Why airfare so dam high ????????

[schmoopie17]

Strange as it might seem, for the last 3 years I have found it cheaper to fly to and cruise out of San Juan during the winter. I also like the ports better in the Southern Caribbean.

 

That may have been the case the last three years. Not so much this year...especially in February.

[Deborahlynn10]

I book a lot of flights for my family.

Under six months is best for pricing. Just around four months is the best price.

But if you wait under 3 weeks, you will not get a flight for under $1000.00 per ticket at Spring Break time.

 

I was lucky, I found air for under $300.00 per person. But I am flying to Tampa, not MIA or FLL/

I did that two years ago and paid $650.00 per ticket. This is when I didn't know any better.

Hope this helps those that are still needing to book flights.

 

Namaste,

Deborah

[davekathy]

Sure would be nice if the air lines gave price adjustments like the Cruise lines.

[operafan]

We're sailing out of FLL in March and found it was half the price to fly into Orlando. We booked those tickets and got a rental car through Costco for $44 to drive to FLL.

[sargenet]

We were going to cruise over Thanksgiving and were lucky enough to have some AA miles to burn for one way tickets and some credit to use on Southwest. So our out of pocket cost for airfare was only about $300.

 

That being said, I had an awful time finding a decent price on a cruise. There are 3 of us and I wanted to cruise either Liberty, Freedom or Oasis. We ended up going with Navigator because it was over $1000 cheaper for 5 days versus 7 days. Figured we would save the money for another cruise next year.

 

We booked about 65 days in advance. The price on the Navigator has stayed the same, however at 30-40 days they started to lower the price on the Freedom and Oasis. Specifically they rolled out "military rates" for these sailings (something we qualify for).

 

I was really disappointed because I wouldn't mind being able to change to one of those cruises...but can't because we were within final payment.

 

We also want to cruise over Spring Break (March 12th). Once again the prices are very high for the 3 of us. This time though I am going to wait till after everyone has made final payment to see if they roll out lower prices or a military discount. I honestly did not realize that they would roll out a military discount closer to sailing. If I would have known I could have waited for my Thanksgiving cruise.

 

A learning experience for me! Airfares are also crazy high here for that week since all the schools are out. I still have AA miles to use so hopefully I can jump on a "discount" that comes out 30-45 days before!

[WhiteSoxFan]

And, prices are always higher this far out...I'd keep checking and see if the prices drop...I wouldn't pay more than the cruise costs, just to get there!

 

Not always true, prices to Miami for spring break tend to start high and work there way up. At least that's the way it was a few years ago. I had booked the Freedom for spring break 20 months in advance and tracked flight prices for the previous year. As soon as the airfare became available I booked non-stop from ORD on AA. The price I got was the cheapest it ever was.

 

Yes, this is one of the great things about Southwest. If you catch a price drop for your flight, you can get the lower cost and use the difference towards a future Southwest flight. It needs to be used within one year of when you originally booked the flight for which you caught the price drop - not within one year of the day you caught the price drop.

 

True, but other airlines will also refund the difference, United being one. The great thing about SW is the ease of rebooking and using the credit toward future flights.

 

We're sailing out of FLL in March and found it was half the price to fly into Orlando. We booked those tickets and got a rental car through Costco for $44 to drive to FLL.

 

We are doing this for the flight down to our Allure cruise in January. It has less to do with the airfare (although it is cheaper) and more to do with the fact that hotels in the FLL area are pretty expensive that time of year and I can stay at Disney with my DVC points. Also the cheaper airfare more than makes up for the rental car. So we are doing a two night pre-cruise at Disney before heading out early on Sunday to drive down to Fort Lauderdale. We are flying back from FLL.

 

I have become over the last couple of years a Southwest convert despite my distaste for having to go to Midway. We live considerably closer to O'Hare but SW has so many good things going for it as well as a pretty good schedule of non-stops out of Chicago.

[cdncruzer]

We often fly from the US to take advantage of cheaper flights but this has not been the case this year @ all. We too are cruising in March and have found some curious changes. We usually find flts to FLL cheaper, but again, not this year. Nevermind that prices are kind of wonky, the selection is very limited as well.

 

We finally got a pretty good deal flying from Canada to Miami. That means no extra add-ons for gas, hotels and airport parking! All things we factor in when we decide where to fly from.

 

Keep watching daily and nab the deals when you see them...they don't last long. Two days after we booked our flts, the rate went up by $200.00pp.

