Airline Fares

[lrn2cruise]

Has anyone else found what I have found on the air fares? I am seeing very high high rates!

 

I was actually looking into flying into Montana Glacier National Park this summer (yea, I know, not a cruise) but the airfare is terrible from Texas!

 

Now SW Airlines, if not too bad getting to Ft Lauderdale. Orlando is ok too (from Texas though)

 

I have a feeling we will not be flying anywhere this summer:(

 

This is tough on the middle class. I would love to know how some of us earn 80,000 a year and some people in NY earn 80,000 a day. Beats me:confused: I missed that boat

[LovesCruising]

Air has been horrible. Not only are the rates high but the schedules are awful. As a TA its been real difficult to sell trips with these rates. Maybe passengers should boycott and see what happens (know that won't happen :)) If they want to charge such high rates, at least give a good schedule!

[lrn2cruise]

Well, we have cruises leaving out of Texas, so we could do Carnival Magic this summer. I would really rather do Oasis or Allure, but flying is getting too high.

[fungirl28]

Airfare is HORRIBLE right now! I priced a RT trip to DC form Ca and the price was $570!!!:eek: My airfare from Sfo to Lga was $340 RT last fall. That one heck of a jump:mad:

[aurelius180]

We booked our airfare 2 months ago and it that time it has gone up about $200pp R/T! We're flying JetBlue and other airlines are even more expensive than that. Including AA which is generally the cheapest, but least preferable, for us. Just glad we jumped on them when we did. :cool:

[chickadee1]

Checked our flight today against what we paid a week ago for JetBlue from San Juan to JFK and the price had gone up $65 a ticket - glad we got the tickets last week!

[LovesCruising]

Well, we have cruises leaving out of Texas, so we could do Carnival Magic this summer. I would really rather do Oasis or Allure, but flying is getting too high.

 

And Im cruising Explorer - no air!

 

We booked our airfare 2 months ago and it that time it has gone up about $200pp R/T! We're flying JetBlue and other airlines are even more expensive than that. Including AA which is generally the cheapest, but least preferable, for us. Just glad we jumped on them when we did. :cool:

 

Well best advise I can give (and I know you didn't ask;)) is to watch the air and buy as soon as your comfortable. Don't wait for it to go down, chances are slim that it will (It can but lately thats not the norm)

[aurelius180]

Well best advise I can give (and I know you didn't ask;)) is to watch the air and buy as soon as your comfortable. Don't wait for it to go down, chances are slim that it will (It can but lately thats not the norm)

 

 

We did and I'm glad we did. :)

[CVU]

Try flying in Canada, we have higher taxes on top of the price and it is more expensive than flying in the US!!! :eek: Many CA flee across the Border to fly out of the US now.

We use our Credit Card points to fly.

Also, to buy our gas as well, much cheaper across the Border. $1.44/liter here. Carbon tax and transit taxes are also added on, etc. etc.

[ChicagoBound]

While hearing about $500 and $600 r/t tickets sounds high and seems to shock the conscience, all things considered, air travel is still a relative bargain. Consider for instance, in 1980, the average airfare from NY to LA was around $200. Now, if you plan ahead, you can get a ticket for $300 or $350 most of the time. Even if the ticket costs you $500, that means you're only paying a little more than twice what it cost 30 years ago. There are very few goods or services that have seen their prices only double in the last thirty years. Just look at the price of movies, cars, college, milk, gas, etc., etc.

 

Paying $450 to get to Ft. Lauderdale stinks, but in the grand scheme of things, it's still a relative bargain.

[roe2ship]

I started pricing fares in September for my cruise on the Oasis this Summer. Initially, they were pretty steep. Sometime in November I noticed a few price drops and decided to jump on that....glad I did as right now they are even priced higher than when I first starting looking. I have noticed that too far out or too close in to the dates you need to fly is usually the highest fare. Somewhere mid point of the 330-335 days (for most airlines) seems to be best time to make the purchase.

 

I hope some decent fares come your way so you can cruise this Summer.

[Zach1213]

Air has been horrible. Not only are the rates high but the schedules are awful. As a TA its been real difficult to sell trips with these rates. Maybe passengers should boycott and see what happens (know that won't happen :)) If they want to charge such high rates, at least give a good schedule!

That whole "schedules are awful" thing is very subjective, though. One persons horrible schedule could be another persons perfect schedule. Some routes have had increased frequencies, some have had decreased frequencies.

[precious89904600]

I also been checking airfare for our trip in Sept. for the 5 of us and so far rates are high and just like was mentioned not good schedules. Southwest has a flight for early in the morning non stop to Fort Lauderdale but to come home for a non stop flight we would have to take 4:10 evening flight . The problem I find with that is we most likely be off ship around 8:30 or 9 so that means a long time at FLL . I believe I read somewhere that airlines don't want to check in luggage no more then 4 hrs ahead so I was wondering if I can use luggage valet service then.

[SmokeOnTheWater71]

Try this we have been doing this for years if you can manage your credit card from AA they are the cheapest for miles you can not pay a dime for air fare every thing we buy goes on our cdedit card and we have no balance most people spend 35000 to 50000 thousand a year on food, gas,taxes, school, dinner, medical,clothes,lunch,house hold goods,hell weve been to MAUI,DON'T pay to FLL,just do the math.Going to Maui from KC.is 35000 thousand miles on other airlines it's 40000 to 50000 thousand miles oh yea this month i get double miles on our cruise when we make our final payment of course you have to plan ahead for the miles we generl go on down times we cruise the first two weeks of DEC.any where it's cheap and miles are plentifull.

