Airfare-yikes

[chipmaster]

Have been watching airfare for my trip next Feb from MSP to FLL for my Carnival cruise. Fares went up over $100 a ticket over the weekend! Can't book until tomorrow on the airline I was going to use (Midwest) since they only go 330 days out. Looks like it's back to NWA since it will be $100 cheaper. Do I dare wait and hope fares go down?

 

Better go get in line to sell some plasma...:mad:

 

Oil is above 100 dollars a barrel, auto gas is pushing 4 bucks. At 100 bucks a gallon only two US airlines can make a profit and the others will lose billions. Jet fuel is the #1 cost of airlines. Almost all airlines are parking their most inefficient jets even with record % of seat fill. At 110-120 bucks a barrel NO US airline will make money.

 

Last I checked with Delta, United, NW near or recently out of bankruptcy are close to going bust again if oil continues to climb to above 110 bucks.

 

What we'll see is fewer flights, fewer routes, more crowded airplanes and lot more surcharges for extra baggage, overweight luggage and maybe charging poeple by the lb/kilo :D

 

My biggest worry these days is whether my domestic connect flight could get canceled and miss my international connect if things continue to deteriorate. Less to worry about international flights as those are the ones that make the real $ for airlines.

[FloridaLaura]

We are in the planning stages of a European Cruise (Med) for 2009. We are really waiting for the upcoming Caribbean Cruise to finish before planning our 2009 cruise, I can't multi-task too well :D , anyway, I can not imagine what the airfare is going to be to fly to Venice Italy :eek: !. I did sign up for a milege credit card thru American Airlines, I have been trying to use that credit card for as many expenses I can, and paying it off each month to accrue "miles" I can redeem towards flights. Hopefully that will help offset some of the cost!

 

Luckily we live in Florida so I can drive to all my other ports!

[chipmaster]

We are in the planning stages of a European Cruise (Med) for 2009. We are really waiting for the upcoming Caribbean Cruise to finish before planning our 2009 cruise, I can't multi-task too well :D , anyway, I can not imagine what the airfare is going to be to fly to Venice Italy :eek: !. I did sign up for a milege credit card thru American Airlines, I have been trying to use that credit card for as many expenses I can, and paying it off each month to accrue "miles" I can redeem towards flights. Hopefully that will help offset some of the cost!

 

Luckily we live in Florida so I can drive to all my other ports!

 

Book early and budget at a minimum $1000/person. We are traveling in prime summer time this year. I was a bit deliquent in locking down prices and saw them climb from 800 bucks to 1.1K in a week and saw numerous carriers fill up their cheap seats.

[teenabear]

I booked our flights two weeks ago for January at $339 per person from Madison, WI to FLL and they have gone up $162 per person as of yesterday. I have also registered my flights on yapta and they let me know of any changes whether up or down and if they go down supposedly you can contact the airlines about the lower fare and they will give you a credit voucher for a future flight.

[Amlee]

Not sure if some of you know this or not, but when you are shopping for air fares, clean out your cookies from your browser.

 

The airlines attach tracking cookies to you and they moniter what flights you are looking for, how often you are checking for flights.

 

Last year I was looking to buy tickets on Delta. I priced out the ticket. Went to put money on my card, came back home and the price had gone up $200 dollars. It was too late to put more money on my card so I decided to do it the next day. That night as usual I cleaned out my cookies and shut my computer down. The next morning I went put the extra money on my card. Came back home, signed in and my ticket had go down almost $300.

[FloridaLaura]

Book early and budget at a minimum $1000/person. We are traveling in prime summer time this year. I was a bit deliquent in locking down prices and saw them climb from 800 bucks to 1.1K in a week and saw numerous carriers fill up their cheap seats.

 

 

Thanks for the heads up!

[cruiseaddict05]

You may already know this but we learned our lesson the hard way. Make sure you book directly through Midwest so if you want to change the flight is only $30... we booked through Travelocity and it is triple that...

I hope this saves you some headaches as we have a giant one!

 

Have been watching airfare for my trip next Feb from MSP to FLL for my Carnival cruise. Fares went up over $100 a ticket over the weekend! Can't book until tomorrow on the airline I was going to use (Midwest) since they only go 330 days out. Looks like it's back to NWA since it will be $100 cheaper. Do I dare wait and hope fares go down?

 

Better go get in line to sell some plasma...:mad:

[Hei1980]

We are flying to Germany in April for $629.00 pp, wanted to book flights to Miami for October, cost $695.00 pp. 19 hours flight time vs. 9 hours flight time. We did booked to MIA but used FF Points.

Other than the cost of oil, the cut back of flights, it is the throng of Europeans traveling to the USA due to the weak dollar that is making the fares go up. The old Supply and Demand in action.

[bp traveler]

I too fly out of MSP and the fares are outrageous right now. We were looking for Thanksgiving for a land vacation but there fares are too high to justify a quick weekend to Cancun!! so I am waiting for the Sun Country fares to come out so I can see what they are priced at.

