Flight prices

I'm a planner. Always have been. Our next trip is in November and I'm already looking at flight prices. The most we have ever paid for round trip out of Nashville or Atlanta is @ $450 pp. Looking at the prices on Delta right now for our travel dates the prices are $1800 pp. Do they really think someone is going to pay that? I guess I just don't understand how airlines establish their prices.


BTW.....Southwest hasn't released their prices for November yet. I'm sure when they do Delta's prices will drop dramatically.

Sometimes it's frustrating being someone that plans far ahead. smh

First class or coach? The most I have paid from LAX first class RT is approximately $1,500, the lowest around $1,000. That price is horrendous for such a short flight, and is a great example of airline greed. In fact, my next trip we are paying approximately $1,500 each RT in First Class from LAX, which covers 2 1/2 times the difference(1117 vs 2708) miles. Prices this year are the highest I have seen in the last 5+ years. Sadly, I can travel to Cancun for less than $1,000 RT, but will not as we want to get back to Negril.

Believe it or not, that's coach prices

I've been watching Omaha to Negril in Feb and they are only $480 RT for both AA and Delta. I was hoping United would slash their prices in the wake of the horrendous PR problem they have right now but no luck yet. I will now only fly UA if its cheap, cheap, cheap.

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Originally Posted by gregandkelly63

Believe it or not, that's coach prices

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Sadly due to lack of competition. Good luck on seeing something much more reasonable in the future. Random thought, did you try pricing it out in First Class? Over the years I have seen First/Business class priced lower than coach several times when booking a flight. Revenue management and the numerous fare codes let this happen.

First price was about $100 more per person. Just over $1900. I'm sure these prices will drop quite a bit before November but for the life of me I just can't imagine why Delta would price this flight so high. And who would pay these prices? Checking Expedia some of the other airlines have flights for around $700. Still a far cry from the $450 we usually pay.

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Originally Posted by booger

Sadly, I can travel to Cancun for less than $1,000 RT, but will not as we want to get back to Negril.

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Yup. This is exactly what prompted us to go to Isla Mujeres for our winter vacation. Now, we want to go back to Negril during the slow season and the airfare is still ridiculous. I'm looking at $600 to $700 RT economy fare from PHL to MBJ. This is the highest I've ever seen. Without any competition, American Airlines can charge whatever they want.

around 60 days out is the best pricing.......sometimes less....sometimes more......
wi going into Summer and the airfare to Jamaica will keep going up for the time being.....
Winter is always cheaper to fly......a lot cheaper......less people traveling in N America.....

Delta is always high to Jamaica....great flights and comfort but pricey
I have flown them one way and sometimes they want $899+ for a one way flight to Florida from Mobay
mi usually grin and bear going that route on Spirit........cheap flights and dem good for mi cause mi fly with no baggage

American Airlines and their zoo in Miami is nuts........these days they play musical gates on you......not fun

for Summer flights grab them when you see the deals......cause like right now they will keep going up and up
for Winter flights you can be patient and get cheap flights within a months time.......no problem

Cool Runnings, Marko

the only non-stop flights from Dallas are on American and the coach fares for our dates have been around $700 - $900 the past couple of years. Like Booger, we've been doing first class for $100-$200 more per ticket. Back in the mid-to-late 90's I could get $99 r/t non-stop from Dallas on charter flights but sadly they pulled out of DFW long ago.

I'm a planner also --- some call it anal :) SW will open more fares on May 19th - I have an alarm set on my phone so that I can be ready to get my Dec 22/23 ticket.

I think the other airline prices will come down IF the fares are decent on SW. If your flight is over Thanksgiving then it's going to be pricey to fly. Try pricing out one way tickets. For Christmas last year, I flew SW for BWI to MBJ and my return was on United for MBJ to IAD. I saved about $250 on my ticket.

I use this site to check on prices: https://matrix.itasoftware.com

There's an App called Hopper that I've heard is decent. I am currently watching Dec 23 - Jan 2 and it's pricing at $1,037 (OMG) and it says until Oct 22, the prices will vary and can can drop as low as $747, then after Oct 23, price will rise by @$61 then by Dec 18 climb up to $381 more. Try your dates and see what happens.

I am more inclined to fly SW due to 2 free bags and if the fare drops, they give you the credit.

