Air Booking Anxiety

klwdisney

DIS Veteran
Joined
Feb 1, 2000
Hi Guys! I am getting ready to book airfare for my Christmas Morning Surprise of a January Weekend to The Studios. Just me and an 11 year old. VERY budget. I am very interested in trying Frontier or Spirit this time. We are travelling Thurs 1/23 - Sun 1/26 from MA. And I have a lot of questions... mainly because Fear of the Unknown causes crazy Anxiety in me. So bear with me ;)

In my airfare search, all the times suck or the prices are high. I'm not seeing anything on Jet Blue or Southwest's websites to make it worth paying more to fly with them this time. Since it's just me and a child on a long weekend, I'm not worried about the nickel and diming of the budget airlines. Even if I purchase a bundle on Frontier it's still cheaper than one way on those other airlines.

I have some questions about booking one way vs round trip... pros & cons.
What happens with those airlines if your flight is affected due to winter weather?
Do either Frontier or Spirit have a reputation for changing flight times often? I've noticed Frontier's flight time has changed a teeny bit since I first started stalking it. I had a Jet Blue flight do that to me once... it was a one flight in and out situation and it had us coming home at 4:30 pm and 2 months later it changed to coming home at 7 am. I was NOT happy.

Anyway, here's just a couple of my questions that I need answered before I'm comfortable enough to commit to booking my airfare. lol Thanks for putting up with my anxiety on this issue! I'm driving my DBf crazy and he's done talking about it.
 
Whew, I have to say, if I had even an iota of anxiety I wouldn't book on Spirit or Frontier. (or Alegient, though you don't mention them)
Budget or otherwise, some things are simply not worth the savings. You can't put a value on piece of mind.
With those airlines, if something happens to your flight, there is a very good chance you are screwed for days. It depends a lot on where you fly from mind you. Some locations have only 1, maybe 2 flights every other day. So if flights on your day are postponed/canceled then you don't have another close up flight to switch to. You have days to wait. If you are flying from a destination that has several flights every day then your risk is lower. No way would I book with them if you are in a spot with only a few flights per week.
 
It's more the fear of the unknown of - what do you do in the event of a cancellation. Does the airline help you out?

We'd be flying in and out of Logan in Boston. Frontier only offered 1 in and 1 out. I think Spirit offered more. Should I lean towards booking Spirit because there's more options if one is cancelled?
 
Hi Guys! I am getting ready to book airfare for my Christmas Morning Surprise of a January Weekend to The Studios. Just me and an 11 year old. VERY budget. I am very interested in trying Frontier or Spirit this time. We are travelling Thurs 1/23 - Sun 1/26 from MA. And I have a lot of questions... mainly because Fear of the Unknown causes crazy Anxiety in me. So bear with me ;)

In my airfare search, all the times suck or the prices are high. I'm not seeing anything on Jet Blue or Southwest's websites to make it worth paying more to fly with them this time. Since it's just me and a child on a long weekend, I'm not worried about the nickel and diming of the budget airlines. Even if I purchase a bundle on Frontier it's still cheaper than one way on those other airlines.

I have some questions about booking one way vs round trip... pros & cons.
What happens with those airlines if your flight is affected due to winter weather?
Do either Frontier or Spirit have a reputation for changing flight times often? I've noticed Frontier's flight time has changed a teeny bit since I first started stalking it. I had a Jet Blue flight do that to me once... it was a one flight in and out situation and it had us coming home at 4:30 pm and 2 months later it changed to coming home at 7 am. I was NOT happy.

Anyway, here's just a couple of my questions that I need answered before I'm comfortable enough to commit to booking my airfare. lol Thanks for putting up with my anxiety on this issue! I'm driving my DBf crazy and he's done talking about it.
did you check all the airports in the area: PVD, BOS,BDL (Hartford), MHT (Manchester)?

Jet Blue has soon pretty good fares right now out of Boston, I see $933 total for 2 people in "Blue" fare class where you can choose your seats in advance, cheaper prices depending on what time you want to fly.
 
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I am looking at PVD and BOS. Not really interested in BDL or MHT... too far and unfamiliar when it's just the 2 of us. Frontier had a good flight out of PVD, but the only flight coming back got in at 1 am. I prefer PVD and it's closer for me. BOS has more options and the proximity isn't bad.

Also, $933 total for 2 of us is INSANE!!! We can fly Frontier for less than $200 round trip grand total for both of us.
 
There are a lot of things that can happen to delay/postpone/cancel your flights. Crews timing out, mechanical issues, etc. Both Frontier and Spirit don’t have a lot of options for you if anything happens to cancel their flight. You’ll basically be at their mercy until they can find you a seat. Throw in flying out of New England, in January, when weather is MOST certainly an issue, I’d be willing to bit the bullet, pay more, and have a better chance of things going well. Especially since you’re just doing a long weekend, if you get canceled or delayed, you’re eating into a big chunk of your trip.

I flew Spirit YEARS ago for a long weekend, from BOS-MYR. There were delays on both legs of the trip, and as as result, we missed our entire 1st day of our long weekend, and spent about 6 extra hours at the MYR airport, due to weather delays, and NO ONE from Spirit every told us anything. SInce then, I have never booked another trip with them. Stuff happens, and I get that, what matters is how the company deals with, and Spirit could not have been more dismissive and disdainful to their passengers.