 

Good luck!

[firefly333]

WE ARE SAILING FROM MIAMI ON THE LIBERTY OF THE SEA'S ON MARCH 19TH...i got to tell ya the airfare from minneapolis to miami is absolutely criminal...non stop is amlmost 800 per person...almost what i am paying for my balcony room...we are diamond memebers...there are 18 of us coming from the frozen tundra in march...cooler heads then took over...let's looks at doing a pre-nite and a post nite...fly down on friday and fly back on monday...MUCH MUCH better rates...$365 for non stop on SUN COUNTRY AIR...DIRECTLY TO MAIMI...DOING PRE-NITE AND POST NITE AT THE HOLIDAY INN BAYSIDE...150.00 PER NITE...so i feel alot better now...ya 2 more days away from the office but for a family of 3 i'll pay the extra for the hotel to save 450 per peerson...it's a no brainer...any one else out there finding horrindous airfares rigth now...

 

Its for the best, as I would not chance flying down during the winter with 18 pax the day of the cruise ..

[bmazzo]

Your dates are spring break and you are going to Miami. Can you change your dates up or down a week or two or are you dependent on that week.

 

We have a 10 year old and we are actually talking about taking him out for a week in May just so we can get lower fares on everything. It is the end of his elementary years, so it will be a celebration for him

It's way too early to book airfare for April. We're still selling the Holidays. Start looking early to mid December and check once a week until you see a price you like. Keep in mind that the price might nit betoo low since it is right in the middle of Spring Break.

[freedom49]

High airfare??? Try flying out of Toronto to anywhere - it is robbery. We love Jet Blue, we can drive to Buffalo in about 1 1/2hr and pay 1/3 of the airfare from there to Florida.

 

 

Try flying from Charlottetown or Moncton - we're into the 4 digit prices here!:mad:

[Cruz4Days]

So happy my frequent flyer miles finally worked. $7.50 roundtrip to San Juan!!

[waterbug123]

ever since southwest came to the minneaplis market the fares have not been very good and you have to go thru midway or milwaukee to get any where...i already booked the air on sun country non stop for $365 direct to Miami...doing pre-nite on friday marcy 18th and post night on sunday march 27th...staying at the holiday inn bayside...got ok room rate for march there 150 per night...i know that we are not sailing for another 5 or 6 months but i wanted to just get it down and out of the way and 365 per person for air is a good deal in this market...A HELL OF ALOT BETTER THEN WHAT DELTA WANTS RIGHT NOW FOR A NON STOP TO MIAMI

 

If you were looking at Delta, did you consider flying into Ft. Lauderdale instead of Miami? I put in your dates and got a price of $475-500 for MSP-FLL, non-stop. Still more than what you got with Sun Country but a whole lot less than the $800 you mentioned in your first post! And transportation between FLL and Miami is easy to arrange.

 

Just out of curiosity, because I've never heard of Sun Country Airlines, how many daily flights do they have MSP-MIA?

[janetz]

It's way too early to book airfare for April. We're still selling the Holidays. Start looking early to mid December and check once a week until you see a price you like. Keep in mind that the price might nit betoo low since it is right in the middle of Spring Break.

 

 

It's never to early if the price is right. ;)

[whitshel]

We were looking to do a land vacation to hawaii this year in April, airfare to hawaii from LA or SD was over $800 Yikes:eek:, so we looked at St. Thomas and it was only $400 from LA. I couldnt believe it, we can fly cheaper to ST Thomas from the west coast than Hawaii.

 

Also I found now that most airlines now price thier tickets per each leg, i found it cheaper to do one ways, fly there on one airline and fly back on another. Sometimes it works out a lot cheaper.;)

[sargenet]

We were looking to do a land vacation to hawaii this year in April, airfare to hawaii from LA or SD was over $800 Yikes:eek:, so we looked at St. Thomas and it was only $400 from LA. I couldnt believe it, we can fly cheaper to ST Thomas from the west coast than Hawaii.

 

.;)

 

We are in San Antonio. I had some Westin points and we wanted to try going somewhere different, like Grand Cayman or a carribean island. Turns out it was cheaper for us to fly to Hawaii!

 

I really like to fly to the west coast and stay overnight before we go to Hawaii. Makes traveling easier with a small child. But the airfares are the same price, or even more from West Coast so we always just end up flying all in the same day with connections! Less distance isn't always cheaper!