[Familygoboston]

 

This is tough on the middle class. I would love to know how some of us earn 80,000 a year and some people in NY earn 80,000 a day. Beats me:confused: I missed that boat

What does this mean?:confused: People in NY are richer? There are no middle class people in NY? I don't get it? There are people all over the country who are high earners. Just got my quarterly freebie " high end real estate portfolio sales magazine" in the mail this weekend. Plenty of those mansions were in Dallas, San Antonio , Houston , Phoenix and Scottsdale;)

 

Back to airfare- I've been beating this drum for a while! I've been tracking airfares for a while and coming out of Boston going to Fl, there is almost nothing direct for less than $800. ( if you can find a direct flight) Flights with ridiculous connections ( like Ohio, and Chicago) might run 350-600 depending on whether it's a vacation or holiday period. Based on these numbers very few middle class families will be flying, especially when you multiply these fares times 4 or 5 people in families with one or two earners.

 

Expect to pay big for "homeport" cruises near big population centers like Baltimore and NY, where more people who can drive and fewer ships in port will drive prices. And expect some not to cruise but rent a house on the nearest shore this summer for less than flying 4 people anywhere!

[Zach1213]

Back to airfare- I've been beating this drum for a while! I've been tracking airfares for a while and coming out of Boston going to Fl, there is almost nothing direct for less than $800. ( if you can find a direct flight) Flights with ridiculous connections ( like Ohio, and Chicago) might run 350-600 depending on whether it's a vacation or holiday period. Based on these numbers very few middle class families will be flying, especially when you multiply these fares times 4 or 5 people in families with one or two earners.

$800 per person for Boston to Florida?!?! Are you sure you're not looking at fully refundable fares? That boggles my mind.

[6rugrats]

Back to airfare- I've been beating this drum for a while! I've been tracking airfares for a while and coming out of Boston going to Fl, there is almost nothing direct for less than $800. ( if you can find a direct flight) Flights with ridiculous connections ( like Ohio, and Chicago) might run 350-600 depending on whether it's a vacation or holiday period.

Where are you finding these crazy fares?

 

You don't name any specific dates, but I see lots of nonstop fares from BOS-FLL for much less then you are finding, through the end of this year.

 

Lots of dates on JetBlue for June as low as $230 RT for nonstops. Many dates for July, Aug 2012 on this routing for $265 RT on JetBlue. For Sep, Oct. Nov through the third week of December 2012, lots of roundtrips for $250 on JetBlue.

[gazruss]

I flew from Toronto to London Heathrow last year for $615 all in.

 

Today I'm looking to go from Toronto To Fort Lauderdale, i am being quoted $630

 

CRAZY S**T

[youngestof9]

I just priced Newark, NJ to Miami. It was over $1000 PP. That's ECONOMY!!! The schedule window just opened up (I'm flying in February), but that's absurd. I'm going to have heart failure booking these flights! So much for booking my cruise 2 years in advance to save money....I'll be spending it all on airfare!

[waterbug123]

Southwest has a flight for early in the morning non stop to Fort Lauderdale but to come home for a non stop flight we would have to take 4:10 evening flight . The problem I find with that is we most likely be off ship around 8:30 or 9 so that means a long time at FLL .

 

There is give and take in everything. You have to decide what's more valuable to you: the cheapest flight or the best schedule. If you insist that you want a nonstop AND a certain time of day you'll need to sacrifice on price. If you want the best price you'll need to sacrifice on schedule and either find sometehing to do from 8:30-4:10, or book a connecting flight.

[waterbug123]

FLL . I believe I read somewhere that airlines don't want to check in luggage no more then 4 hrs ahead .

 

Actually at FLL I believe it's 3 hours, and they are pretty strict on that, at least in terminal 2.

[waterbug123]

 

This is tough on the middle class. I would love to know how some of us earn 80,000 a year and some people in NY earn 80,000 a day. Beats me:confused: I missed that boat

 

1. The number of people in NY (or anywhere) earning $80k/day is so small that it has virtually no effect on airline fare pricing. It's not as though airlines are filling their planes with people earning 20 million/year. :rolleyes:

2. While salaries on average may be higher in NY, so is the cost of living. Significantly so.

[jamminlion]

I agree. Airfare has gone crazy.

 

I booked our tickets (family of 4) from Austin to Seattle - end of February. SO thankful that I did. I checked last week - same flights, same seats, same everything now going for more than 2x what I paid.

 

If I hadn't booked when I did, we would've had to cancel the cruise. The airfare was almost more than our cruise fare.

 

I can't imagine families trying to book now and fly this summer. Whew!

 

Good luck to those of you looking for lower fares!

[scottbee]

Try flying in Canada, we have higher taxes on top of the price and it is more expensive than flying in the US!!! :eek: Many CA flee across the Border to fly out of the US now.

We use our Credit Card points to fly.

Also, to buy our gas as well, much cheaper across the Border. $1.44/liter here. Carbon tax and transit taxes are also added on, etc. etc.

 

Not entirely true. Built into a USA air ticket is 7.5% tax which you don't see; plus their general tax revenue goes to airports to pay for improvements (in the form of FAA grants); whereas in Canada the airports are self-funded.

 

As soon as you cross the border by air, the US lump even more in, in the form of Immigration and Agricultural inspection fees, plus an international tax (the latter of which is also buried in the price)

[kenish]

Not entirely true. Built into a USA air ticket is 7.5% tax which you don't see; plus their general tax revenue goes to airports to pay for improvements (in the form of FAA grants); whereas in Canada the airports are self-funded.

 

And even that's not entirely true :mad: The tax on tickets (and avgas when I fill my Cessna) goes to the improvement fund as you state. But, Congress sat on the money in order to offset the Social Security deficit when they played their annual budget "shell game". The fund had grown to multi-billions. The airline and general aviation industries got fed up. Congress finally "allocated" the funds towards projects, but most of the money has not been disbursed. The bulk of the money still is not being put to its intended purpose.