 

We have used Sun Country and they are great - direct flights and a hot sandwich!! They fly into MIA and West Palm Beach which is not too far of a drive!

[gargoyle999]

If you are flying Presidents' week in February it will be sky high. I live in New England and that week is absolutely outrageous as is Patriots Day week in April. Both are school vacations for many K-12 schools in New England.

 

Well that explains it. I was wondering why the fares were higher than just the week before! I didn't know so many people traveled over this weekend. Guess since I normally have to work and we don't have kids it's just another day for me!

[Pink Bride07]

OhioJeff-

What airline did you book to San Juan? We will being flying to San juan in Feb from DFW to cruise on the Victory...so far the Feb rates have been in the 300's/pp. Thanks.

[OhioJeff]

OhioJeff-

What airline did you book to San Juan? We will being flying to San juan in Feb from DFW to cruise on the Victory...so far the Feb rates have been in the 300's/pp. Thanks.

 

Northwest...not my first choice..but the price was right.

[gargoyle999]

Northwest...not my first choice..but the price was right.

 

Northwest is not my first choice either. Have had too many leave on time but after 30 minutes return to airport for some sort of mechanical problem experiences. So I'm trying to avoid them if I can but they really own MSP airport. :mad:

[Race Track Rick]

I'm also from the Mpls area. I heard on the radio that airfares should come down by August. Let's hope that they are right. I need airfare for next March to San Juan.

 

 

I would say the chances of that really happening are very slim. Two airlines have just announced they are shutting down (Aloha airlines and Champion airlines). With oil running at over $100 a barrel, airlines aren't going to keep giving their product away. Most airlines are bleeding money profusely, so the chances of them lowering fares doesn't make too much sense. But I guess anything is possible.

[AdrenalineRush]

I would say the chances of that really happening are very slim. Two airlines have just announced they are shutting down (Aloha airlines and Champion airlines). With oil running at over $100 a barrel, airlines aren't going to keep giving their product away. Most airlines are bleeding money profusely, so the chances of them lowering fares doesn't make too much sense. But I guess anything is possible.

 

If seats arent selling they will either have to have sales or cancel flights...they will probably end up doing a little of both.

 

The key is to have a farewatcher program to monitor prices for you. Lots of great fare buckets out there is you can time it right and pull the trigger.

[brianj22]

My buddy and I just got roundtrip tickets from seattle to LA for $202.50 each at ultimatefares.com it was way less expensive then others. Also try kayak.com

[DEL67]

As others have sid, watch the prices. Our airfare for our June cruise was almost $500 per person when I booked the cruise last fall. In February it went down to $219 and I grabbed it.

[neverpar]

[quote name='SandyToes1978']I signed up for kayak.com's flight watching system, they email you every day the price of the flight(s) you are watching. Reno to Miami has been over $500 pp RT since I started watching in January. About mid Feb, it took a HUGE dip to 348 ppRT, and I am STILL kicking my self over not booking right then and there. It only dropped for that one day. It's still way up over $500. I thought since we were going during the "off" season, we might get a decent deal.....:rolleyes: So if it does drop, Buy it! Don't wait for it to go lower like I did....
Also, Neverpar, the couple that's going with us is flying from SLC to MIA as well, and 3 weeks ago it was only $320. I told them to book then, did they? NOOOOOO. Now they are looking at $560 pp. Now we are just waiting for Southwest to announce, and hopefully can get a good deal then.....[/QUOTE]

I should have bought airfare in Feb.....it was 273.00 then! I'm hoping SW will have lower fares, otherwise we will have to bite the bullet and buy whatever is out there in Aug, Sept or October....grrrrrr
I have farecast, kayak, and several other site watching airfare for us..LOL
I'd book into PIB or FLL which ever is the lowest...

[hubofhockey]

We used to do cruises that had Saturday returns and prices were reasonable. The prices of mid-day return flights on Sundays are about double what weekday prices are and much more than Saturday travel too. Even Jet Blue prices are astronomical.

[My2tailwaggers]

I agree with whoever said if you see a decent fare, book it. Also, try to keep in mind the cost of flying is still an awesome deal compared to driving (time and gas!)... we all tend to forget what the fares were like pre 9/11. I used to pay double monthly to fly for work back then when compared to the airfares now.
Everyone I know that says they will wait to see if the fares go down, has been sorry. Do use [URL="http://www.yapta.com"]www.yapta.com[/URL] it will track your airfares for you.
Also, I live in South Florida and use MIA, FLL and PBI.. during the winter months, the flights are full, so you wont see the deals that you will see at other times of the year. My husband is a pilot for AA, flies out of MIA and talks about all of his flights being full. I fly non rev (stand by) and I dont even bother trying during Feb or March.

[gusandgidgetsmom]

I just booked airfare for my daughter and family from Louisville,Ky to Orlando for the 1st of June. I had been on fare watcher from Travelocity as we normally cruise three times a year. It came up with a great rate--150.00 less a person than we paid in Dec. I went to Delta.com and booked it. rate of less than 200.pp
Keep watching as I was shocked how much it came down. Good luck.