What airlines are people using??

[disneydreamer1980]

Southwest for domestic flights. I would never fly one of those super “budget” hairlines, they nickel and dime you and every crazy airplane behavior video I’ve ever seen tends to be on one of those. I love SW because of their baggage policy. For flights to Europe I generally use Air France or British Airways, they’re not cheap but the service is better imo.

 

[gr8ful]

So, I have been doing an experiment on airfares for a Jan 2025 trip to WDW.

I started checking fares on JetBlue and Southwest in mid-September. For the flight times I wanted, the fare JetBlue was $326pp for Blue Extra, my preferred service level, and the lowest Southwest was an eyepopping $1,288pp (no Wanna Get Away fares available). I booked the JetBlue flight since it was below my $400pp price limit.

In mid-October, for the same flights:
- the JB fare had increased to $366
- SW decreased to $673 (WGA level)

In mid-November:
- JB $491
- SW $653

And now it starts to get interesting. On December 22:
- JB $401
- SW $276

Today:
- JB $337
- SW $237

Seems to be a lot of opportunity for savings as you get closer to your departure date with SW. with JB, not so much.

 

[jennab]

It's Delta for us! They have always been on time for us and never had any problems with anything with Delta.

I find delta to be the most on time and have the best onboard experience. However, they tend to be more expensive and our flights with them are always packed full.

 

[kylenne]

I find delta to be the most on time and have the best onboard experience. However, they tend to be more expensive and our flights with them are always packed full.

I have never been on a single JFK-MCO flight that wasn’t packed full regardless of carrier. But pricing genuinely depends on where you’re flying out from.

JetBlue used to be the best option for me out of JFK and was my preferred domestic airline to the point I got their card. They are no longer automatically the cheapest since they started their route cutting spree at MCO though, and most times I find Delta is actually beating them on price. For our last September trip I originally booked 2 one ways on JetBlue on TB points but they changed our flight home from 9pm to 2pm. I gave Delta a look and it was actually cheaper on both legs, both cash wise and SkyMiles, and they had an equivalent flight to our original evening time. So I canceled both JetBlue flights and rebooked on Delta with SkyMiles. Even sniped a very cheap upgrade to FC that still ended up being cheaper in total than JetBlue would have been.

United is a no go for me since they lost their slots at JFK and EWR is too far out of my way, and I’d rather walk than fly American after too many poor experiences in the past. So for now I’m mostly flying Delta bc it’s the best value lately. I did book JetBlue for my July 4th weekend trip but I don’t feel very confident the same thing won’t happen again.

 

[Sykes]

Individual flights all have seats priced at various levels. When the lowest priced tickets are gone for a specific flight, the fare jumps to the next higher level. While sales are possible, airlines have less reason to do that on popular routes where planes tend to already be fully booked. The best prices, non-stops and reasonable departure times are likely the first to sell. I have no interest in having to get up at 3am on our day of departure to race off to the airport for an early flight.

That's somewhat true but kind of oversimplifies things. These days there are sophisticated algorithms that are forecasting demand and adjusting prices accordingly, and because of that it's very rare that the first tickets sold on a given flight are the cheapest. Instead, they'll lower or raise the prices based on how actual demand compares to the forecasted demand. For domestic flights, on average it is cheapest to book 21 to 74 days in advance of the flight. The cheapair.com blog used to have a really good airfare study that showed this, but they seemed to have gotten rid of it. Here's an archive link from last year.

Personally I start looking at 3 months for domestic flights and 6 months for international (when I plan that fare in advance, at least ... I tend to do a lot of last-minute trips), but that's just when I start. And I'm mostly a free agent--I have no loyalty and will choose based on cost and convenience. In the SF Bay Area we have a lot of choices.

 

[Turn the Page]

We exclusively fly delta but that's really only because they are the only airline to service our local airport. We have to drive at least 1 1/2 away to get any other options and oftentimes after factoring in gas, likely a hotel, our time, and parking at the airport (our local airport has free parking) we end up just paying the premium to fly from our local airport. It is only 15 minutes from our house which is awesome. Of course, it only has 2 flights in and out a day and only flies to Detroit currently so if anything at all goes wrong you can be up a creek but you can't have everything I suppose.

 

[_19disnA]

That's somewhat true but kind of oversimplifies things.........

