Spring break plane tickets-How much would you pay?

[Ryan]

We are heading to Fort Myers this year for Spring Break with family.  Last year I paid $3500 for airline tickets (5 tickets) to fly to FL.  These were non-stop, mid day tickets because I have kids and don't want to mess around.  I considered that to be really expensive since I had previously paid $1500 total for the same tickets to FL during the low time of year.  Still though, I chalked it up to me being ill prepared and not buying the tickets early enough (even though I bought them 3 months early).

This year, I'm looking at tickets even earlier and the prices are closer to $4K for all of us.  To me, that's just completely insane because it's probably going to be $4500 by the time the taxes are thrown in.  I should mention that this is non-stop, convenient, and at normal times.

I looked at some other combinations.  Like I looked at flying into Jacksonville, FL and then flying out of Fort Myers (both direct flights).  This combination would cost $2700 before taxes, but would require me to drive 5 hours from Jacksonville.  I could just see that being a really long day of travel.

The final option that I could do is to have me and the 3 kids fly out on a WED, which is way way cheaper.  Since my wife is a teacher and she can't leave until Friday, we would have her leave on Friday night after work.  If we did this option, then it would cost roughly $2600 total.  We'd essentially get 4 cheap tickets on the way out, 1 expensive one.  The only flaw with this is my wife would probably be bummed that she'd be home alone.

I'm not sure if any of those options are really that great.  What would you do?

[milee]

Not go to Fort Myers.  Unless you're just passing through on the way to Sanibel or Captiva.... the Fort Myers area was hit pretty hard in the real estate crash and hasn't really come back.  What used to be a sleepy little Florida area (busy during spring break but not during much of the rest of the year) has become scuz city.

But if you have family there or have to be there for some reason, have you checked into flying into Tampa?  It's only about 2 hours north, an easy drive and Southwest flies there which keeps prices reasonable.  I have friends who have good luck with Punta Gorda flights, but it's a very small regional airport so only flies to certain places and you might end up paying more for rental cars.  

[taz157]

I'd say go with the $2,600 option.

Your wife may enjoy having the house to herself... She can eat what she wants, go where she wants, do what she wants without the worry of her children and DH. This is not to say she can't now, it's just different when you/them aren't home at the same time with her.

[Ryan]

Aug 8, 2017 11:15:09 GMT -5 milee said:

Not go to Fort Myers.  Unless you're just passing through on the way to Sanibel or Captiva.... the Fort Myers area was hit pretty hard in the real estate crash and hasn't really come back.  What used to be a sleepy little Florida area (busy during spring break but not during much of the rest of the year) has become scuz city.

But if you have family there or have to be there for some reason, have you checked into flying into Tampa?  It's only about 2 hours north, an easy drive and Southwest flies there which keeps prices reasonable.  I have friends who have good luck with Punta Gorda flights, but it's a very small regional airport so only flies to certain places and you might end up paying more for rental cars.  

We are actually going to Sanibel, but I said Ft. Myers to make it simple.  Last year we flew into Tampa because we could get there earlier and the flights were much cheaper than direct into Ft. Myers.  This year, Tampa, Ft. Myers, Orlando, etc are all sold out of wanna get away flights, so the prices are in the $515/one way range.  

I'm kind of confused because last year I looked at flights in December.  I don't know if they will open some up at a later date or what?  This is through Southwest.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

We are going to FL in Jan to visit friends (then we are going on to Mexico.  Ft. Myers tickets are almost 100% more than flying into Miami.  Where we are going, the drive is a little longer but not worth it to pay twice as much for airline tickets.

For this trip, it is also cheaper for us to fly out of Vancouver BC, and cheaper to fly back into Seattle.  Doesn't really matter, as we will likely do a one way car rental to the airport to avoid paying long term parking rates.

[justme]

It's because Ft Meyers is a tiny ass airport so no one flies there. Why did you look at Jacksonville instead of the bigger airports that are closer, like Tampa Orlando or Miami.

Ignore, saw follow up.

PS it's definitely not 5 hours from Jax to Ft Meyers.

[Ryan]

Aug 8, 2017 11:41:23 GMT -5 justme said:

It's because Ft Meyers is a tiny ass airport so no one flies there. Why did you look at Jacksonville instead of the bigger airports that are closer, like Tampa Orlando or Miami.

PS it's definitely not 5 hours from Jax to Ft Meyers.

I looked at Miami, Orlando, Tampa, West Palm Beach, etc.  All of them are basically the same prices because all the Wanna Get Away's are sold out; somewhere in the $515 range.

[Deleted]

I wouldn't pay that much!  That's a lot for tickets to FL.  Where are you flying from?  Prices from Minneapolis are about $300-$400/round trip ticket, but that's with one stop. 

[Ryan]

Aug 8, 2017 11:58:53 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

I wouldn't pay that much!  That's a lot for tickets to FL.  Where are you flying from?  Prices from Minneapolis are about $300-$400/round trip ticket, but that's with one stop. 

