DC to Fort Lauderdale

[arlsvera]

We are cruising out of Ft. Lauderdale in November (flying in from DC). I have been checking airfare daily for about a month .. but it's not budging.. it's ridiculously high at $599 a person. It has to go down, right??? I can't image paying that much for the short trip from DC to Ft. Lauderdale. The non-stop flights from Dulles have been eliminated, so I'm only looking at Reagan National (BWI is too far). Thoughts??

[MHF]

BWI may be the further drive but they have Southwest which may help with a cheaper plane ticket.

 

Melissa

[CruiserBruce]

No, it doesn't have to go down. Sounds to me like there is high demand for a small number of seats.

 

When are you going in November? Anytime around Thanksgiving? If so, those cheap seats were gone LONG ago.

[arlsvera]

BWI is too iffy .. lots of beltway between my house and the airport ... construction and accidents are way too common. The flights out of BWI are indeed cheaper ($350), but it would be quite a hassle to get my kids and my elderly mother there in a timely manner!

 

Yes - this is around Thanksgiving. We fly out of DC on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. We've done this before and have always gotten flights around $400 (and even that is crazy for a DC - Florida flight!).

 

Thanks for your input!

[CruiserBruce]

BWI is too iffy .. lots of beltway between my house and the airport ... construction and accidents are way too common. The flights out of BWI are indeed cheaper ($350), but it would be quite a hassle to get my kids and my elderly mother there in a timely manner!

 

Yes - this is around Thanksgiving. We fly out of DC on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. We've done this before and have always gotten flights around $400 (and even that is crazy for a DC - Florida flight!).

 

Thanks for your input!

 

The problem is last year's, or any other year's fares have nothing to do with this years. But given that you are flying the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend is affecting your fares.

[CantanaLobo]

Specific dates would be helpful. I see non-stops r/t DCA-FLL on US Air (Dec 1-Dec 8) for 389.80 pp on Matrix. Although if you're boarding ship Sunday (you didn't say), the flight gets there 1:03 P.M. I'd chew my nails clear up to my elbows if I had that flight, but that's just me.

[arlsvera]

Our cruise is Sunday, November 24 - Sunday, Dec 1. I usually check the fare on kayak.

[headhunterke]

That's gonna be an awful bussy week(end) to fly. Of course prices are gonna skyrocket because the entire country will be on the move. Try changing dates (flying in 1 or 2 days earlier can save you money, even though you need a hotel) when you search for flights. Kayak is a good site, as it gives you an overview of some other sites as well.

 

I've done a couple of searches at Jetblue and I get a price (3 adults and 1 child; I selected this at random, so can still vary) that's totally different.

Departure on November 22nd and return on December 3rd: price $360 roundtrip per person. Flying on December 3 instead of 2 makes a difference of almost $150 each. Flying the 4th, is even cheaper.

[Budget Queen]

Our cruise is Sunday, November 24 - Sunday, Dec 1. I usually check the fare on kayak.

 

This is one of the highest demand times there is. How much longer are you "ok" with "waiting" (which I think has slim chances) for any rate drops? This is not likely to even remotely happen. It sounds like you also have several people involved? Are you willing to split up your flights? Out of DCA, how many flights are you considering?

 

There are several experts with accurate advice to consider on this board.

[Zach1213]

$599-$350 = $249. You refer to your "mom and kids" which, plus you, leads me to think there are at least 4 people. That's $1,000. The drive to Baltimore is that bad that it's worth $1,000? I've done that drive many times...I would never spend $1,000 to avoid it!

[Bowie MeMe]

Do this exact flight at least 6 times a year. And you want non-stop and so do I but I know the rules of play. Pay up if you already have the cruise booked -- flights needed to be considered before not after plunking down for cruise -- just a fact of life for the cruise season in FLL. Here is what you might consider but it might be too late already.

 

Sat. afternoon to fly in sweet time just might be around 2PM but that is prime for all those thousands going to cruise on Sunday just like you. Friday morning might work but not Friday PM the most expensive day of the week. Tuesday Weds and Thursday are the cheap days during the cruise season -- everything else goes really fast. I have flown on holiday before -- Turkey day afternoon is often cheap but then not always.

Try Ft Myers, Tampa, West Palm, etc and consider driving a couple of hours. JAX (Jacksonville) is usually cheap and available but too far to drive but might see if could then get a connection to FLL. Check MIA Miami but that too will be cruise driven. Try Richmond VA airport -- we have picked up daughter from Charlottesville and used that. You can also catch a flight anywhere and then to FLL but it will be costly -- as someone said people are on the move. Kids out of school and on the ships. Could try Tuesday before thanksgiving and go to stay with my cute son-in-law on Ft Lauderdale beach -- he still has a very few rooms left in his luxury hotel and you could see the ships come in.

 

Sorry to sound negative but if you are going to fly for this cruise you better nail something like yesterday. I don't have my tickets for Christmas yet either and same problem -- by the time plans are made the flights are gone. Good luck. Sometimes just out of the blue a ticket or so shows up but you can also turn blue waiting for the miracle. :rolleyes: (one tip is to look for one ticket at a time for cheapness but if you all must be on the same flight that is too risky). Let us know how it goes.

[Keith1010]

I don't think the prices are going to move.

 

As mentioned Thanksgiving is November 28.

 

Many people go away for the entire week.

 

Florida is a popular destination that time of year.

 

I do hope you will fly in a day or more before the cruise.

 

I would book it because flights will likely be full. They are running full anyway but there will be more demand that weekend.

 

Keith

[bouhunter]

Blame it on all those people visiting relatives over Thanksgiving:( Supply and demand....... We tried getting tickets from Michigan to Florida sometime that period (not for a cruise) and gave up. Finally decided to heck with it and bought tickets in early November for 203.00 from our small airport, a great deal. Would have been 300.00+ more 3 weeks later.

