Making airfare reservations vs resort reservations

[jaw62901]

I was going to make my reservations to stay at CBR Dec 26 thru Jan 3 today and was wondering, if I wait until 3/31/03 to purchase my airfare will I have a problem getting a resonable price from Chicago (ohare or midway) to Orlando. I was hoping to fly SW out of Midway, but am afraid that if I wait until they are posted (website), all of the other airlines better priced flight will dry up. If the SW website only goes up until Sept, does this mean that the reservation desk wont have them either. At this time, is it more important to get my airfare or resort reservations taken care of. Dreams Unlimted Travel said that they would hold my confirmation until 3/31/03 when $200 deposit is due. Please pass on any thoughts or advice you may have.

 

[n2mm]

I always get my room reservations first, sometimes with a bigger timeframe than I want, just in case I can't get on the flights I want (sometimes I add an extra day before and after just to cover flight problems). Then once you get your airfare, you just call and modifiy your ressies. It's easier to have the room, then to try to get it at the last minute, especially the timeframe you're talking about. Since you only need the one night deposit to hold your ressie, it's not a big deal, unless you book with a package then I think the deposit issue is different. Since DH is a CM we book our room only ressies and our cancelation is 5 days prior with only one night deposit. I'm sorry if the policy is different for others, but am unsure of the other policies in place.

 

[mom_rules]

I too always book my room first then wait for airfare. Once we've decided we are going we figure we will get there one way or another.

 

[sgtdisney]

Can you cancel your hotel reservation and get a full refund? I think if you go through Disney's CRO they take one night's deposit up front and you can cancel your reservation up until 5 days before and get a full refund. We always make the reservation for the room first, knowing we can cancel it or adjust dates if we can't find airfare at a price we wanted to pay. Maybe the company you are using for your reservations has a cancellation policy like this so you would feel more comfortable if you need to cancel...

 

[2TxAgs]

I do just the opposite for our family....Airfare for 6 is so expensive, that we don't make any plans til we find a great deal on the air. After that, we can find a hotel that will do just fine.

I think it depends on your perspective. We are not tied to a specific hotel, or even to staying on-site. We're glad to be there when we can afford to go, and airfare is a *huge* part of the package.

TxAg

 

[mkymouse4ever]

ATA out of midway has some good airfares for december now. I just booked for August, and we are returning in nov / dec and checked it but I am not booking that air fare yet. The world is a bit to unsettled to book airfare that far out for us. (we were at wdw 9/11)

My ATA price is 146.00 round trip and at good times, and for dec it came up about 150.00 but I will wait till about august till we get back before we book this air fare. It may or may not be higher but it's worth waiting this is just to early, it's a 50.00 charge for any changes or cancelations.

The lowest air fare I've ever gotten from chicago to orlando was ATA at december for 121.00 round trip in 2000.

Happy planning and good luck! MKY

 

[cindala]

The past few years I have been booking the airfare first, then getting the room reservation, except this year, I think I waited too long to reserve the room!

Thinking that I'd have time, I waited and got closed out of discounts because the resort was booked by then. Although we got a good deal on airfare, we now have 3 of our nights at rack rate! I'm still hoping for a discount though!!

I think next time, I'll book out more days than I need for the resort, and then work the airfare in.

 

[dcfromva]

jaw62901,
With your travel dates, I would most definately get the room first. New Years Eve might become difficult (or impossible) to book, if you wait too long. Also, the longer you wait, the fewer choices you will have available to you.
The nice thing about booking your room first is you now have dates which you can focus on for finding your flights. You also know that you can immediately buy tickets, if you find a good deal.
It sounds like you booked a package with Dreams Unlimited. You should ask them what their cancelation/change policy is--(ask them on an email and then you will have it in writing and you can refer back to it, in case you want to make any adjustments later on).
Since you are flying over a holiday period, the question as to whether you should buy now or later is a really tricky one. What I do when I am flying over a holiday period, is I set a figure that I think is a reasonable amount of money to pay for my fare and then when that fare comes up, I buy my tickets. Often, the flight times are very cruical for me, too, because we are flying out on a Friday afternoon and returning on a Monday holiday (my DS can't miss school). I will admit that I may not get the best fares this way--probably just average. If flight times aren't as important, then you can probably set your target price a little lower.
The nice thing about SWA is the flight schedule has not been published for your time frame, so all the seats are available until they do publish.

-DC

 

[bunnyfoo]

I always booked my airfare first ... but I never really thought of it the other way around. Seems like it makes more sense to book the hotel room first