Airfare from Chicago?

[loricfam]

We are taking our first cruise in July. These boards have gotten me so excited that I'm already looking to book our second before even going on our first! Here's my problem: affording the airfare from Chicago. Driving is not an option since that adds travel time and DH would have to miss too much work.

For the July cruise I got our airplane tickets 5-6 months in advance and it cost me $2000 total for me, DH, DS10 and DD7. When I started to look for airfare for a cruise in March of 2014, it was running almost $1000 per ticket. Ouch! No way am I paying 4 grand for plane tickets. I also tried a TA and her prices were the same as I found on line.

I know March is spring break and airfare is more, but still, how do people afford airfare from Chicago? We live near O'Hare airport (ORD). Is there some tip I don't know about? Or if I book plane tickets through DCL instead of on my own will it be cheaper? I didn't do that this time because I wanted to fly in the night before so I wouldn't be nervous about missing the cruise. O'Hare tends to have a lot of delays!

TIA!

 

[jdb in AZ]

We are taking our first cruise in July. These boards have gotten me so excited that I'm already looking to book our second before even going on our first! Here's my problem: affording the airfare from Chicago. Driving is not an option since that adds travel time and DH would have to miss too much work.

For the July cruise I got our airplane tickets 5-6 months in advance and it cost me $2000 total for me, DH, DS10 and DD7. When I started to look for airfare for a cruise in March of 2014, it was running almost $1000 per ticket. Ouch! No way am I paying 4 grand for plane tickets. I also tried a TA and her prices were the same as I found on line.

I know March is spring break and airfare is more, but still, how do people afford airfare from Chicago? We live near O'Hare airport (ORD). Is there some tip I don't know about? Or if I book plane tickets through DCL instead of on my own will it be cheaper? I didn't do that this time because I wanted to fly in the night before so I wouldn't be nervous about missing the cruise. O'Hare tends to have a lot of delays!

TIA!

Booking through DCL is usually a "boatload" more expensive.

 

[Madzac]

That seems really high to me! We just flew last week and our tickets were about 250 each roundtrip from chicago midway on sw/airtran. Have you looked at SWA site and flying out of midway?

 

[cris0809]

Southwest, most likely, although they fly out of Midway.

Their schedules are not out for spring break times, they are released 7 months ahead. You are looking pretty far ahead of time.

 

[Kendal]

We are taking our first cruise in July. These boards have gotten me so excited that I'm already looking to book our second before even going on our first! Here's my problem: affording the airfare from Chicago. Driving is not an option since that adds travel time and DH would have to miss too much work.

For the July cruise I got our airplane tickets 5-6 months in advance and it cost me $2000 total for me, DH, DS10 and DD7. When I started to look for airfare for a cruise in March of 2014, it was running almost $1000 per ticket. Ouch! No way am I paying 4 grand for plane tickets. I also tried a TA and her prices were the same as I found on line.

I know March is spring break and airfare is more, but still, how do people afford airfare from Chicago? We live near O'Hare airport (ORD). Is there some tip I don't know about? Or if I book plane tickets through DCL instead of on my own will it be cheaper? I didn't do that this time because I wanted to fly in the night before so I wouldn't be nervous about missing the cruise. O'Hare tends to have a lot of delays!

TIA!

You say driveing is not a option??? From chicago. It would be apx 20 hours to drive straight through.. My father is driveing to my house witch is southern Illinois he lives in milwaukee the port is 16 hours from my house we drive straight through we wil be I of the ship in a Sunday drive straight back we will get here Monday and he will be back to work on a Tuesday... The drive really don't add more days since u are within a day drive it's more if a convenience to fly but if u don't mind driveing all night I think you could do this without tacking on alot if vacation days

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[aenan]

We live in Madison WI and used to fly out of ORD to save money. The last two years it's been significantly cheaper to fly out of Milwaukee and Madison. We just bought tickets for $250 round trip! Might be worth taking a look to see if the driving here would be worth it!

 

[CruiseCrazy44]

We live in Bloomington, Illinois and we also drive it straight through. We started doing this when the kids were small. My husband would spend most of the day sleeping, then in the evening we would load up the kids and drive straight through the night. That way most of the trip would be accomplished while the kids slept. I have no helpful comments about plane tickets, but I agree that 1000 is way too pricey!

 

[DisneyOHFan]

I would check Southwest when they release their flights for March. It is out of MDW vs ORD, but I can't imagine their flights would be $1000/each.

 

[Kendal]

Our first Disney cruise we flew out of at Louis and the cruise was 3 nights and the airfare for southwest was only 300 dollars cheaper than the cruise

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[erocrobro]

Also, lots of credit cards offer miles or points towards airfare. I signed up for the Southwest card because we nearly always fly on that airline. Every month I pay all of my bills on the card and use it exclusively instead of my debit card or writing checks or paying cash. This makes is so much easier for me to track expenses and I pay off the balance of the card every month so I never pay any interest or finance charges. Every year when it is time for vacation, I always have enough points to get our airfare free.

 

[TheHippie524]

If you don't mind what my father calls "the sardine plane" I would suggest Southwest out of Milwaukee. Cheap, and EXTREMELY easy to get through. Parking your car is also significantly less expensive than it is out of O'Hare and Midway.


I LOVEEE Milwaukee, because it's such a breeze to get through security. No hassle like O'Hare. =)

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

Unless you are dead set on ORD, try Midway and Milwaukee. I prefer them any day of the week for prices and being on time.

 

[N.Lo]

We cruised spring break last year and drove because airfare as just way too expensive. We started looking the day our dates came out and they were ridiculously priced from the start.
We rented a car, 11 days for $300! DH drove straight through the way down and we stopped on the way home due to a bad storm going through KY & TN.
I was told other Dis'ers onboard booked their airfare one way instead of round trip. That way they had more chances to look for cheaper prices and re-book if something better came up. They also suggested flying out of WI and Southwest airlines.
Good luck!

 

[castmbr]

Check Allegiant Airlines. They fly the smaller airports. I think Rockford or maybe Midway into Orlando Sanford. Or Airtran out of Milwaukee.

 

[cris0809]

Problem with flying out of Sanford is that there are no transfers from Disney to the port. You will have to find some alternate method - rental car, taxi or shuttle. You'll probably pay more to fly into SFB in the long run.

 

[n8tivecaligirl]

Also I know we are a bit of a drive but Green Bay (4 hours north) has a local charter (met jet) that flys direct to MCO and can have $120 pp per leg sometimes but it only flys on certain days. It's a great deal here in Green Bay. But milwaukee us always a great option!

 

[Kendal]

I will have to keep that one in mind that's cheap enough......... By the way go pack go!!!!

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[Tom and Denise]

We are in the Chicago area and always fly SWA out of Midway. We've never paid more than $250 round trip to Orlando and no bag fees.

 

[Hook326]

AT & now SW have always been our cheapest flights out of the Chicago area to Orlando. We've flown thru both Ohare & Milwaukee. This next trip MDW won for price & time. Always $250 or less. I agree with a PP, I think you're trying to book too early. Set a price alert on Kayak & watch. Remember to check SW separately because they aren't on Kayak. good luck!

 

[trickiwoo]

I have family in Chicago that was considering going on our cruise with us, so I looked up the Southwest rates from Chicago to Orlando for them. It was around $300 round trip for a direct flight each way. (Only a 2 1/2 hour flight!) And you can check 2 bags per person for free!

And like others have stated, make sure to check the rates on Southwest.com as travel sites don't include rates for Southwest!