When to book your flight to Florida - early or late?

Ok - I have booked a mid month December cruise out of Port Everglades. The cruise is still a long way off - so far off that some airlines do not even show flights for that period yet. I just came off a cruise in Jan - It was a last minute cruise. My flight was booked about 45 days out and got great airfare to orlando at $200 rt. Had to drive from orlando but car rental was cheap. :)

Now looking at flights from my home near Omaha I am seeing prices around $600 per person. So it makes me wonder should I wait keep looking or has air travel tripled in price. I think my $200 flight was a screaming deal but I think $600 is way to high. I am hoping to get around $350 to Fort Lauderdale - but not sure if that is realistic. :eek:

So do I be patient and wait or grab the first flights that break the $500 barrier?:confused:

By some airlines you mean Southwest. The big 3 (UA,DL,AA) are already showing flights into Jan. You could wait and get a better deal or you could wait and the prices might go up and you could miss the better price. There is NO way of knowing. Just decide what price point you are happy with and if it hits it, grab the tix.

I cruised out of Port Everglade in Jan 2014. I had booked in April of 2013. I booked my airfare after watching Delta prices and the flight time I wanted until late June when I booked. It was $350. I wanted a early am flight, because of the chance of bad weather. in Jan, I flew in two days ahead of cruise and stayed two days after cruise. Didn't want to rush home to MN in Jan.:)

If you are sailing mid December does the return occur within a week of Christmas? That could be your problem. Look at one way tickets if you have not already done so.

I have not found a Southwest fare lower than any of the majors lately. But if you can catch a Southwest fare the day the schedule is listed you might be able to work with that. (There is a Sticky at the top of the forum that highlights Southwest and other carriers and their release dates.)

I would definitely look at alternate dates especially flying in winter.

Also, by mid December the cruise traffic is at its peak from the Florida ports and fare buckets reflect the increase in traffic.

I do think that $600 sounds high too.

If you are sailing mid December does the return occur within a week of Christmas? That could be your problem. Look at one way tickets if you have not already done so.

I have not found a Southwest fare lower than any of the majors lately. But if you can catch a Southwest fare the day the schedule is listed you might be able to work with that. (There is a Sticky at the top of the forum that highlights Southwest and other carriers and their release dates.)

I would definitely look at alternate dates especially flying in winter.

Also, by mid December the cruise traffic is at its peak from the Florida ports and fare buckets reflect the increase in traffic.

I do think that $600 sounds high too.

Thanks,

Will check one way to see if return is hurting me. I checked Southwest still not booking schedules that far out next release is Mar 3 and that opens it up till mid October - guessing next release will cover my period of 12/13 - 12/21. I think I will wait till I can see southwest prices then I will book - guessing early June but hard to say. I also noticed Spirt and Aligent but they do not fly from my home airport and Aligents flights do not line up since they only fly a couple times a week.:confused:

Need a masters degree travel:D

There really needs to be a separate sticky question at the top of this forum, it seems that despite my 3yr absence from the forum it's the still most asked question. The answer is still always the same. Nobody. really. knows.

You'll always get the people who say I paid $X from <insert other airport that's within 1000 miles of your location> so you should wait/buy now/do the hokey-cokey and roll some dice/other equally irrelevant justification of action or non-action. What others paid at other times, from other locations or even the same location is completely irrelevant. Demand changes, competition changes there are seasonal variations in demand. There are probably a dozen reasons I could give you why past fares paid are a completlely illogical way of determining whether or not you should buy.

There are some routes I routinely fly on the same airlines the same time of year, I've bought probably close to a hundred tickets on that routing over the years and yet I still have fairly little idea about what I'll really pay the next time I go, and that's typically in business class where the variations don't occur nearly as frequently as in other cabins.

There really needs to be a separate sticky question at the top of this forum, it seems that despite my 3yr absence from the forum it's the still most asked question. The answer is still always the same. Nobody. really. knows.

 

You'll always get the people who say I paid $X from <insert other airport that's within 1000 miles of your location> so you should wait/buy now/do the hokey-cokey and roll some dice/other equally irrelevant justification of action or non-action. What others paid at other times, from other locations or even the same location is completely irrelevant. Demand changes, competition changes there are seasonal variations in demand. There are probably a dozen reasons I could give you why past fares paid are a completlely illogical way of determining whether or not you should buy.

 

There are some routes I routinely fly on the same airlines the same time of year, I've bought probably close to a hundred tickets on that routing over the years and yet I still have fairly little idea about what I'll really pay the next time I go, and that's typically in business class where the variations don't occur nearly as frequently as in other cabins.

Sticky notes are generally ignored. Case in point: "When does the schedule for (Southwest, Jet Blue, AirTran, etc.) open up?"

Sticky notes are generally ignored. Case in point: "When does the schedule for (Southwest, Jet Blue, AirTran, etc.) open up?"

I think it depends on the sticky and how it's done or labelled. On another forum I use(d) a well done sticky/wiki for the top thread kept most of the oft asked/repeated dross out of the forum.

They don't seem to work in this forum at all.

