Just got great airfare for Miracle in Feb. at Orbitz!

[SUSANITA]

I know there are lots of you on this board sailing the Miracle in February (me too!), and wanted to let you all know that today Orbitz was having a sale and I was able to get airfare for $160 RT to Tampa from Buffalo! That's a super low rate for that time of year! Go check Orbitz if you don't have airfare yet! :)

[kristy]

That's great Sue!

 

I have been checking Orbitz and every other airline and travel site! Everything is $250.00 pp and up from St. Louis, KC and Tulsa(al are within 2-21/2 hours away)

I'm hoping that those fares come down soon!

 

Congrats on your find!

[GoinCruisin]

Have you tried searching ITA? http://matrix.itasoftware.com/cvg/dispatch/prego

 

It searches everything and you can include many parameters... Good luck!!!

[Guest kernfam01]

WOW! I checked for Kansas City , Mo to Tampa, and it was $222. That is THE BEST RATE I have found. (I check bestfares.com, but the low fares they publish there are never available when you call the airline.) The down side? My dad & mom who are flying with me, dh and kids want to wait and book Southwest, as they have a non stop flight. It is going to be around this same price. I am scared to death to wait. There are probably a lot of people waiting to book southwest since they are so cheap. Southwest dsn't have their schedule published for all of march yet, so I guess I will just have to wait and cross my fingers. Hopefully they will publish the schedule within the next 2 weeks or so, so I can stop worrying!

[kristy]

WOW! I checked for Kansas City , Mo to Tampa, and it was $222. That is THE BEST RATE I have found. (I check bestfares.com, but the low fares they publish there are never available when you call the airline.) The down side? My dad & mom who are flying with me, dh and kids want to wait and book Southwest, as they have a non stop flight. It is going to be around this same price. I am scared to death to wait. There are probably a lot of people waiting to book southwest since they are so cheap. Southwest dsn't have their schedule published for all of march yet, so I guess I will just have to wait and cross my fingers. Hopefully they will publish the schedule within the next 2 weeks or so, so I can stop worrying!

Southwest updated their site last week through Feb at least. I was waiting and waiting and finally they were updated. That nonstop to TPA is OUTRAGEOUS though! SWA used to have such great rates but IMO they are few and far between nowadays!! It would cost DH and I over $600 bucks total if we did SWA and that is just ridiculous! Let us know if you find a better rate!

For the past 3 years, we've not paid more than $180 pp to fly from MCI- different ports in FL and LA.

[GoinCruisin]

Kristy, I am with ya there! Southwest used to have the best fares!!!!! American is beating their fares these days!!!!! I miss the great fares of days gone by... even AirTran has started creeping back up!!! I wish we could get Jet Blue in NC... grrrr!!!

[serene56]

Dont forget to check the individual airlines web prices. WHen I was pricing for my air I found 200 to be the going rate on those online agencies. But when I checked with the airline itself I found me a great deal of 123pp including taxes and service fees.

[Little Red]

The cheapest rate I could find so far is $292 pp from Detroit to Tampa. That's ridiculous. I checked all the big ones, including Orbitz and the individual airlines. I'll wait. I usually get lucky about 2 1/2 months before cruise time. Found a flight to Orlando in July for this September for $130 pp.

[SUSANITA]

I totally agree about SW, unless they are running a promotional sale, rates are not that great. As a matter of fact, they wanted $300 for the flights I needed!!

Airtran is also good if catch a sale, I've flown them for $89 RT before, but right now their rates were $240 for Feb. I've never found JetBlue to have good rates, and I check them all the time! We got a new airline here, Independence air, but they only go to one city in Florida, Jacksonville.

 

I always check the airlines directly, search by price NOT by schedule, and also check all the online booking engines. I've found a few times where Orbitz seriously is selling seats way below what the airline will offer for the same flight, and also found the opposite to be true, Orbitz can be way higher than what you find at the actual website. Do your homework!

 

Part of the problem is, we are flying during spring break time!! The flight back on Sunday after the cruise is proving problematic, as most of the East Coast is on vacation that following week. I'm not sure I would wait to long to get air, as the weather gets colder these flights might fill up faster! Good luck to all of you, hope you get great rates!

[Guest kernfam01]

THANK YOU THANK YOU! I talked my dad into going ahead and getting these at this fare, and we booked it last night. We are traveling too close to spring break to wait much longer. I was going to book on Orbitz but saw they had a $30 booking fee. So I went to cheaptickets.com. They were within $1 of orbitz's price, and they only have a $5 fee, so we booked it. What a relief!! I was so worried that we weould be either paying $500 a seat, or taking a bus to Tampa! LOL!! Wanted to add within 10 minutes of me booking this, the price went up $30/pp

[chuleta]

From St. Louis you can try USA3000. It flies non-stop to Clearwater/St. Pete airport which is about 10 miles from the Tampa airport. My sister booked it for $133.70 round trip!

[kristy]

Mary Lynn,

 

Where did your sister ever find this airline? I had never heard of them until you posted this.