It isn't normally that much, but during prime time spring break week, that's the price to head down there.  I just looked from MN to Fort Myers and it's $725 for a round trip ticket for that week.

[Deleted]

Aug 8, 2017 12:32:29 GMT -5 Ryan said:

Aug 8, 2017 11:58:53 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

I wouldn't pay that much!  That's a lot for tickets to FL.  Where are you flying from?  Prices from Minneapolis are about $300-$400/round trip ticket, but that's with one stop. 

It isn't normally that much, but during prime time spring break week, that's the price to head down there.  I just looked from MN to Fort Myers and it's $725 for a round trip ticket for that week.

Maybe we have a different spring break week? 

[Deleted]

Oops.  That was Miami.  Fort Meyers isn't much more though.

[phil5185]

I'm not sure if any of those options are really that great. What would you do?

I would drive.
How far are you from Ft Myers?

[alabamagal]

Best prices are supposed to be 3 months out. But you have to chance it and wait.

When we traveled with 3 kids, I would always say " you can find cheap flights, but cheap flight times 5 is a lot of money". I would think you can find some $500 flights, but may be hard to find much better.

That is why we always drove. Used to be 9 hours to Miami, since moving to AL, now 13 hours. Just did it last week with DH and DD, but at least we have 3 drivers.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Aug 8, 2017 13:16:25 GMT -5 phil5185 said:

I'm not sure if any of those options are really that great. What would you do?

I would drive.
How far are you from Ft Myers?

With 3 young children?  The drive there and back would likely eat up over half of spring break.

[giramomma]

Aug 8, 2017 13:31:18 GMT -5 The Walk of the Penguin Mich said:

Aug 8, 2017 13:16:25 GMT -5 phil5185 said:

I would drive.
How far are you from Ft Myers?

With 3 young children?  The drive there and back would likely eat up over half of spring break.

I don't remember how old OPs kids are. I'm guessing though that they are at least school aged.

It's not that young.

We've had to do 16 hour one way driving trips in haste because we didn't have the 3500 for flights and didn't have two weeks to spend on vacation.

The first time we did it my kids were 3, 7 and 11. We drove 16 hours in two days. We had no other choice. We weren't in a position two years ago to spend more than a month's salary on flights. That's excluding a rental car, etc.

The only bad thing is that my 3 year old got a bad cold and puked from coughing the whole way back. We still drove though and got super fast at changing her.

We just did the same trip in a week over this last spring break, two years later. Everyone did fine..and there was no puking.

I'm glad we made the trip, because we won't be doing it again anytime soon.

Florida from our house is about a 24 hour drive. We did it in 2.5 days when we had #1 and he was 2.

I've had clients that have done the drive with four kids and only stayed overnight somewhere one night. I'm pretty sure, at that point, their youngest was under 3.

 

[whoami]

When booking on a website try only one ticket at a time.

We needed 4 tickets to San Juan.  We ended up buying 2 at the same price and booked the other two individually.  It was cheaper that way than trying to book all 4 on the same PNR.

[Deleted]

Aug 8, 2017 13:31:18 GMT -5 The Walk of the Penguin Mich said:

Aug 8, 2017 13:16:25 GMT -5 phil5185 said:

I would drive.
How far are you from Ft Myers?

With 3 young children?  The drive there and back would likely eat up over half of spring break.

Would it?  I haven't even figured out where he's flying from yet. 

[swamp]

I fly allegiant all the time to St. Pete in FL.

Dirt cheap.    

[swamp]

Aug 8, 2017 13:16:25 GMT -5 phil5185 said:

I'm not sure if any of those options are really that great. What would you do?

I would drive.
How far are you from Ft Myers?

I would rather stab myself in the eye with a fork than drive from Minneapolis to Fort Myers with a car full of kids.

[swamp]

Aug 8, 2017 14:34:12 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Aug 8, 2017 13:31:18 GMT -5 The Walk of the Penguin Mich said:

With 3 young children?  The drive there and back would likely eat up over half of spring break.

Would it?  I haven't even figured out where he's flying from yet. 

MSP = Minneapolis St. Paul.

[Ryan]

Aug 8, 2017 13:16:25 GMT -5 phil5185 said:

I'm not sure if any of those options are really that great. What would you do?

I would drive.
How far are you from Ft Myers?

Probably not feasible or desirable.  My wife and kids have 1 week off and it's a 20 hour drive.  With my kids ages, we're looking at a lot of stops.  Plus my wife/kids get carsick so that adds something else to the mix.  I wouldn't mind driving though.

[Deleted]

Aug 8, 2017 14:55:28 GMT -5 swamp said:

Aug 8, 2017 14:34:12 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Would it?  I haven't even figured out where he's flying from yet. 

MSP = Minneapolis St. Paul.

I don't think he's in MPLS.   

[Ryan]

Aug 8, 2017 14:54:15 GMT -5 swamp said:

I fly allegiant all the time to St. Pete in FL.

Dirt cheap.    

I'm flying out of Chicago.  Allegiant flies out of Rockford, IL, but they haven't published flight info yet for those dates.  I read something that they only fly out once a day or something, which is a little scary if something goes haywire.

