Philly to Miami: What's airfare like?

[yazee1]

We're a family of five. Dh and I are having second thoughts about driving down to Miami for our cruise in February. I've been looking around the web for airfare prices. Last night I found a great fare, but when I looked into it the dates we wanted were sold out or even though I request a morning flight, I'm offered an evening flight. It seems as though there's a switch and bait thing going on. Another tactic, I type in specific times and dates and I'm offered 125.00 round trip. BUT, when I look into it further that's a flight leaving at a time way out of my range OR there's are seats available on the way there but none available on the date I want to return. I considered priceline, but since there's no way of knowing the flight time before I bid, I'd have to bid on dates a day before and after the cruise to avoid a schedule conflict. The savings on the airfare would be eaten up in hotel costs.

 

So, what's a reasonable fare from Philadelphia to Miami in February? Is Priceline worth a shot? Should we just drive down and be done with it?

[GoinCruisin]

We're a family of five. Dh and I are having second thoughts about driving down to Miami for our cruise in February. I've been looking around the web for airfare prices. Last night I found a great fare, but when I looked into it the dates we wanted were sold out or even though I request a morning flight, I'm offered an evening flight. It seems as though there's a switch and bait thing going on. Another tactic, I type in specific times and dates and I'm offered 125.00 round trip. BUT, when I look into it further that's a flight leaving at a time way out of my range OR there's are seats available on the way there but none available on the date I want to return. I considered priceline, but since there's no way of knowing the flight time before I bid, I'd have to bid on dates a day before and after the cruise to avoid a schedule conflict. The savings on the airfare would be eaten up in hotel costs.

 

So, what's a reasonable fare from Philadelphia to Miami in February? Is Priceline worth a shot? Should we just drive down and be done with it?

 

No bait and switch, some times are more expensive than others. That is how it has always been. Morning flights tend to always be higher. Airfare right now isn't cheap, you just have to keep searching for a good fare. Priceline, to me, is not the way to go unless you have no schedule. You should always try to come in the day before, regardless... any delay the day of, and you could miss your ship. Reasonable? It all depends on your dates of travel, the times, etc. If you are flying in the day of, I would never do Priceline. Also, flying the day of, in February, from a city that could have a snowstorm, or during a time where other airports could be delayed becaue of weather, is simply risky. Just keep looking around... it's hard to say what a reasonable fare would be without more info. Check out some of the travel sites, such as expedia, ITA, etc. Good luck!

[BrendaB1]

Priceline has changed the way flights are booked. I booked Aug trip & picked my flights. It's worth checking into. Some deals are good there....others are not. Always good to research all available sites before making final decsion. Good luck.

[wrp96]

No bait and switch, some times are more expensive than others. That is how it has always been. Morning flights tend to always be higher. Airfare right now isn't cheap, you just have to keep searching for a good fare. Priceline, to me, is not the way to go unless you have no schedule. You should always try to come in the day before, regardless... any delay the day of, and you could miss your ship. Reasonable? It all depends on your dates of travel, the times, etc. If you are flying in the day of, I would never do Priceline. Also, flying the day of, in February, from a city that could have a snowstorm, or during a time where other airports could be delayed becaue of weather, is simply risky. Just keep looking around... it's hard to say what a reasonable fare would be without more info. Check out some of the travel sites, such as expedia, ITA, etc. Good luck!

 

I agree. Definitely try a search engine like ITA or Kayak, which pull from multiple websites. I know on Kayak you can search when flights arrive not just when they depart, which can also be helpful and you can search nearby airports.

[gram4haley]

A few months ago, I booked a direct flight RT from Philly to Miami for my family of 5 for our January cruise and got it for around $240 per person. I went to one of the on-line services to get a price and then directly to the airlines website, and for this trip, the airlines site was cheaper. That doesn't happen very often, but in the future, I will check both.

[philly50's]

We always fly to Fort Lauderdale and then take a cab or car to Miami. It is a short commute and the airfare from Philly to FLL is generally less than Philly to Miami. I think we paid $25.00 for a shared car ride last time. Why not check FLL as an option, just to compare. That drive from Philly to Miami is a long one and you have to consider gas prices too.

[rfrey]

Try http://www.sidestep.com good search for various airlines. Good luck.

[yst347]

American Airlines has a $100 roundtrip fare, non-stop PHL to MIA right now. You would have to fly down Thursday night 02/09/2006 and return Monday morning 02/20/2006.

 

If you could swing the extra days off your savings on airfare should cover the cost of the extra vacation time.

[halos]

Does Southwest fly into Miami??? I know that you can get SW out of Philly and the rates are always good with that airline....check it out.

[yst347]

Does Southwest fly into Miami??? I know that you can get SW out of Philly and the rates are always good with that airline....check it out.

 

Southwest flies into Ft. Lauderdale so it is an option but Southwest isn't taking reservations in Feruary yet.

