Anyone having trouble getting decent airline prices to WDW this summer? One day I check and they are 485.00 from TVC to Orlando. The next day the same exact time's are now 505.00 and then the 3rd day they are over 600.00 What gives here I feel the airlines are trying to rob people. Any tricks on getting cheaper prices beside checking every hour around the clock?

Many carriers, including those that service TVC, have just started to raise fares and fees to help compensate for rising fuel costs. And with the media now reporting that summer fuel costs are going to be higher than last year, expect it to be worse as time goes on.

Also, it will depend on where you coming out of. In your case, you are rather stuck since you are nowhere near a larger airport such as Detroit, or Chicago. So, in that case, you are at the mercy of the limited number of carriers at your airport and stuck having to at least do one stopover somewhere. Those stops at different airports do make a difference since fees vary by airport. So, for example, if you have a choice of going through Detroit or Chicago, check fares of both routes to see if they differ.

Time of year of expected travel also makes a difference as does time of day, and which day of the week you travel, as you are probably seeing.

What I tend to do is to look at expedia.com to get an idea of what may be available and then start shopping around from there using the airlines web sites as my guide.

I know others might have some other websites to look at as well.

Fly out of a larger airport (but not a hub). Larger airports that aren't hubs are often served by one of the 'low cost carriers' and that can drive the prices down.

When first starting out looking for a plane ticket when I know there are multiple airlines that would work, I use travelocity, to see which airlines have 'acceptable' flights and what they cost - then go to the airline's website to actually book.

For me, the only airline that HAS reasonable non-stops to Orlando is a discount airlines! (It's a 2 hour direct flight - I do NOT want to have to go out of my way through one of the hubs - and there are NO hubs 'between' my airport and Orlando!)

Fly out of a larger airport (but not a hub).
Agreed - if at all possible. This is why I am flying out of Indy next time instead of Chicago.

Leslie - How far are you from Grand Rapids, Lansing, or Flint?? I did a quick search from Grand Rapids and saw some real good flights, including a (slightly more expensive) non-stop on NWA.

It may be worth the 2 hr drive to save a couple hundred (maybe a few hundred) dollars on your total airfare bill.

HeyGusman- Yes, we do live 2 hours from Grand Rapids. When I mentioned it to hubby he said by the time we fill up the vehicle and pay 9 days parking the savings are out the window or pocket book should I say. I will check out Travelocity and Expedia departing from GRR and see what I get. Leaving from TVC is our city and 20 minutes from home. Question, what is a hub? Thanks, Leslie:)

I would look into hotels near the airport that's 2 hours away. My parents often stay in one before early morning flights, and parking is free if you stayed there one night, for the whole trip!

A hub is part of the 'hub and spoke' system that most airlines use now to schedule their flights. If you look at like Delta's route map, it's really obvious that Salt Lake City, Cincinnati, and Atlanta are their hubs.

I think Minneapolis may be the farthest North hub, and they're for Northwest.

For me I check all airports around that are driving distance. I live out west and there are 7 airports all fairly close, 2 hours or less driving from my house.
The one that is the closest is the busiest since I live near a big gov planet that flies people in and out a lot, but believe me it is a very small airport. But last year if I was willing to drive 2 hours away, I could save $200 a person for a family of 4, so I drove to Spokane and paid $77 for a hotel room, and saved a whopping $733 on airfare. My city is actually a much larger city and since the airports are both really small, I think it is just that my city is more competitive since we have the gov plant. Good Luck.

When I mentioned it to hubby he said by the time we fill up the vehicle and pay 9 days parking the savings are out the window or pocket book should I say.
You might be surprised. If you have 4 people in your family and you can save $100 per person, you are looking at $400 savings. Even if you spend $150 on parking* and $50 on fuel, you are still looking at a $200 savings. That may not seem like much, but to some, that extra $200 may make a big difference.

*= Per the GR Airport site (http://www.grr.org/index.php), parking is going to cost you less than $80 for the length of your trip. So, your savings could be even higher.

Just a thought.

Wait, wait and keep checking, also if you can get email alerts from the airlines and places like travelocity do that too.

I just bought tickets on thursday for our March trip. Tickets went from 525.00 in December to 219.00 on special last week. Now tickets for my departure date are back up a bit to 337.00 due to the fact that the discount seats are now sold. Be patient summer is still far off and it may be better to wait till it gets closer to buy tickets. :)

So maybe a little patience will pay off. It did for me.

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I would try a larger hub. You will have more flights to choose from and the prices will be more competitive.

We are going this July and were going to fly out of Moline, IL. By driving to Midway and staying at a park & stay, we saved over $500 in flights and were able to have a direct flight. We are flying Airtran and our tickets were $230 each.

Oops, I sent it twice

Just thank your lucky stars you're not flying from the UK ;)

Just thank your lucky stars you're not flying from the UK ;)

Or from Hawaii. Just purchased RT tickets a few weeks ago for my daughter and I for our early June trip - $1100 each.

We signed up for email alerts on TravelZoo.com. They troll travel sites for the best travel deals and send out a Top 20 list on Wednesdays. They often have airline deals and if there is a particularly good deal that comes out they will send out a bulletin. Good Luck!