[swamp]

Aug 8, 2017 14:59:45 GMT -5 Ryan said:

Aug 8, 2017 14:54:15 GMT -5 swamp said:

I fly allegiant all the time to St. Pete in FL.

Dirt cheap.    

I'm flying out of Chicago.  Allegiant flies out of Rockford, IL, but they haven't published flight info yet for those dates.  I read something that they only fly out once a day or something, which is a little scary if something goes haywire.

They do only fly once a day, and ususally twice or three times a week.

[zibazinski]

Is your spring break time around Easter? Because ours used to be and I'd spend about $500 per ticket to get out of Florida to Colorado for the week. 

[phil5185]

I'm flying out of Chicago. Allegiant flies out of Rockford, IL, but they haven't published flight info yet for those dates. I read something that they only fly out once a day or something, which is a little scary if something goes haywire.

We use Allegiant, you're right about the flight frequency. Our flight is twice a week, Tues & Thurs.  So if your flight gets weathered-out, you could be stuck for a couple days. 

In our case, that is acceptable. DW & I drive 1400 miles, PHX to North Iowa - I drive a Combine for the corn harvest - depending on weather & breakdowns my job takes anywhere from 2 weeks to 4 weeks. (So I can't schedule my return).  DW flies home after about 10 days - and I drive home whenever I'm finished.   DW's flight usually costs about $100, I probably spend more than that on fuel & motel.  The 1400 mile drive takes 2-days, mostly all daylight, 5:00A to 6:00P both days.

Your trip is less than 1300 miles - 3 kids? Those backseat DVD players are wonderful!

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Aug 8, 2017 16:31:23 GMT -5 phil5185 said:

I'm flying out of Chicago. Allegiant flies out of Rockford, IL, but they haven't published flight info yet for those dates. I read something that they only fly out once a day or something, which is a little scary if something goes haywire.

We use Allegiant, you're right about the flight frequency. Our flight is twice a week, Tues & Thurs.  So if your flight gets weathered-out, you could be stuck for a couple days. 

In our case, that is acceptable. DW & I drive 1400 miles, PHX to North Iowa - I drive a Combine for the corn harvest - depending on weather & breakdowns my job takes anywhere from 2 weeks to 4 weeks. (So I can't schedule my return).  DW flies home after about 10 days - and I drive home whenever I'm finished.   DW's flight usually costs about $100, I probably spend more than that on fuel & motel.  The 1400 mile drive takes 2-days, mostly all daylight, 5:00A to 6:00P both days.

Your trip is less than 1300 miles - 3 kids? Those backseat DVD players are wonderful!

Little kids = little bladders = lots of stops = poor number of miles/day.

[gs11rmb]

We drove from Atlanta to Fort Myers Beach with a 9 and almost 5 year old just a couple of weeks ago and it took us about 10 hours each way.  Not something I want to repeat any time soon.  My husband had been thinking about driving up to Ohio to see his family in October, which is roughly the same distance, but we're not going to do it now!  There's no way I would even thinking about driving from Chicago to Fort Myers.

The reason we went to Fort Myers Beach is because my sister and her family were going to be in Coral Gables for a week and we wanted to be close but also on the beach.  As we were driving into the town, DH and I started looking at each other and wondering if this place is even safe.  Lots of drunk and seriously rough looking people staggering along the main street in swim suits.  Our hotel was actually very pleasant and filled with families but the main strip was as milee said "scuz city".  We drove over to Sanibel and Captiva one day and they were lovely.

I will say the Mound House - moundhouse.org/ was really interesting if you like historical things.

[Cookies Galore]

Aug 8, 2017 16:37:18 GMT -5 The Walk of the Penguin Mich said:

Aug 8, 2017 16:31:23 GMT -5 phil5185 said:

We use Allegiant, you're right about the flight frequency. Our flight is twice a week, Tues & Thurs.  So if your flight gets weathered-out, you could be stuck for a couple days. 

In our case, that is acceptable. DW & I drive 1400 miles, PHX to North Iowa - I drive a Combine for the corn harvest - depending on weather & breakdowns my job takes anywhere from 2 weeks to 4 weeks. (So I can't schedule my return).  DW flies home after about 10 days - and I drive home whenever I'm finished.   DW's flight usually costs about $100, I probably spend more than that on fuel & motel.  The 1400 mile drive takes 2-days, mostly all daylight, 5:00A to 6:00P both days.

Your trip is less than 1300 miles - 3 kids? Those backseat DVD players are wonderful!

Little kids = little bladders = lots of stops = poor number of miles/day.

Don't forget the fighting! Oh, how we fought on long car rides...

[alabamagal]

We drove 9 hours with 3 small kids all the time. This was pre DVD players in the car. Best thing was to leave early afternoon and drive until midnight.

If you want discount tickets, you have to deal with the discount service, lack of flights, etc. if they have limited flights and there is bad weather, they will likely just delay not cancel, because they need the plane for return flight.