I’m going to Mexico in January for work, and when I was speaking with the corporate travel agent making our arrangements, I asked her to connect us through the southernmost cities she could on both legs. If there is impactful weather, it may not help, but it certainly cannot hurt. She agreed with me, complimented me on being savvy enough to request that, and our flights connect through Dallas on the way out, and Phoenix on the way back.

If you are even a little bit nervous, I‘d strongly advise agains booking either Spirit or Frontier.
 
I also just took a quick look on Kayak for your dates, and there are some flights on Delta and JetBlue for under $200 for the round trip. I would see if I could make one of those work rather than booking Spirit or Frontier
 


It's more the fear of the unknown of - what do you do in the event of a cancellation. Does the airline help you out?

We'd be flying in and out of Logan in Boston. Frontier only offered 1 in and 1 out. I think Spirit offered more. Should I lean towards booking Spirit because there's more options if one is cancelled?
The no frills airlines you mention? Little to nothing. The bare minimum. If there's 1 flight a day and that flight is canceled what can they do? Try to get you on the next available flight, that's it. And that may not be for 2 days. Ain't no flight cheap enough for me to risk that
Not to mention, what if the next flights are booked with passengers already? They aren't bumping one of them to put you on it. And weather delays are usually not covered by any airline policy for help if they even have any help they offer.
 
I also just took a quick look on Kayak for your dates, and there are some flights on Delta and JetBlue for under $200 for the round trip. I would see if I could make one of those work rather than booking Spirit or Frontier
Just read EVERYTHING before you book with a 3rd party. Know what you are buying and know every single fare rule. They (the 3rd party sites) are not always great at spelling all the rules out. And if you do have a delay or cancellation from the airline you are often left at the mercy of the 3rd party site. As long as someone knows all the rules, it can be ok. But you wouldn't believe how many don't bother to figure all that out first.
 
Just read EVERYTHING before you book with a 3rd party. Know what you are buying and know every single fare rule. They (the 3rd party sites) are not always great at spelling all the rules out. And if you do have a delay or cancellation from the airline you are often left at the mercy of the 3rd party site. As long as someone knows all the rules, it can be ok. But you wouldn't believe how many don't bother to figure all that out first.

Oh, I NEVER book through Kayak, will always bounce back over to the airline’s site. I just use it to streamline searches and see all the options at once. But this is VERY good advice, much easier to deal just with the airline, rather than a middle man as well.
 
I like Google Flights for that myself. It helps me when I do better booking each one on different airlines. We do this A LOT from here.
Next week we do Delta to AZ and AA home.
 
What do you mean by help you out? If the flight is cancelled, they really can't do anything for you other than getting you on another flight perhaps days later depending on their schedule.
Yes, that's what I meant.
 
Right now matrixITA shows:
Spirit- Under $150rt
Delta- $182 (I'd rather take this personally)
JetBlue- $267 Wow! They play with their prices alot. Very possible this price makes a serious dip in December, but then you're biting your nails the whole time.

ETA: I think it's awesome you're going down to WDW to bond with 11yo steppish-son :D
 
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A friend recently did a quick weekend trip to NYC with some coworkers on Frontier. Their return flight was cancelled and when they checked to see about getting home that day. The airline was not helpful at all and said it would be a couple days and they would be on their own for additional hotel nights. They ended up having to paying an additional $100+ bucks to fly that day into an airport that was almost 2 hours away to get home that day. A spouse had to drive down and pick them up to get them home.

I have decided that if I ever decide to attempt one of the airlines that only has 1 or 2 flights a day for my destination, that I will only do so when I am not on any time restraints.
 
Personal experience only here - we have flown dozens of times on both Frontier and Spirit and the only problem we have encountered was one short weather delay that affected the entire airport. Our most recent flight to Florida wan on Frontier, we paid $50 RT per person and arrived 45 minutes early!
Spirit actually has one of the best on time records for 2019 and both have excellent safety records.
 
Right now matrixITA shows:
Spirit- Under $150rt
Delta- $182 (I'd rather take this personally)
JetBlue- $267 Wow! They play with their prices alot. Very possible this price makes a serious dip in December, but then you're biting your nails the whole time.

ETA: I think it's awesome you're going down to WDW to bond with 11yo steppish-son :D

THANKS!!! Hopefully he sees it the same way! haha I haven't found that Delta flight. Although I'm also looking at certain hours. I don't want to be driving to/from the airport in the dark so that might be why. I am still holding off on booking air. Eeek!
 
THANKS!!! Hopefully he sees it the same way! haha I haven't found that Delta flight. Although I'm also looking at certain hours. I don't want to be driving to/from the airport in the dark so that might be why. I am still holding off on booking air. Eeek!

If Frontier or Spirit cancel the flight once you're there, you are pretty much SOL. They don't have contracts with other airlines/flights that they can put you on.

If you don't want to drive to the airport in the dark, try a car service. Yes, it adds costs to the trip, but this options up other options for other lower cost flights from other carriers that have multiple flights going out in a day.
 
Yes, that's what I meant.
Check their schedule - Frontier (can't speak to Spirit) has no partner airlines. So I was told when ours was cancelled that it would be first flight the next day. On a 3 day weekend - I just had to cancel out. I did demand a refund and they allowed for it as this was a mechanical issue not weather. Disney was also understanding with the hotel. I rebooked to use the WDW tickets later - but I booked Southwest this time. If you have lots of flights going from your location it might be worth the risk but I would not book the last flight of the day.
 

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