[oulou]

We also were having a problem with airfare for our cruise in February. The dates we wanted were either booked or we could not get enough seats as we are a group of 10. This was looking online and with the help of our TA. So we chose the path of least resistance and went with airfare from Carnival. If we had booked on our own for whatever flights we could get it was $500 round trip. This way it is only $375 round trip pp. Going in the day before and returning the day the ship returns.

 

This was after months of checking out flights.

[BlueHerons]

If you are traveling President's Week, $250 per person would be a bargain. Everyone and their brother is trying to get into South Florida that week.

 

For what it is worth, I-95 will be a nightmare.

[palmtre2]

PHL to MIA is usually always more expensive than flying into FLL. We did it this past March - flew(USA3000) into FLL (2 days prior) hired a car to an inexpensive hotel on the beach in MIA (Tri County shuttle at the airport is about $17/pp - hired car from them was $60 plus tip) then took a taxi to the pier. We had TriCounty pick us up at the pier and take us back to FLL ($80 plus tip).

[BlueHerons]

I just looked at that AA price and Feb 10th returning Feb 19th it is only $119 roundtrip.

 

Book that right now! I've never seen airfare that cheap.

[Snowball]

When flying from Philly, it is usually (but not always) cheaper to fly into Fort Lauderdale instead of Miami. It is only about a 20-30 minute ride from FLL to MIA, and the difference in airfare can be significant. I paid $157 from PHL to FLL in June on Southwest, and friends of our that flew into MIA paid $289 on American. I think the airfare savings more than outweighs any possible hassle of having to get from FLL to MIA (there are plenty of shuttle services that will provide transportation from FLL to the port of Miami).

[yst347]

I just looked at that AA price and Feb 10th returning Feb 19th it is only $119 roundtrip.

 

Book that right now! I've never seen airfare that cheap.

 

That is $100 fare I was quoting. Unfortunately all seats on the 10th are soldout and all seats on the 19th are sold out. :(

[serene56]

Ijsut got tickets for the 19th for 8am flight out of MIA for 84.00.

We got one way from Phl to FLL for 64 dollars a few months ago and waited patiently for fares to come down.

 

check the individual airlines for availabity. I dont see this fare on any internet agency.

http://www.aa.com

[NJCONVCRS]

Have you checked JetBlue out of Newark. It might be a bit of a hike, but if you book an airport hotel at Newark, you can leave your car there for the length of your vacation - probably a wash between the cost of the hotel room & the airport parking savings, but it could save you $$ on the flight. They also only fly into FLL.

 

Either way, I would fly into FLL if it is cheaper & rent a car. We are flying into FLL before our cruise. I got great rental rate using rentalcodes.com - they have codes for all the major rental companies - you have to play around & see which code is best. We booked our hotel with priceline - paying $60 for the Wyndham Miami Airport. Will return rental at airport and take free rental car shuttle to the port. After returning, we have same situation. Flights on Sunday were outrageous, so are leaving 1st thing Monday morning - booked Renaissance Fort Lauderdale Airport for $58 on priceline. Will rent a car at port for $30 and return it before our 6am flight Monday. Even though we are paying extra for rental cars & hotels, we saved about $1,000 on airfare - from $460 to $135r/t.

[serene56]

Another option you may consider-- buying one way trips.

 

I got my one way from PHL to FLL a few months ago paying 69 one way.. using USAir. today I got my coming back flight from MIA for 69.00

 

I needed to buy for 4 people and found when I was seaching for all 4 at the same time it gave me aprice of 99.oo but when I did 2 at a time-- it was only 69. so maybe buy individual tickets one after another.

 

My whole flight doing it this way was a total of 123 pp.

[yazee1]

I'm glad to have all this advice. I'm checking nightly and I am signed up for farewatch and lowering price alerts. So far 144 round trip looks like the best deal but I never tried doing it one way and seeing if I could get a good deal that way. The annoying thing is some of the fare alerts I get are repeats and the "sold out" dates are dates I'd like. Thanks for the tips. I'll keep at it.

[jilly08]

JMHO but I'd hold out for SW. We are cruising in January and I booked one way out of BWI for 69.00 and then when they opened up the return dates, booked the return for 67.00. They had similar fares out of Philly but BWI is closer for us.

I checked their site daily and snatched up the seats the day they opened up their schedule. Both our flights are non stop and are afternoon departures.

[yazee1]

Thwarted yet again. No dice on that cheap fare. I'm going to take a littel break from this. It won't be long before Southwest posts more February rates. We're still considering driving. No matter how you slice it , with a family of five, flying and transporting to and from the airport and port is very costly. Driving runs about 600 including the cost of parking at the port and a hotel on the way down and back. Flying and all the things that go with that is in the neighborhood of 1200.

[silentbob007]

Air Tran is also another option for Philly to Miami.

[yazee1]

Checked with Airtran. Not a bad option either. Researching this issue has brought to my attention airlines I never knew of or had read about in Consumer Report but forgot about. This morning I woke up with another strategy. Not taking the kids! They went on a Disney cruise last April with us and we're all going again next October. Three less passengers would lighten the financial load and I'm sure their grandparents would love to see them. I have to run that by dh when he gets home.