Paying for airfare

[imgoingtodisney]

How do you manage to fly to FL a few times a year besides paying for the DVC?

 

[Pluto4President]

just keep looking for great rates. We took an unplanned 5 day trip the end of Sept because the flights were $120 r/t non-stop. Couldn't resist!

 

[dianeschlicht]

Because we plan our trips 11 months ahead of time, we have plenty of time to search for good air fares. Before you make your DVC ressie, search Orbitz or travelocity and find out which travel days give you the lowes fares from your area. For us, leaving on Saturday and returning after Wednesday is always the cheapest fare. We then plan our trips with those days of the week in mind. We usually find the cheapest air fares if we leave home on Saturday and return home 12 days later.

We got a $126 round trip fare from Minnesota for January. Of course, our flights have been changed several times since 9/11, but we still are getting that great fare!

 

[Dizzy4Dizney]

We've been lucky. I had a billion FF miles and the last two trips
for me and DH have been free. We just bought for our DD who was 1/2 price. We have enough for 2 more trips (2003 and 2005). At that point, we'll have to budget for it.

Do you have any FF programs?? Amex is great. The miles never expire.

 

[wdwnut]

hi: you can also sign up for something like travelocity's notification service. that helped us make a couple of short notice trips when the airfare was nice and low. $129 rt, $149 rt, etc. makes it a little easier.

 

[imgoingtodisney]

Actually I did start a frequent flyer program with Delta this last trip. And Im flying to Orlando again in 5.5 weeks!

 

[BobH]

They are great if you can accumulate miles quickly. You will pay $50 to $85 per year for a Mastercard or an American Express charge card that will let you apply all charges toward getting a ticket. You usually have to charge $25,000 fr a domestic ticket and more for an international ticket. The miles usually don't expire but you must consider that you are paying $50-$85 for the ticket because of the annual fees involved. so if you don't fly for a couple of years you will have an out of pocket cost of $100-$170 for a ticket if you get one in your third year. American airlines affiliates with Citibank Mastercard. Delta affiliates with American Express. Pick your airline based on where you fly. for example I have used American in the past, but I am considering switching to Delta or US air programs because they have more choices of flights to Florida. It works for me because I put my kids college tuition on the card to accumulate miles for tickets. I then pay the card off immediately and finance the tuition through Home Equity.
#1 thing is to pay off the card balance before interest accumulates or you are not getting a free ticket at all. You'll pay more for the interest than the ticket would have cost if you paid cash. Add up your annual purchases, choose an airline that flys where you want to go (frequently), then pick a charge card that will give you miles and that is accepted where you do business. Good luck! Hope this helps. It has gotten me about 10 tickets in 2 years.

 

[Tigger7570]

We've been flying down twice a year since 93 and I find the best deals on Delta out of Logan. I usually fly for about $150-$180. Once or twice I have had to pay about $210-220, but if you keep checking, you can usually get a good rate. We usually flight out in the morning and plan the return trip for the afternoon. Usually when we return from a trip I start planning for the next and checking airfare. I have used Expedia for Fare Tracker as well as checking myself. I find if you check Delta's site on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, especially Wednesdays, you sometime can hit a great rate, but you need to book right then, because then it jumps back up over the next few days. I have gone on the site on a Monday and seen a fare for $209 and then on Wed. of the same week, it will be $158. So if you do a quick check a couple times during the week you can usually get a decent fare.

 

[danicaw]

We plan way in advance and use FF programs when we can.

 

[doubletrouble_vb]

Another way to get frequent flyer a miles is by taking every option you can to pick up additional miles.


I get e-tickets, do e-ticket check in (where available), I get miles for my phone bill, I get miles for doing surveys. I also take first class upgrades instead of free tickets over longer distances so that I still get miles. Rental cars, hotels give miles....sometimes without an accompanying flight.

You can buy miles if you are close but don't have quite enough.

But to be honest...I'd never use a free ticket to Florida...the airfares are generally too low to make it worthwhile. Of course I'm only buying for one or two...I might think differently if I were buying for 5.

 

[Doctor P]

Our concession is that we drive to WDW.

 

[Disnydad]

I watch the fares constantly. Got a $39 credit last night from Southwest. We will use that towards our April trip. Have gotten free round trip tickets from our Southwest Rapid Rewards program. Using one of those for our January trip. Last summer we got half price tickets from Southwest in a sale.