What's going on - Orlando Easter 2012?

Having "done" Orlando over Easter for 3 out of the last 4 years, I have just booked for 4 out of 5 - Easter 2012.

Now, lucklily I had a travel agent holding outbound flights for me whilst we waited for the returns to open, and bagged PE return for approx 3.9k for 2 adults and one child.

VH had completely, and I mean completely sold out of seats during this period when I enquired at beginning of April.

VS website quote 5k plus for PE returns yesterday (2 adults one child).

VS economy return 4.1k for same passengers same dates.

BA economy same days/passengers 2.7k.

Very odd - I've booked my Easter trips as late as July in past years, but this year, the seats appear to be as rare as rocking horse pooh...

What's going on? (And yes, it may all depend on seats released/buckets etc, etc, but all seems a little odd to me).

[Neil]

It is still early for Easter 2012 direct seats to be released. Flights are only only sale until the middle of April currently and it is very unusual for VS to release the cheaper fare buckets straight away. I think you should leave it another couple of weeks and then we might start seeing what the more realistic prices are going to be.

I must admit that I was speculatively looking at easter options for 2012, and agree that the Orlando and Caribbean prices were frankly hair raising. I was wondering if there was a typical time when the N/O fares started to appear.

That said, plenty of cheaper seats to Dubai at the same time...

[Neil]

You might find that no N or O fares are ever released for the busier periods, but the X and Q should be released usually a few weeks after the flight goes on sale. That is certain my experience when booking for busy periods like Easter.

It is still early for Easter 2012 direct seats to be released. Flights are only only sale until the middle of April currently and it is very unusual for VS to release the cheaper fare buckets straight away. I think you should leave it another couple of weeks and then we might start seeing what the more realistic prices are going to be.

Is it too early? I thought VS released 336 days in advance? As Easter falls in the first week of April next year, doesn't this mean they are fully released by now?

[Nottingham Nick]

As Neil says, they release seats - but they don't always release seats in the cheaper fare buckets at the 330 day mark - especially at peak times.

It could be said that it isn't fair, but VS are a business and. if they can sell seats in the higher price buckets, then I suppose it makes sense. If the plane isn't filling up as they had hoped, then they MAY increase the X, Q etc. buckets,

Simple case of supply and demand.

Nick

[Neil]

Exactly what Nick said - seats released at 11 months but not all fare codes released at that point.

Hopefully they will release some lower fare code seats soon!

[Neil]

Hopefully they will release some lower fare code seats soon!

There is a good chance that no low fare codes will be released at all. This year (like in 2008) fares weren't too bad because the Easter holidays at schools was spread over a 4 week period due to the date Easter fell.

In 2009/10, the fares were a lot higher because nearly all schools had the same 2 weeks off, meaning the demand over the beginning end dates was much higher and the didn't need to release any low fares. IIRC in 2009 nothing lower than a B was released.

Are you just talking about MCO there Neil, as I definitely remember being on an N/Q combination for easter 2009 to barbados...

[Neil]

Are you just talking about MCO there Neil, as I definitely remember being on an N/Q combination for easter 2009 to barbados...

Yes - I was specifically talking about MCO as that is what the OP and thread was regarding. Obviously MCO is slightly unique at Easter as it is *SO* popular and busy.

Don't forget that flying to JFK and then down to Orlando on JetBlue/AA/Delta can save £££ over the direct flight.

Also, if I remember rightly, Virgin have a baggage interline agreement with those airlines so you'll be able to check your bags through to the final destination, (still need to be collected and dropped off again on the way there).

LHR-JFK-MCO is not a bad trip at all. You'll also be on a v-port LHR aircraft with the latest cabins.

I think my point is (based on VH allocation completely sold out, info from travel agents etc), that Easter 2012 is way more busy earlier than in previous years.

The dates I'm looking at have been released now for a week or more, and based on what I'm being told, my guess is you will not see any lower priced buckets being released.

Whereas, in previous years, these have been available early and availability remained until much later in the year.

The point re LHR-JFK/MCO is an excellent one, and maybe something I'll investigate more seriously in the future, but with a 9-year-old, you kind o' want to just get there as easily as possible!!! So, I'll have to pay the price.

Overall point is that loads seem very high earlier than is normal on this route, and prices are consequently higher than usual at this early stage.

Not aware of anything out of the ordinary going on in Oralndo next Easter...so was wondering whether others had anything to add really...

[Neil]

I think my point is (based on VH allocation completely sold out, info from travel agents etc), that Easter 2012 is way more busy earlier than in previous years....


