Airfare Depression

Jumper · Post by **Jumper** » Sat Aug 03, 2013 2:27 am

We were looking to book next years trip, but it looks like the airfare from Baltimore ($1800.00 for three, RT) may price us right off the island. This year we flew for approx. $1400.00 and I thought that was expensive. We have placed a small deposit on a condo, but I may have to pull the plug and cancel next years trip.

I saw that Spirit was slightly lower in price, but with all of their carry-on charges and their poor service reputation, I will have to pass on them.

If the airfare continues to rise at the current rate, I may have taken my last St John vacation. This really sucks!

kklay · Post by **kklay** » Sat Aug 03, 2013 8:35 am

I feel your pain! Our group has a trip planned this fall and we have our villa and rental cars however no airfare yet! We should have booked in May, but are still waiting. May have to go ahead and book in the next week or so. Everything I read about the airlines says that the current (high) pricing will probably remain and gone are the days of lower fares. We used to travel to St John (from the Ohio area) for between $400 to $525. Currently pricing is running $800 pp. Won't stop my trips! Just need to save more!

TraumaQueen · Post by **TraumaQueen** » Sat Aug 03, 2013 8:40 am

WOW! What time of year are you flying? We are watching prices for the end of June first of July for next year and it looks like we'll drive 5 hours to Atlanta to grab flights for $489. After hotel and gas, we'll still save over $200 than flying out of Jackson ($734). Plus we've always wanted an excuse to stay at the Marriott overlooking the runway at the ATL

. We've also been watching New Orleans (3 hr drive vs 5 hr drive), but we wouldn't save enough after hotel and gas. We've found hotels in both cities that have extended free parking.

I don't know if we can put links/other businesses on here, but if you sign up at fare compare you can get alerts when prices go down. I also follow them on twitter. Good luck and know that others are starting to feel your pain!

JJShaw · Post by **JJShaw** » Sat Aug 03, 2013 9:11 am

We fly Spirit most of the time and even they are more expensive than the last few yrs...The best way we have found, if you have a flexible schedule is find the flights then look for villa and then the jeep...and we don't buy seats with spirit...That helps cut the costs down quiet a bit..We are looking to go over the 4th of July next yr but Spirit is only booking thru June 30th. but there costs, if we were going in June are the same as going as they would have been for our Nov. trip if we had not used miles but even their prices would have been more than last yr. by about a 100.. I plan on booking as soon as the dates open up, with miles and a coupon of course...then the villa search will start....Good Luck in your search..

equineannie · Post by **equineannie** » Sat Aug 03, 2013 9:16 am

Try Jet Blue to Puerto Rico and then Seaborne Airlines to St Thomas. If not, try out some other nice small islands, Dominica is wonderful: rain forest, lovely beaches and great snorkeling & diving. Super friendly. I go Jet Blue to Puerto Rico and then Seaborne. I used to live on St Thomas and St John and I never go anymore...too expensive and too touristy.

mnfun2bme · Post by **mnfun2bme** » Sat Aug 03, 2013 10:40 am

3 months ago we booked a trip for December 14-22. Because the Delta flight we wanted out of Minneapolis was $894/pp, we splurged on 60k miles/pp --- 6 of us going. As suggested on this site, I'm using a site called YAPTA.com to monitor the flight. So far this past week, I have had two emails from YAPTA telling me the flight price has dropped. I think it's now down to $742/pp (still ridiculous in my book)..... but the emails are nice to get. You could possibly have YAPTA continue to babysit the particular flights you're looking for.

Yes, gone are the days of booking the villa first and then the flights. Now you have to book flights first and then find a villa that has open dates for those days!

Good luck finding what you need. It would be too bad if you had to miss time on "The Rock."

cbrund1079 · Post by **cbrund1079** » Sat Aug 03, 2013 10:42 am

What time of year are traveling? Are you trying to book on weekend travel days? Maybe try Mon- Wed travel days? Can you use alternate airports?

News of St. John · Post by **News of St. John** » Sat Aug 03, 2013 11:15 am

You can also try Southwest to PR and then hop on Seaborne, which is cheaper than Cape Air.

TraumaQueen · Post by **TraumaQueen** » Sat Aug 03, 2013 11:37 am

cbrund1079 wrote:What time of year are traveling? Are you trying to book on weekend travel days? Maybe try Mon- Wed travel days? Can you use alternate airports?

I agree. We do Wed down and Sun back

petepie · Post by **petepie** » Sun Aug 04, 2013 5:42 pm

Search for flights to stt using departure airport as "was". You'll pick up fares from bwi, Dulles, and national. I've found that national & Dulles are usually cheaper than bwi. When are you going? I'm seeing $363 round trip in season mid week and even at thanksgiving I'm seeing $400 - $450. Also if you really want a lower price, consider driving to Newark.

Jumper · Post by **Jumper** » Sun Aug 04, 2013 6:27 pm

We will be travelling next June and we can not alter our travel plans(Sat.-Sat), except maybe leaving on a Friday. I would be willing to fly out of another airport, but I am not driving more than 1 1/2 hours to get there. I am not a big fan of waiting to long to secure my airfare, the flights book quick. I have a few alerts for fares set through various sites, so we will see what happens in the next few weeks.
We did get a nice villa for half the cost of our first villa pick, so I will be happy if we can find airfare for $1500RT for the three of us.

I will not fly Spirit airlines, ever!

Thanks everyone for your thoughts and input on this

loverotties · Post by **loverotties** » Mon Aug 05, 2013 6:21 am

Jumper we also fly out of BWI or PHL . We will be headed back to the rock in May . I just saw AA flights for 476.70 out of BWI & am thinking of grabbing them. Still expensive but lower than anything else but Spirit & I won't fly with them either . We would be flying in on a Tues. to the following week on Fri.

lorijo068 · Post by **lorijo068** » Mon Aug 05, 2013 6:32 am

I felt the same way - I would check every day on AA and Delta - they were $520 for the cheapest ($748 now!!) Then FINALLY one day I checked (I always do the flexible days) and I found Delta tix for $273!!!!!!! Couldn't believe it!!! Weds to Weds in January!! We are driving 4 hours to STL but we always do and its totally worth it!! Keep trying!!

krislbi · Post by **krislbi** » Tue Aug 06, 2013 10:56 am

Agree-airfare has gotten ridiculous but there are deals to be had. We live right near PHL airport but are driving to JFK for a flight that is a FRACTION of the PHL flight. Going up the night before and staying at a hotel at airport. Pain in the --- but worth it.

PA Girl · Post by **PA Girl** » Tue Aug 06, 2013 12:48 pm

Jumper wrote: I would be willing to fly out of another airport, but I am not driving more than 1 1/2 hours to get there.

Well, the convenience of limiting one's airport choices comes at a cost.

We haven't found a decent fare out of BWI in years and we used to fly out of BWI 90% of the time. My mom also has stopped going out of BWI because they can get MUCH better fares out of the two DC airports.

Have you checked fares out of Harrisburg? Oddly enough, it is cheaper for us to fly out of Harrisburg with a PHL connection then if we would drive to PHL and catch the direct flights. (Harrisburg is closer for us so it is a win/win.)

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