When to book flights?

[minnie mum]

We usually drive down, but for our next trip ( Nov 5-12/17), we'll be flying DD, DSIL, & DGS5 down from Toronto ( they live in Waterloo) to meet us. We'll be staying onsite.

I think most Canadians fly down to MCO. How far out do you book your flights? Right now I'm only seeing flights that are around $600 return PP. I'd like to book them a direct flight, or one with only one easy connection. Should I wait a few more months and hope for a seat sale or just bite the bullet and cough up the $$$$ now?

 

[LemonNeko]

$600 is pretty high. I think you can do better with a seat sale. I think Westjet now flies out of the Waterloo airport too.

 

[O-so-good Disney Mama]

Can they fly out of Buffalo with Southwest or Jet Blue? $600 is really high! I just booked a family of 4 out of buffalo for less than $1200 even with the exchange rate . Direct flights too.

 

[minnie56]

You've got time ...AC and Westjet should come up with a sale,
I booked a flight to MCO for March 5-12 ( this year) 4 weeks prior and paid $390 pp with AC there and WJ back.

 

[LittleFlounder]

You mean Nov 2016? I looked up your dates for this coming November on Expedia.ca and I found flights ranging from $350-$500 CDN. I usually book my flights from YYZ to MCO 4 to 5 months before the trip. I keep a close eye on the prices and bite the bullet when I see a price I can live with.

 

[minnie mum]

I guess we'll just have to wait and see. They don't want to drive to and from Buffalo, and a lot of the flight times are just awful. Best I've come up with so far is over $1700 for the 3 of them, and the times aren't great.

And while I'm at it, allow me to vent about how they show prices. Why can't they show the final prices with the added fees, charges, surtaxes, etc? I know that's just how its done, but it's aggravating to have a couple hundred extra dollars tacked on before checkout.

I guess we'll hold off and keep watching for a seat sale. Thanks guys.

 

[isabellea]

I guess we'll just have to wait and see. They don't want to drive to and from Buffalo, and a lot of the flight times are just awful. Best I've come up with so far is over $1700 for the 3 of them, and the times aren't great.

And while I'm at it, allow me to vent about how they show prices. Why can't they show the final prices with the added fees, charges, surtaxes, etc? I know that's just how its done, but it's aggravating to have a couple hundred extra dollars tacked on before checkout.

I guess we'll hold off and keep watching for a seat sale. Thanks guys.

Expedia.ca gives the total price with all the fees and taxes included.

 

[hardis5]

Other than Spirit, most of the cheaper airlines US airlines (including Southwest) are not yet scheduled out that far (JetBlue releases this coming weekend I believe). We are going down a few days prior to mid-month and back prior to the US Thanksgiving this year and prices are definitely higher this year over previous years (so far). An option (we've done) with a lot of direct flights to MCO is Detroit given you are partially out that way.

Flying from Toronto, you either have to accept a higher $ for a direct flight, awful flight times or be able to stomach the stress of waiting to see if flights will drop (or go up) as your window approaches. We have gotten good deals prior from Toronto, but that was timing and accepting if they did not appear, we'd be flying from elsewhere.

 

[alc571]

We have never paid more than $400 per ticket direct from Toronto. We usually watch flight prices starting about 6 months out, and book when we find flights for less than $400 with times that we like. Last year we booked our June and September flights at the same time in mid-April. I still haven't found flights I like for our September trip this year.

Something to consider, we always book our seats which costs extra. However, we found out this year that if you book your flights through Expedia you can pick your seats with no fee if the airline participates. We were able to book our seats for the Westjet portion of our June flight, but not the way back with AirTransat. I'll have to call and book those for a fee.

 

[xlxo]

53 days is the magic number.... November is low season.... I would not be looking for a flight until the Fall seat sales around October.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/best-day-to-book-plane-ticket_us_56cf1648e4b03260bf759b79

 

[karpy111]

53 days is the magic number.... November is low season.... I would not be looking for a flight until the Fall seat sales around October.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/best-day-to-book-plane-ticket_us_56cf1648e4b03260bf759b79

I agree.

 

[Frank4202]

53 days is the magic number.... November is low season.... I would not be looking for a flight until the Fall seat sales around October.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/best-day-to-book-plane-ticket_us_56cf1648e4b03260bf759b79

I booked my flight Friday for Detroit to Orlando on Oct 13 and coming back the 19th for $192 per person US round trip. Non stop too (Delta), so it can be done now. Just gotta keep an eye out.

 

[bcwife76]

We're facing the same dilema. We are flying to Houston from Vancouver for our upcoming Jan 2017 Disney cruise out of Galveston and are looking at $600pp as well. Ouch. So I check every day and will just wait it out until a seat sale comes along! Flights out of Seattle are a bit better, right now they are $500pp. Either way I'm looking to spend no more than $350-$400pp so I'm going to jump if/when I see prices like that!

 

[minnie mum]

53 days is the magic number.... November is low season.... I would not be looking for a flight until the Fall seat sales around October.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/best-day-to-book-plane-ticket_us_56cf1648e4b03260bf759b79

Not sure I can convince DH to hold off that long but at least that gives me ammo to argue that we should wait until at least this summer before pulling the trigger on their flights.

Man, driving is so much easier. Just fill the tank, pack the trunk, and go.

 

[xlxo]

If the oil loonie continues it's ascent... there may be additional savings.
https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=CADUSD=X&t=3m&l=on&z=l&q=l&c=

 

[Frank4202]

Loonie is at its best since October. Hopefully it continues to climb in the summer.

 

[mshanson3121]

We usually drive down, but for our next trip ( Nov 5-12/17), we'll be flying DD, DSIL, & DGS5 down from Toronto ( they live in Waterloo) to meet us. We'll be staying onsite.

I think most Canadians fly down to MCO. How far out do you book your flights? Right now I'm only seeing flights that are around $600 return PP. I'd like to book them a direct flight, or one with only one easy connection. Should I wait a few more months and hope for a seat sale or just bite the bullet and cough up the $$$$ now?

The best time to buy tickets is generally 40-50 days out from the trip. That's when they're lowest.

 

[kbainbridge]

I bought tickets yesterday for our Disney holiday. Roundtrip for 4 of us from YYZ-MCO was going to be just under $1600, so we are getting a lift to Buffalo and flying out of BUF with SW. Our return flight is MCO-YYZ direct with AC. We paid about $1285. The flight back to Toronto wasn't the cheapest option either, but we wanted to return late in the evening so we went with a direct flight at 1845hrs.

 

[minnie mum]

I bought tickets yesterday for our Disney holiday. Roundtrip for 4 of us from YYZ-MCO was going to be just under $1600, so we are getting a lift to Buffalo and flying out of BUF with SW. Our return flight is MCO-YYZ direct with AC. We paid about $1285. The flight back to Toronto wasn't the cheapest option either, but we wanted to return late in the evening so we went with a direct flight at 1845hrs.

I'm confused. Are you flying SW out of Buffalo or AC out of Toronto.? What are your dates?

 

[ottawamom]

My interpretation is they are flying to Orlando on Southwest out of Buffalo and returning via Air Canada to Toronto. Hold on there will be good deals come August for your timeframe. You just need to wait for the sales timeframe to kick in.