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Originally Posted by N5_

the only non-stop flights from Dallas are on American and the coach fares for our dates have been around $700 - $900 the past couple of years. Like Booger, we've been doing first class for $100-$200 more per ticket. Back in the mid-to-late 90's I could get $99 r/t non-stop from Dallas on charter flights but sadly they pulled out of DFW long ago.

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I've heard about the glory days of charter flights, but have never seen one out of Philly. Flew a charter to Cancun in the late 90's out of Newark, that was basically packed with spring break partyers. I guess post 9/11 has changed the economy for charters and airline competition. Apple Vacations used to have it's own airline called USA 3000, that provided no-frills flights to Caribbean destinations. Also, as recently as a year ago, Frontier had low-cost flights from PHL to MBJ. For some reason, they cancelled that route this year. Coincidentally, that is when AA's fares skyrocketed (i.e. no more competition).

It is easy to jump up and down and claim airline greed, but here is a little tid bit for all. I just recently booked my return ticket home. Westjet and Air Canada were of no help. Cheep to fly down down but triple the charge to fly home because...well you have to fly home and they know it. Any way, booked with Delta, (didn't want to book with United as I bruise easily) $167 went for the actual airline but $133 went to fees, $98.30 for fee's on the Jamaica side alone, just to leave their country. $29.40 for Jamaica passenger and security fee, OK, I can see that, but $46.60 Jamaica travel tax. $6.60 Jamaica stamp fee. What the hell is that!! You have to pay now for the ink they use to stamp your passport now. Ya the airlines are trying to make a buck but too many others have their hand in the pot and it's kinda getting ridiculous. And now we are going to have to pay even more. One of the planes I'm flying on is a Bombardier RJ and the Bombardier CEO needs his 7 million dollar/year pay check so the fee's have now where to go but up.

A couple of years ago I was looking into airfares to various destinations during my kids spring vacation week.
It was way more expensive to fly from Boston to Cancun than it was from Boston to Istanbul (where we eventually went)....go figure.

I refuse to pay outrageous prices for a trip to Jamaica. I have in the past and will continue in the future to try new destinations if airfare seems unreasonable. Spent 9 days last month in the Yucatan with my son (ruins, caving, cenotes, culture etc.) because R\T air from Philly was $308.
Regards,
Bob

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Originally Posted by rjonsun

I refuse to pay outrageous prices for a trip to Jamaica. I have in the past and will continue in the future to try new destinations if airfare seems unreasonable. Spent 9 days last month in the Yucatan with my son (ruins, caving, cenotes, culture etc.) because R\T air from Philly was $308.
Regards,
Bob

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Agree Getting a little silly from Chicago. It was a nice run but there are other travel destinations.

I booked tickets as soon as fares were released for Jan 2018 and got flights,on Delta, from our local airport with one stop at MSP for $500 each. Now they are $700-800. $500 is what I paid on SW out of Milwaukee in Jan 2017. Yes, we will have to pay for luggage now but have a 30min drive instead of 4 hours and hotel stay. Still come out ahead.

I've been going to Jamaica After THanksgiving the last 5 years and I've noticed a huge bump. I paid under $2000 to fly me, my daughters and grandson down late last year. This year, I got my tickets in early March from AA via priceline.com and the best I could find was $620 for my usual Blackfriday trip, returning 10 days later on sunday. The only real deals are if you want to fly mid week now it seems. The airlines are just about greed now.... especially when you consider their fuel costs the last couple of years have been relatively cheap....


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Blessed to live in Florida. Drive 90 minutes to Ft. Lauderdale from Gulf Coast. Tickets a couple weeks in advance round trip can be had for under $200 sometimes Spirit or JetBlue (Spirit usually cheaper). I like to plan but sister does pack and go! Our March trip was about 240 RT about 2 weeks advance. April trip was under 300 one way 2 people Ft Lauderdale to Kingston and 500+ total one way 2 people from Mobay to Ft Lauderdale. We booked on a Friday to leave next day (sister's last minute let's go!). We flew JetBlue both ways

After the gentleman got roughed up on United I bought my tickets out of Duluth MN return for 485 a person. Unheard of in the 8 years I've been travelling to Jamaica. Usually have to shuttle to Minneapolis stay over night then shuttle back when we return which always at 2am in the morning, awful. But this year we jump in a cab a couple hours before take off and same coming home. Live 7 minutes from the airport so it will be delightful! Stop in Chicago both ways but no biggy.