I went to their website and tried my dates(11 Feb and 20 Feb..we already have hotel for the 11th) and OMG are they CHEAP and that was non stop STL-St. Petersberg/Clearwater!!

Too bad that they don't have my start date though. I'm going to do some more research and see what I can find about this airline.I'd be leary booking until I knew more.

Thanks for the tip.

 

Has ANYONE else heard of this airline?

[kristy]

Mary Lynn,

 

Be sure to let your sister know that they have strict luggage restrictions. 2 pieces weighing no MORE THAN 50 POUNDS TOTAL...that's 25 lb max per bag.

 

My empty luggage(hardside) weighs 11 pounds empty. We are always right at the weight limits at 60 lbs per bag(AA , NWA). Oh well!! I got to dream of getting cheap air for about 20 mins! LOL:)

[chuleta]

Kristy, it's a new ariline that will be starting service to Tampa sometime in Nov. or Dec. I have family in St. Louis that were telling me about it and have made reservations to go there over the xmas holidays for $129 RT!

 

I didn't read about their weight restirctions, will have to warn her (and remember over xmas) to carry all of the heavy stuff on LOL! Of course she will be ok, travels with one suitcase and summer clothes are lighter weight.

 

PS: Why not get a lighter weight suitcase? Mine weighs under 5 lbs and has been through a lot without wear or damage. (And it is huge, has wheels and all!) Bought it on Sam's auction for $19 delivered with 2 extra peices LOL!

[GoinCruisin]

Anyone else leary of an airline that sounds like an infomercial? LOL... I just can't get past that!!!!!!!

[chuleta]

Anyone else leary of an airline that sounds like an infomercial? LOL... I just can't get past that!!!!!!!

 

Heck, I was one of the first to fly AirTran when they started up and have never had problems with them. They used to give you a paddle with a number on it that was your boarding # and you found your own seat once you got on! They are still doing just fine and offering great rates if you live in the areas they serve.

[GoinCruisin]

Oh I love Air Tran (wish they would bring back the great pricing, and quit with the 5 million hour layovers in ATL though! LOL!)... My BF was stranded by them when they were Valu-Jet... NEVER understood WHY anyone would fly an airline called VALU-JET! LOL!!!!! He was booked for a flight home when they had their crash and shut the airline down... nightmare!!! Of course I gave the old "i told you so"... I love being a woman, LOL!!!!!!!!

[kellyccz]

I used sidestep.com which searches all sites for you and will even search nearby airports for deals. I got my airfare for my November Miracle cruise from Chicago-O'Hare into Clearwater-St. Pete for $130 RT - also on USA3000.

[kristy]

Kelly,

 

Please post your thoughts on the airline when you get back. That's a great deal you got!

 

I use Smart Rover to search the airlines.It never brought up any fares for USA3000 for my dates, but I know they don't fly on the day we leave, so I suppose that would make sense! It sounds like Sidestep and Smart Rover are similar programs?

[imlulu]

We are on the Miracle the week after most of you..President's Day week. I booked my flights the day the airlines opened our return date. I saw a great price on expedia. I headed over to Delta's site and got the same flights for a few dollars cheaper but paid no booking fees. We paid $209pp ..Providence to Tampa which is an absolutely great price for a Sat- Sun for that week. Last time I travelled during this time period, I kept waiting for better prices they never came down. They just kept going up with many flights selling out.

 

SWA has great prices many times if you go midweek- midweek. We have flown them to Orlando from Providence for $141pp direct flights ..Memorial Day week...flying midweek-midweek.

[SUSANITA]

HI Imlulu, that is an awesome rate for spring break time! It's good you got that when you did. There are also a ton of "black out" dates during that time frame, in which we can't use our FF miles. Next to Thanksgiving and Christmas, it's one of the most expensive times to fly from my hometown.

 

As the weather in the NorthEast starts to change, and once the snow hits, more and more people will be planning a February vacation. The week that we are gone is also Valentines week, so I think these flights will fill up quickly.

[Guest kernfam01]

This same fare, MCI to TPA, is now down to $203!!!

[Host Caroline]

Anyone from NC you can get to Tampa for 200 roundtrip from Charlotte which is unheard of... on United "operated by US Airways" in case US goes belly-up. Don't want to see folks out of work but NC will be better off overall if US Air does go under and we get something called "competition" here in Charlotte... Over 25% of people flying USAir from Greensboro are from Charlotte .. wonder why????/ because it's 200 less:D

[Guest kernfam01]

Oh wanted to add that the fare for $203 from kansas city, mo to tampa, I found on cheaptickets, for delta airlines. On delta's website, fare for SAME FLIGHT, is around $260.

[basketballmom]

I booked Boston to Orlando RT, nonstop, for $160 on Travelocity and flying AA. My TA told me to book it because she couldn't get anything for under $255. I believe in booking my flights way in advance so I can get the flights I want. I watch the prices and pay attention to those here on the boards!