Not aware of anything out of the ordinary going on in Oralndo next Easter...so was wondering whether others had anything to add really...

I think it goes back to the point I made. Most schools are having the same 2 weeks off for Easter this year, so the demand for those dates is always going to be very high. There isn't anything specific going on in Orlando, just the choice of dates is much more limited compared to this year.

I think the high prices will stay for the beginning end of the two week period but we should see cheaper fares for midweek flights slightly outside the regular Easter holiday dates.

VS economy return 4.1k for same passengers same dates.
BA economy same days/passengers 2.7k.

For only the second time in nearly 20years we've desserted VS in favour of BA. They have had their Easter 2012 fares covering the whole of April posted on-line for the past 2 weeks. The fares have actually risen now but we secured six seats a couple of weeks back to fly direct to MCO and back from TPA, paid to pre-book our required seats too and the fares were still cheaper than VS are advertising.

I probably could have saved a bit by using a VS M+M fare (when they get advertised in a few weeks) but I'll not do that again out of principle, I'll save my miles to upgrade to UC again another time.

We're not in PE as usual but to be honest I've come to believe recently that the VS product is over-rated bearing in mind the enormous cash difference required between Economy & PE. I'd rather have more $'s in my pocket. A decent seat in BA economy can be suffered for nine hours.

We're looking at doing a family trip to MCO for Easter next year, I think we're likely to go either MIA or JFK judging by the current pricing. Will keep an eye on it and maybe a few 'K fares will get released in the next few weeks...hmmm

2 adts, 1 child on 31st March 2012 for 14 days in PE is :

MCO is 5432 (S & W)
MIA is 4170 (S & S)
JFK is 2949 (K & K)

I vowed never to do the drive from MIA to MCO but may consider with a £1k+ saving.

JFK - I did find it fairly easy to transit through JFK in March so a definite option, especially considering the £2k+ saving - even with a nice jet blue flight!

[Neil]

Why drive from MIA to MCO - just catch an internal flight. We have done that twice, it is so easy and the fares are about £30/40 each - so still a huge saving without the hassle of the driving.

Why drive from MIA to MCO - just catch an internal flight. We have done that twice, it is so easy and the fares are about £30/40 each - so still a huge saving without the hassle of the driving.

I had thought about that, especially considering how awful it is driving around Miami airport!

Thanks Neil - who do you generally connect with? (Please don't say AA!)

Luke

[Neil]

AA but only because they were the cheapest and had the best connection times.

Actually they really are fine, and, although don't quote me on this, the twice we have done it, we've used the connection centre straight outside the immigration hall to check our bags in and never had to pay any luggage fees.

For what is a 40min or so flight, I don't think it matters who you use.

Regarding driving out of Miami, they have now made all the tolls electronic only, so no cash tolls left, which means you have to either purchase a platepass type device from your rental company (usually $5 per day plus tolls on top) or pay a $25 fine every time you go through the toll v(

AA but only because they were the cheapest and had the best connection times.

Actually they really are fine, and, although don't quote me on this, the twice we have done it, we've used the connection centre straight outside the immigration hall to check our bags in and never had to pay any luggage fees.

For what is a 40min or so flight, I don't think it matters who you use.

Regarding driving out of Miami, they have now made all the tolls electronic only, so no cash tolls left, which means you have to either purchase a platepass type device from your rental company (usually $5 per day plus tolls on top) or pay a $25 fine every time you go through the toll v(

I could probably manage AA for 40 minutes! I expect the flights are very regular with MIA as the AA hub.

Thanks for letting me know about the tolls in MIA another reason not to fly into MIA - last time I managed to lose the toll ticket upon entry (it blew out the window) so I ended up having to pay the highest fee - that will teach me to do a 9 hour flight then a 4 hour drive in the same day!

TBH - I'm steering towards JFK at the moment, easy to transfer and only 3 hours from JFK to MCO on JB.

I'd vote strongly in favour of the JetBlue JFK option.

That said, I really don't like AA but a 40 minute flight is probably bearable!

I have also noticed the prices have hugely changed since our visit last Easter when we paid £2700 for a flydrive. We have now booked a Flydrive again for our 6th visit for Easter 2013. This was booked with Travel City using Virgin flights and with premium car and the total cost for 4 adults was £3300 I double checked in case this was a mistake. We had been looking at Easter or summer 2012 but at over £4000 this is way to much. On a final note i asked which fare code and was told V.

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