[wcook]

Glad you got something!

Could have been worse. Those of us looking for Barcelona flights aren't having a lot of fun right now.

[drakes2]

We too are Canadians and are driving to Buffalo, NY to take advantage of cheaper air fares. We booked Jet Blue in July for our cruise out of San Juan in January 2011. Decided to spend 2 nights pre and 2 post cruise in San Juan to get even lower fares mid week. All worked out well as the flights have gone up considerabley since then. :)

We often fly from the US to take advantage of cheaper flights but this has not been the case this year @ all. We too are cruising in March and have found some curious changes. We usually find flts to FLL cheaper, but again, not this year. Nevermind that prices are kind of wonky, the selection is very limited as well.

 

We finally got a pretty good deal flying from Canada to Miami. That means no extra add-ons for gas, hotels and airport parking! All things we factor in when we decide where to fly from.

 

Keep watching daily and nab the deals when you see them...they don't last long. Two days after we booked our flts, the rate went up by $200.00pp.

 

Good luck!

[windjammerB&C]

Just be glad you're not flying to San Juan...

 

 

San Juan flights are just crazy high any where from 800.00 to 1100.00 and we are booked for the serenade next oct. If they dont come down we will be forced to cancel that wonderful cruise.

[Mango Tango]

ever since southwest came to the minneaplis market the fares have not been very good and you have to go thru midway or milwaukee to get any where...i already booked the air on sun country non stop for $365 direct to Miami...doing pre-nite on friday marcy 18th and post night on sunday march 27th...staying at the holiday inn bayside...got ok room rate for march there 150 per night...i know that we are not sailing for another 5 or 6 months but i wanted to just get it down and out of the way and 365 per person for air is a good deal in this market...A HELL OF ALOT BETTER THEN WHAT DELTA WANTS RIGHT NOW FOR A NON STOP TO MIAMI

Mike, I feel your pain...as a fellow Minnesotan, I booked with Delta from MSP to FLL for Jan. 8, 2011. They wanted $505 pp for a non-stop. Since there are four of us flying, I opted for a one-stop for $375 pp. Actually, I'm using my US Bank Flex perks miles for the flights, but it was a difference between 80,000 miles for the four of us, or 120,000 miles for the non-stop.

[mikeblum]

we just added 2 more folks to our group we are now up to 20 and the price that i got on sun country airline non stop at 365 per person is now 455 per person...so in 2 weeks since we booked sun country airlines must have sold toooooo many cheap seats so thye price went up...oh well you wait to book you pay higer...

[cravingthis]

High airfare??? Try flying out of Toronto to anywhere - it is robbery. We love Jet Blue, we can drive to Buffalo in about 1 1/2hr and pay 1/3 of the airfare from there to Florida.

 

Yup, same situation here, I've already posted about it and received countless tips, but we are sticking with Toronto to FLL, direct, non-stop. Currently, it's about $555 USD +. The only other flight that is direct is about $420 Canadian, but the flight back is too risky (10:55 am) from what I was advised.

 

Hope the flights come down! We like the idea of Buffalo, but not in February and we don't want to drive 3 hours in the winter time.

 

Not looking for any advice, just agree that flights are expensive, mind you we are travelling in a high season.

[The Flying Pirate]

Prices are high because they need to charge more for the "extra" leg room and customer service you get these days......

[seaofwonder]

Because they can. They have cut the number of flights and so demand is higher.

[mikeblum]

etrxa leg room and service...these airlines are a bunch of bleep'm criminals...thay got ya by the tennis balls...to charge more for a aisle seat and extra service what extra servicde has any airline offered any of us in the last 12 months...charging for a paper thin blanket and a horrible smelling pillow...prety soon they will start charging for the toilet paper that we use in their bathrooms...can ya tell that i not real thrilled with this industry today...the prices go up and the service goes down...unfortunately there are no other options to get to florida in a day...and i am not driving 28 hrs straight to get from minneapolis to miami...

[Griswolds]

We are in this same boat too. Got a great price for Oasis in April but finding the cost of the flight might just kill that. We have driven to FL many times but obviously it is more time consuming and we just dont have the time. DH checks flights daily hoping/praying for a price drop. I guess we'll look looking as long as we can and if flights dont come down in price we'll have to decide what to do. Just frustrating because in the past you could get a non-stop round trip from MI - FL for around $200-$250 all day long - sometimes much less.:mad: