danheaton

Hello. This is my first post to this forum, so I apologize if I'm asking for information that's available elsewhere.

We're taking a four-night trip to Orlando from St. Louis over Martin Luther King weekend. Our days are locked in by my daughters' school schedule, so I'm unable to adjust for better fares. I'm struggling to find a decent deal, which I know is a common problem for a holiday weekend. Still, I'm hoping to secure the best possible deal given the limitations.

The flights from St. Louis on January 11 are pretty reasonable at around $144-$156 per person for the non-stop legs (which are strongly preferred). What I can't find are better deals on the way back from MCO. The flights are all well over $200, with our preferred route at $286 per person.

I have a few credits and vouchers totaling about $117 and about 13,000 points right now. I looked into buying points, but the deal doesn't seem better than just spending the money. I figure that I'll at least use the points for one STL to MCO leg, which is a little over 9,000.

So I have a few questions on the best approach:

1) There are currently no sale fares from STL to MCO. Should I wait for sale fares and hope for a cheaper rate?
2) I haven't seen any threads about recent promo codes that aren't targeted that I could use for a discount. Any info there?
3) I'm concerned that the rates will go up or be completely sold out. Is it worth it to just book the higher rates and then take the credit if/when a better fare becomes available? We're about 10 weeks out now, so we're getting into the best range to book.
4) Any other suggestions on getting the best rate?

I'd really appreciate any help. I'm buying four tickets, so any discount or cheaper rate will drop the price considerably.