OP - you're correct; I don't see any prices for your dates and routings less than $588 RT. Keep that in mind if you wait for Southwest to open. It would be interesting to know if you can get tickets for less than $588 then. Your return is into the higher priced vacation travel time so not sure you are going to be able to do better. Good luck though.

They don't seem to work in this forum at all.

 

OP - you're correct; I don't see any prices for your dates and routings less than $588 RT. Keep that in mind if you wait for Southwest to open. It would be interesting to know if you can get tickets for less than $588 then. Your return is into the higher priced vacation travel time so not sure you are going to be able to do better. Good luck though.

I am tempted by some flights from a nearby city (if 174 miles one way can be called nearby) where I can book a flight for $359 - Risk it will be winter - cost the time and gas to travel 348 miles round trip and a hotel for one night.

Time 6 hours round trip - Can do. Cost Hotel $60 and Gas $60 - so $120 or $60 per ticket bring travel cost to about $420. Still not bad:)

Risk winter in midwest is very iffy that time of year it can be 60 or a blizzard. Either way travel is a risk. The other city is straight south so in some ways it improves the odds on flight getting out but has the risk of driving during winter storm. Hmmm may be worth it.:confused:

I used to fly a lot for my job - like 50% of the year. I used to use Red -Eye flights a lot. An airline once explained they like Red- Eyes because they used them to re position assets to high volume areas and got money for doing so. The other use was for cross country flights.

So I would often find a Red Eye from the midwest going to LA or DC or San Fran or Miami. Almost none in the reverse direction. I think for some reason that model does not make sense for the airlines anymore because the only Red-Eyes I see are Cross Country or International flights.

So I would often find a Red Eye from the midwest going to LA or DC or San Fran or Miami. Almost none in the reverse direction. I think for some reason that model does not make sense for the airlines anymore because the only Red-Eyes I see are Cross Country or International flights.

An overnight flight from Iowa to LA or San Francisco? The timings for those would be completely bizarre due to the short flight times and time differences.

I can't believe your firm would make you take those for company trips! Sounds terrible! I find domestic overnight transcon flights bad enough in F, unless it's on one of premium flights with flat seats when only the horribly short times make it bad.

An overnight flight from Iowa to LA or San Francisco? The timings for those would be completely bizarre due to the short flight times and time differences.

 

I can't believe your firm would make you take those for company trips! Sounds terrible! I find domestic overnight transcon flights bad enough in F, unless it's on one of premium flights with flat seats when only the horribly short times make it bad.

I flew enough I flew upfront -going east was way better going west goofed me getting into LA at 4 in the morning was odd to say the best. The advantage is I could fly have a full day of business then fly home same day. I traveled so much any thing to not stay in another hotel. The started having 5 am non stops which were way better.

Looks like Southwest has non stops from Kansas City to several Florida airports including Fort Lauderdale, W Palm Beach, Fort Meyer, Tampa, and Orlando. Multiple flights each day to each.

Kansas City is 3 hour drive and also further south then my home. Current rates look very promising. Looks like I will be driving to KC this December. :D

I find MCI very easy to fly from, even though we usually fly from STL due to distance. Often, MCI is also significantly less expensive for some reason. It might be less to fly to PBi, but might result in transferring flights instead of direct. What are you willing to pay for?

We could have flown in and out of PBI and saved $250, but would have had to change planes in Atlanta both ways. We decided non-stop to FLL was worth it. That said, if you don't mind changing planes and don't mind renting a car once you arrive, you might find really good prices doing that.

I find MCI very easy to fly from, even though we usually fly from STL due to distance. Often, MCI is also significantly less expensive for some reason. It might be less to fly to PBi, but might result in transferring flights instead of direct. What are you willing to pay for?

 

We could have flown in and out of PBI and saved $250, but would have had to change planes in Atlanta both ways. We decided non-stop to FLL was worth it. That said, if you don't mind changing planes and don't mind renting a car once you arrive, you might find really good prices doing that.

Have not really thought about PBI - I do like non stop. But for enough discount would be ok with a stop on the way.

Seems like a read there is a train that runs from Palm Beach to Miami. Not sure how close it gets to the airport or cruise port - sounds like it is very reasonable fair.

Will have to add PBI to the list also adding Fort Meyers it is a place I want to check out for retirement in a few years.:cool: Could take advantage of flying a day early and look around a bit:D

Looks like Southwest has non stops from Kansas City to several Florida airports including Fort Lauderdale, W Palm Beach, Fort Meyer, Tampa, and Orlando. Multiple flights each day to each.

 

Kansas City is 3 hour drive and also further south then my home. Current rates look very promising. Looks like I will be driving to KC this December. :D

I see the nonstops to FLL, TPA and MCO...and Fort Myers (starting in a week or two)...but don't know of or see any nonstop to PBI form here in Kansas City. Where are you seeing that?

Airfare seems high right now for us as well. We have a cruise booked mid June, and I have been following flight prices from SfO to FLL for awhile now. We have flown this in the past and never paid more than $400 rt. Prices are now fluctuating between $500-$600 p/p. keeping fingers crossed, and checking daily, that they go down.