Strategy for Orlando travel at Christmas?

[DavidW]

We've booked Disney for the week of Christmas. Traveling from Chicago, I'm looking for a strategy to plan for the best air prices. I have FareCast set up to alert me when costs drop for flights to Orlando, Tampa and Jacksonville. Have even considered Atlanta, but that's a bit of a drive. Any thoughts?

[Jimster]

Forget strategy-buy your tickets yesterday! Don't worry about fares going down because they probably won't.(although the economic crisis is a wild card now). The closer you get to Christmas the higher the fares will be. Buy your tickets now and go on Yapta.com and if the price goes down ask for a refare. Last year I got ff tickets to Orlando and at the time they were going for $250 in March, but by December they were over $600. You are traveling to one of the most popular spots at one of the most popular times and the airlines know it. The truth is you may not even get tickets if you wait too long. I have seen this happen and I live in the Chicago area too. Last year my daughter wanted to travel from Washington, D.C. to Orlando at Christmas and there were NO SEATS AVAILABLE at any price. To complicate things UA even canceled flights-at one point she was going to have to wait 4 days to get on a flight. As it turned out, she had to leave a day early so she could get back and teach her classes otherwise it meant missing the first 3 days of classes. Fortunately, I was able to get her tickets subsequent to a cancelation- but that is because I am an elite with UA. It won't be much fun to have your Disney vacation if you can't get there or have to leave early. Trying to save money now will mean you may regret it later.

[amanven]

Jimster is right, there is no strategy during Christmas except to be prepared to pay whatever they ask because if you won't take it there are others who will. If the weather turns bad at your departure airport the flight cancellations will begin and then the real fun will start. Recession not withstanding, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter have got to be the worst times for travel during the calendar year. "Travel on a budget" and "during the Christmas holiday" are two things that when combined together do not conform to the laws of nature.

[bccash63]

try allegiant airlines out of rockford airport--some very good prices
also USA 3000 out of O'hare

[Jimster]

The problem with allegiant is the prices you see are not the prices you get. They have hidden fees- seat selection, etc. Another problem is they fly into Orlando Sanford (I think that is still in Florida) and that is not exactly what I would call close to the action. It's not bad if you have to make the trip once but if you have to go back and forth picking up people, it is really inconvenient. The good news about flying out of Rockford is that parking is free.

[Nancy]

Sanford is not a bad drive to Disney. Much better than some of the other selections they are considering.

Nancy

[Judy]

You have more problems than price. Planes are flying at near capacity and will be even more crowded over the holidays. Weather around the nation can be horrible at that time of the year, causing flight cancellations. Combine full planes with possible cancellations and you have a formula for sitting in the airport for a long time instead of enjoying your vacation. My suggestions:
Book a direct flight.
Choose an airline that has a lot of flights between Chicago and Orlando.
Book a flight early in the day.
Go a day early if possible.

[headoflife]

Are you watching flights out of Milwaukee? We got great fares on Spirit to MCO from MKE, but it was the week before Christmas, which is a whole different ballgame. We did fly home the week between Christmas and New Years though and still got great fares.

[hajjah]

We traveled to Orlando this past Xmas and the fares were outrageous. Don't even mention rental cars. We paid $400 for an economy rental without power anything. I think it was a Yaris. Book your flights and car rentals now. The fares probably won't go down. I waited and waited, checked and checked to no avail. The prices never dropped and I started searching in April of 08.

[ronandjoan]

Prices going out of Florida are so high -$500 plus no matter from where - it was over $700 for DAB to SEA so I bit the bullet and paid $850 for first class out of PBI - we were going to be in Boca Raton anyway and St Augustine after Christmas. Have to consider cost of hotels to catch the plane if it is some distance from the timeshare. Also parking costs - the FLL airport was over $25 a day so last time we stayed at the Comfort Inn where we could leave our car for a week with just a one night stay.

If you have First class, if a flight is cancelled, they are pretty nice to get you on another flight.