In these tricky times of flying...

[d9704011]

1 minute ago, d9704011 said:

Have a look at Flair Airlines.

 

Edited September 11, 2022 by d9704011
Made an error.

[jonthomas]

Flair a VERY new airline...yes their prices are good...

[sunlover12]

I'm on a January cruise that disembarks on a Sunday in Florida.  Airfares from Florida are substantially higher on Sundays because of 5000 passenger mega ships disembarking.  We looked at both Sunday and Monday and opted to wait a day and fly out on Monday.  The cost of the hotel room was less than the additional airfare we would be paying if we flew out of Florida on Sunday.

It's something to consider for those who don't mind waiting a day to leave. 

[basenji56]

I flew home from FLL today.  Learned something new.  When you get into the terminal, there are scores of people waiting to check their bags.  The Delta representative directed us to go outside and check our bags with the curbside checkin people.  It made a huge difference in time.

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, d9704011 said:

Maybe, but it's gonna be tough to get on a cruise out of Florida when you're on a flight to Toronto late Sunday afternoon.

but the cruises  return to Florida  & people fly home  as well 😉

 One year took us 1 hour to get through security  for flight home on AA  after  the cruise

 

[jonthomas]

well you have me thinking now...

 

flying on monday is half the cost of flying on Sunday...

 

so maybe will look for a hotel for one night......but have no car and need to be near some amenities...

 

so now checking hotels...cant be expensive, that would defeat the purpose of not flying out on Sunday....

[Cliff-FLL]

Haven't read through all this but, as much as I hate TAP, I'm a big fan of theirs.  Lousy service, but cheap fares.  You can easily get a biz class, 1-way ticket on a direct flight from Toronto to Lisboa for less than US$2,000.  Unless there's some sort of mid-Atlantic "Oops!," very little chance of lost luggage en route.  And - as I mentioned somewhere else on the Oceania boards - TAP will give you a reduced price if you spend a few days in Portugal before continuing on to Barcelona.  They also have flights that connect through Boston or Montreal (via AC) but they're more expensive.  Go figure...

[jonthomas]

yes will consider TAP another time...for this one we are all set...at least to Barcelona....getting home from Miami, still working on that....

 

I hope some of  this has been helpful to others...it has certainly been very helpful to me ...to be able to bounce ideas off others...

[jonthomas]

ok....

 

a reasonable hotel and meals for the day in Miami...only saves us 100 pp...not worth it...

 

makes no sense not to go home on Sunday and not have the additional hassle....

 

will still wait a bit to see if prices for dec 4 come down...plane still empty....

[Robjame]

29 minutes ago, jonthomas said:

ll you have me thinking now...

 

flying on monday is half the cost of flying on Sunday...

Flying out of FLL? a stay in Fort Lauderdale  - more reasonable

 

[jonthomas]

thanks for this..but still after hotel and meals, makes no sense to save a 100pp....

 

would much rather go home...

 

will still wait to see what happens with Mia for Dec 4...the planes are still empty..not sure what is driving the cost up....

 

I am just overwhelmed by the helpfulness of others...

 

you guys and gals are the best....

 

hope to return the kindness to someone else looking for advice...

[FlyerTalker]

23 minutes ago, jonthomas said:

will still wait a bit to see if prices for dec 4 come down...plane still empty....

 

Why do you say that the plane is "still empty"?

 

If you are looking at a seat map, that has little relationship to the actual inventory situation on the flight.

 

Do you have access to the actual inventory levels for the flight that your are interested in?  Real access, through some various tools - not from a seat map.

 

Finally, why would you expect pricing to come down on those flights?  Rational expectation, not just a hope?

[LHT28]

2 hours ago, jonthomas said:

will still wait to see what happens with Mia for Dec 4...the planes are still empty..not sure what is driving the cost up....

 

 

The longer you wait  the less seats will be available

 Pick a flight that will not break the bank  & book it

AC   5pm  nonstop from MIA  $418

AC  1:45  $535  from MIA

AC  2:45  $472  from MIA 

 

They are not getting any cheaper

JMO

[susiesan]

There is a big art show in Miami that weekend called Art Basel. That's causing the price of hotel rooms that weekend to be double the normal price. I'm flying in to MIA Saturday Dec. 3 to board Marina Dec. 4 and am paying over $200 for an airport hotel that was $100 last Dec 2021. That's the cheapest decent hotel I could find. Also, all the people who flew in for Art Basel must be leaving on Sunday along with thousands of cruisers. I had the same issue as you on my post cruise flight home from MIA on Sunday Dec. 18. Crazy high one way prices, over $350 to MCI. I ended up using a ridiculously high amount of AA miles, 30K each for coach seats. What I thought was a reasonably priced cruise vacation has turned out to be very expensive with the add on, most I've ever paid for a December trip.

[FlyerTalker]

1 hour ago, susiesan said:

What I thought was a reasonably priced cruise vacation has turned out to be very expensive with the add on, most I've ever paid for a December trip.

 

The lesson is:  research, research, and more research.

 

One should always do some investigation to see what is happening locally around the time of the start and end of a cruise.  Sure, folks know about increased demand around holidays, but one should also look out for sporting and cultural events that will increase the demand for both flights and hotels.

 

 

[jonthomas]

15 hours ago, LHT28 said:

The longer you wait  the less seats will be available

 Pick a flight that will not break the bank  & book it

AC   5pm  nonstop from MIA  $418

AC  1:45  $535  from MIA

AC  2:45  $472  from MIA 

 

They are not getting any cheaper

JMO

 

yes I think I need to do that...

[jonthomas]

17 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Why do you say that the plane is "still empty"?

 

If you are looking at a seat map, that has little relationship to the actual inventory situation on the flight.

 

Do you have access to the actual inventory levels for the flight that your are interested in?  Real access, through some various tools - not from a seat map.

 

Finally, why would you expect pricing to come down on those flights?  Rational expectation, not just a hope?

 

 

using the map AC provides for booking seats...shows what is available for booking...

[FlyerTalker]

15 minutes ago, jonthomas said:

using the map AC provides for booking seats...shows what is available for booking...

 

No...it shows the seats which may be requested for your flight.  It does NOT show the number of seats unsold.

 

Airplanes are not like theaters, where you buy a specific seat for a specific performance.  A "seat map" is only showing what they are making available for you to choose from.

 

There are a number of reasons why folks may be ticketed but not assigned a seat.  Or seats may show as "taken" when they haven't been sold.  Suffice to say, don't use a seat map.

 

 

[Robjame]

20 minutes ago, jonthomas said:

using the map AC provides for booking seats...shows what is available for booking...

I think this is what you are saying but the empty seats you see on the seat map only represent seats that people have not paid to select. There are likely a lot of passengers booked on that flight who are willing to take pot luck. Costs vary from $17 - $20 pp to book a particular seat.

[Robjame]

9 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

Airplanes are not like theaters, where you buy a specific seat for a specific performance.  A "seat map" is only showing what they are making available for you to choose from.

In fact in this case they are. AC charges extra to choose a particular seat otherwise you take what you get at boarding.

 

https://www.aircanada.com/us/en/aco/home/app.html#/faredriven

 

Edited September 12, 2022 by Robjame

[jonthomas]

yes I got it...that makes sense....

 

and more than that..I booked the flight....it went down $50 pp from yesterday...and I am happy with that....took the 2:45 as the 1:30 was much more...

 

so thats it...

 

thanks to all....

[jonthomas]

We can chose our seats 24 hours before flight...short flight , 3hrs, 15 min...dont care where we sit...

 

as long as there are no kids behind me...but I cant control that....and ear plugs are always handy....