British Airways return flight prices double

[MattH2O]

Hi all,

We usually try book our flights the day they are released (11 months out). The return leg alone from MCO to London for the last week of august next year is coming in at £800 per person (so its like £1.3k per person round trip for economy).

Flights for early august were around £3.5k for a family of four in economy but the later flights seem to have rocketed out out control, particularly in that last week. I t cant be due to availability as the flights have just been released. Any ideas for what’s going on?

 

[Ember]

Try adjusting the dates by a day or so. We just booked for Disneyland and trying to go from Sunday to Saturday was over £1000 more for the two of us than going Saturday to Saturday. So now we have an extra day... Oh well! BA is funny that way.

 

[Ruttangel]

I’ve found that it’s a bit random now when prices hit the lowest, you could register for an alert via Skyscanner and they will send email to you if price changes up or down. Google flights might do the same?
For August 2023 we found that Dec/Jan was lowest price time.

 

[MattH2O]

I spoke to BA twice this week. The person I just spoke to said they have sold all the seats for last week of august to travel agents.

If that’s true guess we won’t be going next year then or will have to try another airline.

Will try to set an alert and fingers crossed. Hopefully something changes. There is no way I’m paying £5k for economy flights.

 

[Ruttangel]

Do you have to fly BA, there are loads of options from London?
I always found American Airlines/Delta/Virgin to be have much better inflight food, entertainment and service than BA

 

[MattH2O]

Do you have to fly BA, there are loads of options from London?
I always found American Airlines/Delta/Virgin to be have much better inflight food, entertainment and service than BA

Yes - i think we will need to go with another airline when they release the flights. Just annoying as we have built up so many points with BA, they have usually been least expensive also.

We have previously preferred virgin.

 

[tony67]

Don't forget to check out Jet Blue - they are new to the London route - but they will have a stop over in Boston or NY for 2 hours or so and you will need to go through customs in NY or Boston - not sure how much of a PITA that is.

Also consider flying to Orlando on BA one way and then back on another airline - but its a few weeks too early to book on some airlines. (If they don't charge more for one way - Jet Blue does not) I often fly to Europe on Tap with a free stop in Lisbon and return on a different Air Line.

Early August is about 400 Sterling one way Orlando to Heathrow (they also have Gatwick but its 100 more)

Id watch for a sale - Jet Blue is odd - the earlier you book the better price wise, but they they have random sales on the website to watch for. IF you book a refundable flight they are quick to deposit it in your travel bank so you can rebook.

 

[Ruttangel]

Don't forget to check out Jet Blue - they are new to the London route - but they will have a stop over in Boston or NY for 2 hours or so and you will need to go through customs in NY or Boston - not sure how much of a PITA that is.

can be stressful if connection time is low, need at least 2.5 hours to get through immigration and recheck in your bag but done indirect many times and it is great at MCO to go straight through

 

[tony67]

can be stressful if connection time is low, need at least 2.5 hours to get through immigration and recheck in your bag but done indirect many times and it is great at MCO to go straight through

Yeah - also watch for Aer Lingus - it way too early for sales with them - you would change planes in Dublin - but go through customs and immigration in Dublin which is really nice.

Just know that Aer Lingus will give you no service at all - not even a free drink - its tough to get a glass of water and honestly they are barley a step above Ryan Air

 

[MattH2O]

Like the idea of getting customs out of the way mid travel. In honesty we’ve not found immigration to be a problem at MCO, it’s waiting for the baggage that takes ages.

Terminal C this year was lovely

 

[tony67]

Like the idea of getting customs out of the way mid travel. In honesty we’ve not found immigration to be a problem at MCO, it’s waiting for the baggage that takes ages.

Terminal C this year was lovely

Yeah the baggage situation at MCO is ridiculous - even for domestic flights I've waited an hour at 11PM

Looking forward to the new terminal

 

[zavandor]

The new terminal is really great. I waited a bit for the bag, mine was one of the last to arrive, but zero wait for immigration.

 

[Ruttangel]

Oh that’s interesting, flying Virgin we still used old terminal

 

[itf]

Our trip we booked about six weeks ago for start of July next year has gone up £4k (3 people, premium economy, waldorf, park tickets etc) so I'm glad I didn't wait for a sale

 

[Scottishdisneyfan]

Have a look at TUI if BA isnt working for you, a fly drive and using MLB can be decent.

 

[Max Headroom]

I check daily on prices - and sadly have a spreadsheet set up too. (but we normally travel Late Aug/Early Sep). For this year, I originally booked London- Tampa route but a cheaper MCO flight popped up and I couldn't refuse it. Lost original deposit, however, that reduction and the RPR hotel booking (via Travel republic) savings made it a feasible change. Keep looking!

 

[itf]

I can't work out what's going on with BA's pricing. The exact same holiday we booked for ~ 8k in July is now over 14k, significantly up over even the crazy rises I was seeing at the start of Sept.

 

[MattH2O]

No idea what BA are doing. The prices seemed to return to reasonable levels last week and we booked. Outbound flight had increased though as it meant we booked later than usual.

 

[CVG]

Arrived thru terminal C with BA. Lovely gleaming building with high ceilings and miles to walk to get to baggage reclaim. Really slow delivering baggage. Really slow getting thru immigration.

I can't believe that I am saying this. Pinch me. LHR was a breeze. Short walk to reclaim. 5 mins for luggage. Automated immigration worked perfectly with UK passport. Shame that the terminal looks like a dump!