Last Tuesday morning Delta had tickets for $440 pp out of Nashville. I didn't buy then because I was running late for work. I have been kicking myself ever since. Prices are now back in the mid $600 range. I am going to keep hoping prices drop again soon.

When American took over for USair, leaving Philly with essentially one option, I think it was funny that they had the gall to say that the consolidation would lower prices.

We did get a decent price on tickets this year, paying a little less than $3000 RT for the two of us (I'm a big guy, can't take flying in coach, so I cough up the extra for 1st). we bought for our November trip in February this year, and the couple of times I've checked since then, the prices keep rising.

We are moving to Florida at the end of August, for this very reason...cheaper airfare and last minute trips!! Airfare is also cheaper to other places my roommate and I travel often...California is just too far from where we like to be....

On average 1st class from SFO is $1000 to $1500 return....and door to door 18 or more hours depending on connections....sooo tired of it and did my last SFO-MIA-MBJ a few days ago and will do the return early August....then the move!!!!

The most I ever paid for coach was $2900 one way (Copa Airlines)....I was in the middle of no where and it took 4 planes, 6 stops and 36 hours....never again!

I am also a planner and we prefer to fly via Delta, so I have been watching. Last Tuesday, I got a fare alert from Expedia (I set them at several sites for $50 dollar change in price) and purchased the same tickets that were on Delta for 400 bucks cheaper. After I booked them, I was directed to Delta to choose our seats and enter our Frequent flyer numbers. I have never seen that happen before, but glad that it did!! That was for December flights and I was happy with the price, thatis my standard and I won't check prices again.

gregandkelly63 - I have spoken with several people in the travel industry and they have all told me the same thing. Airlines don't open a new plane for booking until the one currently open fills up. When they open a new flight they want to sell the first 50% of the seats fast so they can insure profitability and a shot at another full plane. After 50% of the seats are full the prices continue to rise until the last ticket is gone. The flight you saw at $440 was probably just opened that day, and the first half of the plane won't last long. The only hint that a new flight will open soon is when you're online looking at flights and the red print comes up stating "just 7 seats left" or 5 or 3. What that means is another flight will open soon and you need to check multiple times a day. It's a pain in the butt but it usually pays off if you're patient. The only thing about the entire system that bugs me is that every time I'm on a plane I know someone paid twice as much as me, or less than I did!!! Good luck.

I'll keep that in mind. Thanks!

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Originally Posted by Hussyband

When American took over for USair, leaving Philly with essentially one option, I think it was funny that they had the gall to say that the consolidation would lower prices.

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Hussyband, I probably sound like a broken record at this point, but I have been saying this as well. The lack of competition in Philly is what's causing airfare to be higher than that from other cities that are further away (higher than Canada, even). I wish Southwest would come in and operate some flights. I would even take Frontier, who ran some direct flights for 1 peak season then backed out.

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Originally Posted by Mike_D

Hussyband, I probably sound like a broken record at this point, but I have been saying this as well. The lack of competition in Philly is what's causing airfare to be higher than that from other cities that are further away (higher than Canada, even). I wish Southwest would come in and operate some flights. I would even take Frontier, who ran some direct flights for 1 peak season then backed out.

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I think back to the days of Air Jamaica, $750 RT for the two of us, and the ability to upgrade to 1st for $50. :)

Charlotte is the same way as Philly,not enough competition so prices are sky high!!

gl on your ove , the wife and I oved from northern michigan to southwest florida almost 2 years ago but have not been back to negril since then but are thinking about doing an off season trip ther in july. Have not ckecked airfare yet but its got to be cheaper than it was to get from michigan to Negril

My wife and i have been seeing the same things out of Baltimore, we have flown SW/AirTran every year for the last 5 years, the price for 2 RT 3 years ago over NYE was 840ish USD, this year that price has increased to 1470. We decided to book a package Flight and Hotel through Cheap tickets, we ended up getting flight and hotel for a little more than the flight only through SW.

It kinda scared us to use the an online site out of Spain, thus far im not hacked........

