uglydork

Is it just me or is MCO really expensive this year. Our flight date of 7/29 just shot up $50 in 4 hours and no Dings at all from Buffalo.
The car rentals are crazy this year also.
We travel to Siesta Key via Orlando at this time every year, but this year seems crazy. I have two free slights and they want $275.00 for kids fares. That is more expensive than online. There doesnt seem to be an MCO deals this year?
Sorry, just venting.

nsx

I've seen high fares everywhere this summer. The flights are full and fuel prices are high. the only relief comes when VX or some other competitor launches a sale for short-notice travel. That is not announced, so you just have to keep checking.

The $39 anniversary sale was a welcome relief from high fares, but exciting sales seem to be quite rare for Southwest these days.

gsupstate

Isn't that the MO of the legacies? Where did Southwest go? Me confoosed....

mritty

There's a lot going on at both WDW and Universal this summer (return of the Main St Electrical Parade, new effects on the Tower of Terror, new rock and glow dance party at Hollywood Studios, return of Captain EO at Epcot, new fireworks show at Magic Kingdom, the opening of the Harry Potter land, etc). Is it possible that's increased demand to Orlando in general, and therefore upped prices?

bmw745ion19s

If you are just going to MCO to fly in, why not go to TPA? Closer to SK, nicer airport, and usually lower fares.

uglydork

We thought about that but we take the kids to Disney on our last day of vacation. Also, the rentacl car prices are higher

jdburns11

$275 round-trip to MCO around 21 days out.... is that completely out of whack for what you usually get for that trip? Doesn't seem all that unreasonable but maybe I'm off the mark.

I agree prices are high this summer & fly predominantly AA and WN. Having said that I got 4 tickets round-trip, non-stop from MCI for about $225 each... which I would have preferred to pay < $200 but am not going to complain given the times and non-stops.

After just recently receiving my first award from WN in a while, it also seems awfully hard to use the RR tickets without using the double/premium coupons.

Also related I found that MCI-LAS and to west coast seem significantly higher than I can remember seeing in the past as well.

Respectfully, jdburns11

DoctorK

I think that was a one-way fare. SW prices out of BUF are really out of wack...

7 days out, BUF-MCO RT via SW is $450
7 days out, BUF-MCO RT via JetBlue is $259.40
7 days out, BUF-MCO RT via AirTran is $280.10 (before bag & seat fees)

At 14 days, BUF-MCO RT via SW is $485
At 14 days, BUF-MCO RT via JetBlue is $351.40
At 14 days, BUF-MCO RT via AirTran is $357.10 (before bag & seat fees)

At 50 days, BUF-MCO RT via SW is $373
At 50 days, BUF-MCO RT via JetBlue is $310
At 50 days, BUF-MCO RT via AirTran is $347.80 (before bag & seat fees)

SW isn't even in the same ballpark at 7 or 14 days out. Even at 50 days out, a family of four would save more than $250 going with Jet Blue, and have two non-stop flights at that.

I guess if they can get people to pay up then their bean counters are doing their jobs. But their reputation, at least in my eyes, is no longer that of a lower-cost option.

uastarflyer

That is because you did the research. They know full well most people do not.

nsx

The business model of riding on your reputation without earning it anew every day is not sustainable.

gsupstate

....and again, more reminiscent of legacy carriers, rather than the trail-blazing LCC/LFC we all fondly remember.

Boraxo

Yes the whine is a bit too high.

It is difficult for me to sympathize as we paid $400+ per person to fly OAK-MCO during spring break. That was the price when WN opened the booking window - other carriers wanted $500+ and the prices never went down. No RR or FF saver award tickets of any kind were ever made available on any carrier for the dates we needed (though admittedly we were unable to check the schedule at the 330 day mark as accommodations were not yet finalized).

It really killed me to pay this much (actually to be unable to assist Boraxo's parents in finding lower fares) as I continuously saw sales last winter and now more recently for $200-250 roundtrip. But as we all have known for many years, you get reamed for peak periods by the airlines.

[Side note: on the plus side we took a rare VDB on the way back which earned $1200 in WN credits thanks to the high fares plus a stopover night in LAS)

The suggestion to consider alternative routing to TPA is good. At one point we have the opportunity to book SFO-TPA for $200+ per person but failed to pull the trigger. TPA is not a long drive from MCO and there are worse places to spend a night if you must. Also better rental car rates.

Speaking of which, there is better news on the rental car front. We were initially quoted $600/week for the cheapest cars, but about a month before travel the rates started to drop. We ended up paying $301/week for a midsize from Alamo. So make your backup reservation but continue to be vigilent in checking rates.

jtaft

I haven't researched the option, but the OP might want to look into an open-jaw pair of one-ways (e.g. down to TPA, return from MCO). Florida is one place where one-way car rentals can often work out. A couple years back we wanted to go round-trip MDW-TPA and it was expensive. We ended up saving about 30% by flying MDW-MCO, one-way rental to TPA, return TPA-MDW.

mkjr

just snaked a 69/69 ticket leave Oct. 30 and return nov. 6...non stops from BUF...total for three tix 478.20...funny, had to go through the 42nd link...the fare had been at 89/89 on and off and compared with my fare purchased last sept for the same dates, this is pretty much identical....

formeraa

nsx, your comment is refreshingly HONEST!^