Boston to Orlando, What's a good price?

[toystorymom]

This would be our first time flying so I have absolutely no idea what I should be looking for as far as prices, when to book, etc. We are thinking the 2nd or 3rd week of December 03. We can be flexible with our dates and actually can fly out of Logan, Manchester NH or Providence. The only thing that we must have is a direct flight because it would just be too difficult with 3 small children otherwise. Is there a price that when you see it, you just grab it - or do you wait it out closer to the time trying to get a good deal?

Where do I start? Any help would be appreciated, thanks!

 

[BelleBeautyandtheBeast]

Just keep checking the fares a few times each week. In the past I have found that Wednesday morning is the best time to book a fare. A good way to find a cheap fare is to keep your options open, be flexible by a day or two in when you are leaving or returning as well as which airports you are willing to leave and land at. This can save you tons of money. Some of the sites I use are Travelocity Expedia Orbitz .

Once I find what I consider to be a good price I check that airlines website. Sometimes airlines offer unadvertised specials!

We leave near Cleveland and if I find a fare for $150 or less I jump on it. So far we have always done the layover thing but this year (with 3 kids now, yikes!) we are going to find a direct flight. I am hoping t o get it for less than $200 per person.

Mousesavers has some good tips for finding airfare and here is the link http://www.mousesavers.com/airfare.html#air

Good luck!

 

[beattyfamily]

We always fly out of Logan and we usually go to WDW in December. We're going this year the first week of December actually.

Anyway, we book ASAP if the fare is anywhere around $200 because we like to get what we want and not worry about it being filled up. We like non-stop and specific times, like early in the morning etc...

We've paid $770. and $800. for 4 tickets. But last year (the end of January), I found out, right on this board, about an AA sale for the Fall. We were going the end of October so I ran over to AA.com, Orbitz.com, and Expedia.com and it was true! It was $100. round trip for any flight we wanted; any time and non-stop. I couldn't believe it! I was so lucky! I quickly booked it, after picking which website, and was VERY happy. We ended up going with Ortbiz.com because, for some reason, they were about $20. cheaper than the other websites or else I would have just booked it at Delta.com because when you book with the actual airline and the airfare happens to come down, they will give you vouchers for the difference. It's much harder to impossible to get a voucher for the difference at a travel website.

So basically, what I do is check here everyday to see if anyone mentions a sale, then I check Ortbiz.com, Expedia.com, and Travelocity.com. I also check Delta.com (because they have the most non-stops at the best prices) and AA.com.

It's very hard for me to wait for sales which, I believe, are around August or September for a December trip!

My window just opened up for being able to book (it's 330 days out at all the websites) but airfare is at $219 today. It's just a tad too early to book this even for me...I'll probably wait till next month and see where the airfare is at. I'll probably book anything under $200.

Hope this helps you out!

 

[minster22]

We do just about the same thing as beattyfamily....even got one of those $110.00 roundtrip direct flight this past fall. We also usually fly Delta out of Logan (we live on the Cape) mostly because they have the most direct, nonstop flights to choose from. We also like to take an early am flight to arrive at WDW around noon and also if there is any kind of a delay or problem there are several other direct nonstop flights with Delta. Providence has only one a day and Southwest does not offer as many nonstop flight options as Delta. The only drawback is the planes themselves... they really pack everyone in tight and no food frills. But for me I like to get there fast, direct and Delta does that. The most I have paid is $230.00 and again I am with beatttyfamily.....willing to pay that to get what we want.

 

[disnurse]

Its too early to check exact flights but plan on logan. PVD is much costlier and very limited direct flights. I found for nov.03 they are running around 190-200 on delta, AA and usair. The 330 days should be in about 2 or 3 weeks so you can get exact prices.

 

[debster812]

I would also sign up for email alerts from Expedia, Travelocity, & Orbitz. As well as Southwest for PVD and MHT.

On Expedia, Travelocity & Orbitz, you can plug in your 'From' and 'To' cities, and they will notify you when the fares drop.

Also sign up for Southwests email alerts. I got in on a $79 each way from PVD to MCO that we are taking in 2 weeks .

If you are flying out of Logan, anything under $200 is a good deal, and if you are nervous about missing out, you should jump on it. Southwest will be about the same, unless they have a deal or a special. But...SWA will not have flights posted for December until sometime this summer. The waiting killed me!

Good Luck!

 

[toystorymom]

Thanks for the great tips everyone. I will sign up for the email alerts and be checking this board daily. Maybe we can all get some good deals this year!

beattyfamily - how is December? If we went mid December, returning home at least a few days before Christmas, would be beat the huge crowds?

 

[Mrs. Snowgod]

Hi Toystorymom,

You've gotten a lot of good info here, but since you mentioned that you could consider flying out of Manchester, I'll add my 2 cents worth....

Southwest has a few different non-stop flights to Orlando out of Manchester, my favorite being 1029 that leaves daily around 9:00 and arrives by 12:00 noon. They also have a daily return trip leaving MCO around noon and getting back to MHT at about 3:00. The relatively new MHT parking garage is quite nice.

SWA lists their itineraries about 5 months in advance, so you'd need to start looking in July for your Dec. trip. Any RT ticket under $200 is a good start for a good price, and you certainly can do better if you watch prices.

I've also cancelled and rebooked for lower fares with SWA, and gotten a voucher for the difference that had to be used within 1 year of original purchase. That was a nice feature, but it would depend on how often you fly, whether you could apply the voucher.

Hope this helps - have fun planning!

 

[beattyfamily]

Originally posted by toystorymom
beattyfamily - how is December? If we went mid December, returning home at least a few days before Christmas, would be beat the huge crowds?

Well, I know for sure about the first week but I've only read up about the weeks leading to Christmas and I've heard that this is still the best time of the year to go (besides September and January) crowd-wise.

We love December and this year will be our 3rd time going that week.

I think you'll be fine if you come home the weekend before Christmas.

 

[beattyfamily]

fyi...delta non-stop for my timeframe of Nov/Dec went down again from $219 to $199 out of Boston.