap you gotta be flexible! Lol. If you can swing a sun-wed trip and a drive to trenton you get use flyfrontier for $712 for 4 people. Fri - tues $800, sat - tues $952. These are non stop.

 

[DarthVader]

Well I did it, I booked the flight. The wife and I talked it over and with the advice here, we altered our vacation, so we're leaving Friday evening. It will be a long night, getting in around 9:00pm, hopefully leaving for Magic express by 10:00 and maybe in our rooms by 11:00

As we worked though everything it made sense to take better advantage of Saturday, we need to go to the TTC to get our annual passes, and then we can head into the parks. Flying in Saturday, while possible to do that, we'd be eating up some nice daylight.

I saved 300 dollars on airfare and we had a to change our room reservations from the all star music to the all star movies. Other then the small increase in room costs, I think we're doing ok. I'll be keeping a lookout for any possible AP discounts coming down the pike - that might cause us to make one last modification to our reservations