Advice needed-Air Tran?

[KEIA]

Hello Everyone! Need some advice, and I hope you can help...

 

We are planning on flying from Kansas City to Ft. Lauderdale on 2/17/2009 and coming back on 2/28/2009. We usually get great Web Deals with Air Tran, and on our way down we are seeing the price for $71 per person, but on the way back, it goes up to about $161 per person.

 

My question is, should be book now (since it's not that bad of a price) or for those who have traveled Air Tran more than I have, will a good Web Deal of $71 per person open up closer to our departure?

 

We have 16 people traveling so a difference of $100 per ticket is a pretty good amount of money, but we also don't like too long for things to "possibly" happen and then not happen. :rolleyes: (We're not much or risk takers). I'm just wondering if you think there will be a good web deal if we wait a bit longer or if you think it will remain at the $161 price.

 

 

For those of you are professional air fare watchers and like to find the best deal...

 

We are open to flying out of Des Moines, Omaha, Moline, but prefer Kansas City, and are open to flying into Ft. Lauderale or Miami. We are open to flying in 2/16/2009 (2 days before the cruise) and flying out 3/1/2009 (Day after the cruise)

 

Thanks for any imput you may have!

 

-KEIA

[flhokie]

I'd probably book the outbound flight and keep looking for return flights

[Cruisin' Ron VA]

I do this sometimes when booking AirTran.

 

I would go ahead and get the 71.00 fare and keep looking. Don't rule out other airlines for your return.

 

You are smart in flying in a day or two early especially in winter.

[FlyerTalker]

A number of separate, yet interconnected thoughts:

 

1) Have you actually tried to book a large number of seats at those prices? Just because you might find that price for 1 passenger does not mean that there are 16 seats available at that price. Know that it is very likely that some tickets may be at the low price and others in a higher fare bucket. (IMO, you won't get 16 seats at that price, but that's just my own guess) Which leads to the side question....are you going to average out the cost so all pay the same, or does each person get their own particular price? Which leads to other issues. Are you buying these all yourself, or are you just going to tell everyone "Well, here's the flight - get it yourself". That may very well lead to upset relationships when seats aren't available at the "good price".

 

2) Have you considered splitting up your group if there become fare disparities between ticket #1 and ticket #16? You may need to break it down to achieve your best fares, dividing into different flights and/or airlines.

 

3) Have you talked with airline group sales departments? With a group of 16, you can get group rates and save some money. Contact the various airlines directly for a quote, and tell them you are shopping around.

 

4) As for the web deals appearing down the road: There is no guarantee of them showing up, either for the routes and/or dates you wish. Also, no guarantee that there will be anywhere near the quantity available that you want. Remember - airline fares are a function of INVENTORY AVAILABILITY. There are finite limits to how many, if any, "cheap seats" are available on a particular flight.

 

 

My own advice....contact group sales for some quotes. Check on actual availability of those webfares. Give the process some more thought and let us know what you come up with.

[grandmato4]

My own experience based on watching Airtran's "web special fares" for the past 18 months has been that once a "web special" price is shown it dosen't go lower. Once all the seats in that category are gone the web special fare usualy is simply not available anylonger and you have to book in one of the higher categories. The exception to that has been when they've had one of their "sales" for purchasing tickets within the sale days for flying within a specific timeframe which usually has been within 6-8 weeks from the sale date and then only on certain days.

 

I'm sure there are others that have had different experiences from mine and you might get lucky, but if you want to travel via Airtran to return home I don't think you will see a lower fares then any air special you are seeing now unless you want to gamble on a sale at the last minute and I would not consider that a good bet for 16 people flying to a cruise:eek:

 

Several airlines have cut flights to FLL so those still flying there can and will have higher pricing than we've seen in the past. You said yourself that overall the price is not bad so if it were me I would be booking those flights now. If you do book now just keep on top of any changes Airtran makes to your flights as to times and cancelations. They will eventually contact you if they make changes but if you need to change the changes they have made it is much easier the earlier you catch it and have more options to change to flights that better suit your needs. Good Luck!:)

[silentbob007]

I once went through this with AirTran flights out of Miami. I loved the price down, but the price back was a lot higher (and was one of the few direct options). I went ahead and booked both, not wanting to pay the much more extreme prices some other carriers had. A while later, along came a sale, beating the price I booked by $30/pp. Oh well ... at least I had it booked ... and because I called about it, AirTran did give me the difference in future flight vouchers.

[Jade13]

Great prices! I'd grab them. from my home city (same date this year) costs were $363.00 EACH WAY.

[hdawson]

I've found that returning flights "from" Fl are usually higher that flights "to" Fl.

[Hamburg Avon Lady]

Well, this is not true - I just booked AirTran from Orlando back to Buffalo on Feb. 4th a few weeks ago at the lowest web fare available and just the other day - it has dropped by $ 20 pp. I can change and get the lower fare (partially as Airtran cancelled my original return flight) as a

courtesy but if I agree to that - then I am locked into that fare so if I

have to change or cancel - I will be charged the $ 75 fee. Personally, I

would go ahead and book the outgoing flights and then keep checking

the different airline websites - there is no rule that says you are required

to use AirTran for your roundtrip - We are doing JeT Blue down and AirTran back. :)