Fellow Planners,

We fly out of a small regional airport to Philly (American) or Newark (United) and their listed tickets in coach are pricey. We get around it two ways. We charge all our monthly paid in full expenses against Cap1 Venture card. That racket up 2 points/$1 spent. Cashing points cab be cash or travel with no blackout dates. It cost us about 60,000 points for two tickets on United this year. The other trick that we've used is the 50,000 miles signing bonus for charging $3,000 in the first three months of an airlines credit card. We flew to Jamaica last winter and we're flying round trip to SFO this fall and Barcelona next winter. That's 3, free round trip fares for 2 people in less than 12 months!

Cash in on your monthly expenses and charge them to a good rewards card. As good planners know, prior proper planning prevents piss poor performance!

MissG and I each have Southwest Visa Premier.

R/T nonstop from Orlando has moved from as low as 7,000 points to 13,896 for my booking for August. Taxes are paid with cash at 135.00 pp

We still have 54,000 and add points every cycle.

Cap

Nice to see all the peeps taking advantage of the credit card sign up bonuses. You can fly first class to Jamaica with one sign up bonus, if you do a little reading. This does not apply to all travelers, as a lot of the credit card offers only cater to US customers. Sadly, I can fly cheaper to Asia in premium cabins than I can to Jamaica with miles/points. Though if you plan far enough out you can usually get some seats at saver levels. United has been my best redemption from California, with both their flights as well as their partnership with Copa. American Airlines award availability is horrible for their own redemptions.

Yeah, I'm getting pretty frustrated with American's rewards program. For my next trip to MBJ, I was able to scrounge up enough miles for a one way coach ticket (MBJ to PHL) and had to pay cash for the rest (RT would've been over 50,000 miles). I had been riding on the US Airways/AA Barclays Mastercard since 2012, but now I'm not sure its worth the annual fee. I'm definitely planning to get a Venture card and will probably sign-up for the AA Citi card, just for the 50,000 bonus miles. I would like to cancel the AA Barclays card before they charge my next annual fee, but need to make sure they don't take away my miles along with it.

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Originally Posted by Mike_D

Yeah, I'm getting pretty frustrated with American's rewards program. For my next trip to MBJ, I was able to scrounge up enough miles for a one way coach ticket (MBJ to PHL) and had to pay cash for the rest (RT would've been over 50,000 miles). I had been riding on the US Airways/AA Barclays Mastercard since 2012, but now I'm not sure its worth the annual fee. I'm definitely planning to get a Venture card and will probably sign-up for the AA Citi card, just for the 50,000 bonus miles. I would like to cancel the AA Barclays card before they charge my next annual fee, but need to make sure they don't take away my miles along with it.

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Mike,

I'm very sure the miles are only available as long as the card is "active"

Cap

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Originally Posted by Mike_D

Yeah, I'm getting pretty frustrated with American's rewards program. For my next trip to MBJ, I was able to scrounge up enough miles for a one way coach ticket (MBJ to PHL) and had to pay cash for the rest (RT would've been over 50,000 miles). I had been riding on the US Airways/AA Barclays Mastercard since 2012, but now I'm not sure its worth the annual fee. I'm definitely planning to get a Venture card and will probably sign-up for the AA Citi card, just for the 50,000 bonus miles. I would like to cancel the AA Barclays card before they charge my next annual fee, but need to make sure they don't take away my miles along with it.

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Mike,
Once the miles hit your advantage account they will not be clawed back. You just need to use them before they expire, which is after 18 months of no activity I believe. You can get the Citi card now with a 60,000 mile promo, or double up and get both the consumer and business version for 120,000. Or better yet, you and the misses both double up and you end up with 240,000. PM me if you have any other questions.

I love the Chase Sapphire Preferred Credit Card. 100,000 sign on points after $3k in 3 months (easy for me with my annual timeshare maintenance fees). Then you get 3x points for dining out and travel. Southwest and United are one of their travel partners. I use this card and my Southwest Credit Card and I am set for my Jamaica travels.

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Originally Posted by booger

Mike,
Once the miles hit your advantage account they will not be clawed back. You just need to use them before they expire, which is after 18 months of no activity I believe. You can get the Citi card now with a 60,000 mile promo, or double up and get both the consumer and business version for 120,000. Or better yet, you and the misses both double up and you end up with 240,000. PM me if you have any other questions.

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Thanks Booger - great advice! I now have a few options to look into. I'll let you know if I have any questions.

It would be great if I could channel the wife's spending into some Advantage miles. I think I need to get her on one of these cards!