[bouhunter]

Sorry to sound negative but if you are going to fly for this cruise you better nail something like yesterday. I don't have my tickets for Christmas yet either and same problem -- by the time plans are made the flights are gone. Good luck. Sometimes just out of the blue a ticket or so shows up but you can also turn blue waiting for the miracle. :rolleyes: (one tip is to look for one ticket at a time for cheapness but if you all must be on the same flight that is too risky). Let us know how it goes.

 

Very well put. Keep checking Kayak and others, you never know what might show up. But if you've paid for the cruise and are going no matter what, I wouldn't wait too long. We booked a cruise for Spring Break March 2014 (another infamous high demand period) and started looking for airfares two months ago. My wife was checking almost every day. She found great airfare prices last week and purchased immediately. The next day the same flights were running 40-50% more.........

[arlsvera]

Ah, you guys are killing me! You were supposed to say "sit tight and the rates will go down!"

 

I do need to do something ... thanks for enlightening me to the fact that perhaps it's justified to pay so much for airfare....

 

Grrr... I just want to be on that ship!! Cruise planning is fun .. airfare, not so much!

[parody]

The fare prediction algorithm on Bing travel suggests waiting to purchase. In the meantime, it may be useful to set up a fare alert on a service like Yapta.com as fare changes can occur quickly and only for a short time.

[bouhunter]

Ah, you guys are killing me! You were supposed to say "sit tight and the rates will go down!"

 

I do need to do something ... thanks for enlightening me to the fact that perhaps it's justified to pay so much for airfare....

 

Grrr... I just want to be on that ship!! Cruise planning is fun .. airfare, not so much!

 

It can be Soooo frustrating trying to find decent airfare's during high demand periods:( Good luck, hope you find something that isn't too bad. Maybe keep trying some of the ones that don't show up on Kayak. Southwest, and maybe some of the obscure ones like Allegiant, Sun Country, etc. They fly limited dates and airports but you never know.

[KirkNC]

The problem is last year's, or any other year's fares have nothing to do with this years. But given that you are flying the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend is affecting your fares.[/quote]

 

Exactly!

[FlaGrl4Evr]

Ah, you guys are killing me! You were supposed to say "sit tight and the rates will go down!"

 

I do need to do something ... thanks for enlightening me to the fact that perhaps it's justified to pay so much for airfare....

 

Grrr... I just want to be on that ship!! Cruise planning is fun .. airfare, not so much!

 

 

 

Is there anyway that you could reserve a park & fly hotel near BWI ? You could take the stress off by arriving the afternoon or evening before the flight, get a good night's sleep and then take the hotel shuttle to the airport for your flight.

 

I have read on the boards that the Sleep Inn BWI has a park & cruise pkg so perhaps they have a park & fly pkg as well.

 

http://www.sleepinn.com/hotel-baltimore-maryland-MD128

 

 

Good luck to you :)

 

 

.

[FlaGrl4Evr]

Also, have you thought about flying in to FLL the evening before- Sat Nov 23 ? AirTran flt # 5639 from BWI to FLL departs @ 6pm and lands in FLL @ 8:35 pm. $ 145 pp. You would have to arrange for a hotel but it may offset the good rate.

 

There is no rule that states that you have to use the same airline for both legs of the trip. Our last cruise to FLL, we flew AirTran direct from Indy to FLL @ $124 pp and home on SW due to the schedule.

 

 

Again, Good luck to you.

 

:)

[Zach1213]

It can be Soooo frustrating trying to find decent airfare's during high demand periods:( Good luck, hope you find something that isn't too bad. Maybe keep trying some of the ones that don't show up on Kayak. Southwest, and maybe some of the obscure ones like Allegiant, Sun Country, etc. They fly limited dates and airports but you never know.

 

Nah, there's a different way you should be looking at it. The definition of "decent airfare" should be changed due to the high demand periods. For example, if I decide to go visit my family in Chicago in, say, February (I live in Kansas City), I expect airfare to be $250 roundtrip. However, when I go visit them for Thanksgiving, I expect airfare to be $400 roundtrip.

 

That's why I usually take the train for Thanksgiving now ;)

[arlsvera]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I will look into them all ... BWI is not my friend, but we may get to know each other on this trip! I did look into a Southwest flight from there .. but the only available returns were at 11:00 am or 9:30 pm ... not great. I will look into Air Train too. It looks like I have options, but not great ones! Thank you for the input! I have some homework to do ...

[bouhunter]

Nah, there's a different way you should be looking at it. The definition of "decent airfare" should be changed due to the high demand periods. For example, if I decide to go visit my family in Chicago in, say, February (I live in Kansas City), I expect airfare to be $250 roundtrip. However, when I go visit them for Thanksgiving, I expect airfare to be $400 roundtrip.

 

That's why I usually take the train for Thanksgiving now ;)

 

OK fine, I should have said it's frustrating to find cheap airfare during peak periods. Whatever:rolleyes:

[Zach1213]

OK fine, I should have said it's frustrating to find cheap airfare during peak periods. Whatever:rolleyes:

 

My point was valid and certainly didn't deserve a snarky eye roll.

[CruiserBruce]

I should have said it's frustrating to find cheap airfare during peak periods.

 

Without adding a snarky issue, if you think it should be easy to get cheap fares during high demand season, I am thinking a refresher course in supply and demand might be in order. Isn't this how capitalism works? Charge more for something when there is a fixed capacity and high demand? Aren't airlines in the business to make a profit?

 

It is well known that Thanksgiving is a high demand travel time. It is well known that cheapest fares go first, most of the time.