I agree what the airlines are doing in the background isn't going to be common knowledge to travelers. However, I have seen a lot of travel threads on here asking about 'when to purchase?' airline tickets and for the inexperienced traveler, it is probably best to start with the basics.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Right now we're loyal Southwest fliers. They're excellent, by comparison to others, for their wheelchair assistance. I flew 5 days after I fractured my pelvis and they were excellent. Pre-Pre-Boarded me, that is, always the first to pre board, because I could only get to the first seat without them transferring me, which they decided (and I agreed!) would be too painful. On one trip, we bemoaned having to wait almost 20 minutes for wheelchair assistance to the gate-that is, until I found out that the guy next to me, flying on United, had been waiting over an hour. We don't have much choice out of our airport (2 airlines every day fly every day, and 3 others on some days).

 

[ExpeditionEmily]

Typically loyal to Southwest, though with a baby we no longer want the unassigned seating at this point. We've had a really positive experience with American Airlines (they saved us by helping us make our Disney Cruise honeymoon during the Southwest Christmas 2022 meltdown). We're booked on United for this summer's trip.

 

[Maddie2]

In addition to the larger airlines, we have had some good flights with Allegiant. The number of airports they serve is limited, but we have found some good deals over the years and the flights are non-stop. At least worth a look. They have a tiered pricing system where the prices usually go up the closer to fly dates, so planning ahead can be helpful ... but not always.... sometimes prices drop. As far as I can tell, there isn't always a rhyme or reason and there are lots of additional fees, though all airlines seem to have those. I have been known to plan trips based on cheap flights 2 weeks before going!

I agree with the poster above and absolutely not with Spirit or Frontier.

 

[DCLMP]

I hate Southwest. When they switch to assigned seating I might change my mind. I live at a AA hub so it's AA.

 

[gr8ful]

I hate Southwest. When they switch to assigned seating I might change my mind. I live at a AA hub so it's AA.

+1

 

[eticketplease]

It really depends where we are going.

If going down to Disney we exclusively fly SWA as they are the only direct and that makes a huge impact not having to deal with flying into a hub with DS.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Unfortunately, all/most airline prices are way up, so it requires more shopping these days. We were always SW first, and then probably United second (at least for Orlando). But SW pricing has changed things a bit - they're no longer automatically the best price. And we're concerned about what happens to their pricing next year as they go through a significant change/upgrade to new software and jets for assigned seating instead of open seating. That won't be an inexpensive change for them, and might also impact their pricing. Guess we'll see.

I do believe they already have software capable of it, think they got it in the Hawaii upgrade. The cost will be the jet upgrades for the seat installations for the extra legroom seats and the PR campaign that will be necessary due to how drastic the change is. I concur prices will go up, that's why they're doing it. They've been losing money and know they can't continue as they are.

Rather OT but has anyone seen if WN will be decreasing their economy legroom with the addition of the extra legroom seats?

 

[SteveH]

Alaska Air if at all possible, then Delta.

 

[gottalovepluto]

...I would never fly one of those super “budget” hairlines, they nickel and dime you and every crazy airplane behavior video I’ve ever seen tends to be on one of those...

But if your goal is TikTok views...

 

[gottalovepluto]

Alaska Air if at all possible, then Delta.

Interesting. I prefer DL over AS. Did MCO-SAN on AS and the lack of seatback entertainment was annoying given the flight time and the seats were miserable. I swear they forgot the padding completely...

 

[Sykes]

I would never fly one of those super “budget” hairlines, they nickel and dime you and every crazy airplane behavior video I’ve ever seen tends to be on one of those.

Ultra low cost carriers CAN be a decent experience--Spirit's Big Front Seat isn't terrible, and half the time if you pay for a normal extra legroom seat you'll get the entire row to yourself because everyone else is too cheap to pay $19 extra. Plus sometimes you get a free show along with your flight!

 

[eticketplease]

Rather OT but has anyone seen if WN will be decreasing their economy legroom with the addition of the extra legroom seats?

Yes except for the old planes. Everything will now be the same as 737-700 at 31”.

So newer planes you are losing 1-2”. Not terrible

 

[gottalovepluto]

Yes except for the old planes. Everything will now be the same as 737-700 at 31”.

So newer planes you are losing 1-2”. Not terrible

Not bad at all, looks like it's on the normal/upper end for airline legroom.