Can't find decent airfare for April! We might just drive!

[Gretel]

I am nuts to drive?? Would be 24 hours sraight thru.

 

[hercamore]

Gretel, don't give up on the airfare!

Where are you in mn? Are you flying out of MSP?

Check the NW site from MSP to TPA Rates are cheapr to fly into Tampa and it's only an hours drive to Orlando.

Also, we joined the NWA club for $35 and got discounted rates on our airfare Jan 2 to Orlando.

check orbitz.com every day for airfare prices, aa. nw. deltas own sites.


How about Suncountry? Have you check their site. Or what about mltvacations site for air only?

Herc.

 

[TreeOfLife]

If it does become hard to find a fare to deal with, would you consider the train?

Maybe the expenses compared to driving are similar, but you don't arrive as beat up...

 

[Ted and Holly]

Hang tight! Last minute deals pop up all the time. Does Southwest fly out of your airport? Usually April is the beginning of "Friends Fly Free" when you can get some major bargains!

We held out for cheaper airfare for our trip in Feb. Unfortunately in our case, the prices went higher and higher.... we had to settle for something not-so desirable because we waited so long... we just booked the other day!

April is still a few months away, keep trying. I checked Orbitz about 6 times a day! The prices were different every time. If you see a fare you can deal with, DO NOT WAIT!! We waited even just a half hour and the fare was gone.

Good Luck, I know you'll find something!
Holly

 

[pstepka]

The train is more expensive than flying! I checked for my family of 5 to take the train vs flying (from Ohio). The train would have been 1250.00, compared to about 1,000 to fly! We have always driven (it's about 22 hours...we stop for one night) but if I can find good airfare, I may fly. A friend has gotten it as low as 99.00 round trip so I'm hopeful we can find a deal before August.

 

[poohbear2]

Are you going During Easter? If you are..Good-Luck.. I bought my tickets last June and they haven't gone down in price yet. In fact when I bought my tickets I thought they were expensive. Check www.itasoftware.com. They hightlight the going prices and connections for five or six major airlines( not southwest). You can't book flights on this website, but you can see the daily prices. I check this everyday, just in case my airfare went down.

 

[Gretel]

Southwest does not fly out of MSP

Train not an option

dates are for April 14-19 would be back the day before Easter or Easter morning

 

[hulagirl]

poohbear
I just wanted to thank you for posting the ita website! I have never seen it before and it helped me get a good fare on Jet Blue which I haven't been able to get on their own website!
Much appreciated!

 

[poohbear2]

hulagirl,

Glad it helped! Those prices do change rather quickly though!

So jump when you see something good.

 

[Alexander]

Those are really tough dates! We were looking for the 12th to the 20th from NY and ending up changing our dates to the 11th to the 18th. We really had no choice! Flights went up $150 each from the 11th to the 12th. Have you played around with the dates? Flying home on Easter was cheaper as I messed around with the days. Good Luck!

 

[hercamore]

Hi Gretel,

You will not find good airfare with a 5 day return

time. Best airfare rates are with a 7 day turn around time.

I check your dates with 7 day return leaving April l4 and came up with $274. Still high, but better than $800 with the 5 day return.

Are you days flexible?


Herc

 

[pstepka]

At travelocity.com you can set up an alert to email you when fares go below am amount you specify.

 

[Gretel]

My one daughter has a dance competition on the 12th and 13th of April so we can not leave till the 14th. We need to be back on Sat the 19th or Sunday the 20th in the early morn/afternoon because we are taking them and two friends to the Avril Lavinge concert. That is the only flexibility we have.

 

[JeffC]

Regarding the train...Check Ebay! amtrak actually puts a few tickets up there occasionally. I think last week that had tickets for the Autotrain, one way from near DC to near Orlando for $99. That included 2 adults and your vehicle. I don;t beleive there;s an autotrain from your area, but you might score a different deal..

 

[donmil723]

I flew to Orlando 3 times last year from Kansas City--twice for a 4 night stay and once for a 6 night stay. Didn't have any trouble finding good air fare and the 4 night stays did not include a Saturday. Two trips we paid $106 per person and the last one in November we paid $125 per person RT. I don't think there is any set formula for finding a good price on airfare except check it daily.

Good luck!

Donna

 

[cindy_k]

We live in NY and are faced with the same problem. We finally decided to fly down to Atlanta, rent a car there and stay over night with my brother who lives 2 hours from there in Augusta.

Then we will drive down to Orlando the next day. It's about 8 hours from Augusta.

And we found a good deal(Saved $100 a person) for the flight back to NY by moving our return date from Sun Apr 27 to Sat Apr 26.


Good Luck!
Perhaps flying some where near there and renting like we are doing might get you a better deal.

Cindy in NY.

 

[zulaya]

Just checked air-fare.com and they are listing just this AM from MSP to Tampa a rate of $138 on Airtran. Travel must be complete by June 5 is all it says regarding restrictions. Maybe you should check this out and see if it can work for you.

 

[Gretel]

I though Airtran went out of business a couplke of years ago??????

 

[ncligs]

Originally posted by Gretel
I though Airtran went out of business a couplke of years ago??????

If I'm not mistaken they were called Valu Jet,and were bought by AirTran.In 1995 a Valu Jet crashed in Florida everglades.Somebody will correct me if I am in-correct.

 

[zulaya]

Airtran did buyout ValuJet. For what it's worth, they have an excellent record and the crash mentioned was caused by cargo. Many people on these boards have flown Airtran - I haven't seen any negative reviews. Since search is down, if you want to ask people's experiences, you might want to start another thread.