Possible Cyber Monday discounts

[katallo]

Please post if there are any Cyber Monday discounts on rental cars or airfare. This is the first year I have heard people say they are rethinking travel because of pricing. I received one email from Dollar but it is valid only through January.

 

[_19disnA]

Rental cars are a commodity and lots of competition. I am not sure how many people are changing/cancelling travel plans due to the price of a rental car. The rental car price is probably only a small part of the total cost of a vacation. Have never shopped for a rental car on cyber Monday to know if that is even a thing. Usually you start planning for your rental car at the point you plan to go on vacation. It is less of an impulse purchase compared to many other cyber Monday items.

 

[leebee]

Try searching carrentalsavers.com and autoslash.com. They pretty much consistently have the best prices for rental cars. Just make sure to rent from one of the major agencies at MCO. Off-airport locations are significantly cheaper (they don't have to pay the fees, etc as the in-terminal agencies) but people report having huge issues with these companies. First you have to take a shuttle to any of these agencies (except Sixt- don't know much about them but they are "big" in Europe), which adds time. The off-airport agencies are known for trying to upsell you, HARD, lying about needing to take their insurance, not having enough cars (so you wait for hours to get a car), etc. I can get 12 cents out of a dime when I travel, but I will NOT rent from any of these off-airport agencies, even though it could save me over $100 on the rental.

There are some things to keep in mind with all car rental companies. You don't HAVE to take the rental agency's car insurance, although they will ask (and maybe pressure you) about this. Most personal car insurance policies will cover rental cars, and many credit cards provide secondary insurance. Check your policy and if you have coverage, just say "nope, my personal policy covers it" and they'll move on. It's also not a bargain to pre-purchase a tank of gas, unless you are willing to cruise into the parking garage on fumes at the end of the rental period. I fill up at the Speedway (?) across from Disney Springs and have never had the gas gauge indicator move off of "F" by the time I get to MCO. If you are worried, there is a gas station at the south entrance to MCO that will have not great, but OK prices, for gas. Just don't pre-purchase a tank of gas from the rental company; the only benefit to pre-purchasing gas is to the rental agencies!!

 

[katallo]

Thanks leebee. We use the same gas station at DS. Always still on full. Just read about "Travel Tuesday" so I'll check airfare and car rentals then.

 

[EACarlson]

I'd be careful with using the station at DS and expecting to not be charged. Avis in particular seems to be getting into the telematics and it will read to the tenth of a gallon. If it comes in more than .6 less than full they charge you for it. My recommendation is always the Wawa on Semoran just north of the airport. They have the same prices as elsewhere in Orlando with no markup.

 

[joxer1014]

I want to give my 2 cents. It seems that some of the airlines have some kind of BF promos. The best I have seen is $20 flights on Spirit as long as you dont have extra bags. I do have to say that I am extremely disappointed in southwest's lack of BF deals. I think they had some kind of deal for SW vacations but that was done very quietly. I was really hoping on some kind of sale for airfare since I have a January trip coming up. Thanks for dropping the ball again,

 

[sam_gordon]

As long as they're selling at full price, why should the companies do sales?

 

[FCDub]

I want to give my 2 cents. It seems that some of the airlines have some kind of BF promos. The best I have seen is $20 flights on Spirit as long as you dont have extra bags. I do have to say that I am extremely disappointed in southwest's lack of BF deals. I think they had some kind of deal for SW vacations but that was done very quietly. I was really hoping on some kind of sale for airfare since I have a January trip coming up. Thanks for dropping the ball again,

This is super entitled lol

But there’s a Cyber Monday sale now so hopefully they can redeem themselves in your eyes.

 

[Keladry84]

This is super entitled lol

But there’s a Cyber Monday sale now so hopefully they can redeem themselves in your eyes.

How is this entitled? Black Friday is a time when almost all businesses do some kind of sale. At the same time, airlines in my area have jacked up prices to double or even triple for all flights all times of year. My small local airport for years has had on average prices around 400 consistently to most domestic places, with the larger airport two hours down the road with options from around 200 to 350ish. My trip dates to Orlando in March from the local airport right now? 800 to 1200 dollars currently, for mostly empty planes. That’s not supply/demand, or even realistic estimate of costs. Thats price gouging on the airlines part. Please don’t tell me that their costs have doubled or tripled in the space of a couple of months. Right now I’m booked on Southwest from the airport two hours away….for a nice steal of over 700…. which is also super inflated and way outside the norm of pricing, almost double where they were sitting just last year. Wishing for even a slight Black Friday discount is not entitlement when prices right now doubled/tripled for all options. Inflation is bad but I’m pretty sure it hasn’t increased by that much!!

 

[katallo]

How is this entitled? Black Friday is a time when almost all businesses do some kind of sale. At the same time, airlines in my area have jacked up prices to double or even triple for all flights all times of year. My small local airport for years has had on average prices around 400 consistently to most domestic places, with the larger airport two hours down the road with options from around 200 to 350ish. My trip dates to Orlando in March from the local airport right now? 800 to 1200 dollars currently, for mostly empty planes. That’s not supply/demand, or even realistic estimate of costs. Thats price gouging on the airlines part. Please don’t tell me that their costs have doubled or tripled in the space of a couple of months. Right now I’m booked on Southwest from the airport two hours away….for a nice steal of over 700…. which is also super inflated and way outside the norm of pricing, almost double where they were sitting just last year. Wishing for even a slight Black Friday discount is not entitlement when prices right now doubled/tripled for all options. Inflation is bad but I’m pretty sure it hasn’t increased by that much!!

I did not understand the entitled comment either. We flew to Orlando (a 2 hour flight) 4 months ago for 165.00 one way per person. Today, a flight is 310.00 FOR the Cyber Monday sale. Yesterday, it was 360.00.

 

[sam_gordon]

How is this entitled? Black Friday is a time when almost all businesses do some kind of sale. At the same time, airlines in my area have jacked up prices to double or even triple for all flights all times of year. My small local airport for years has had on average prices around 400 consistently to most domestic places, with the larger airport two hours down the road with options from around 200 to 350ish. My trip dates to Orlando in March from the local airport right now? 800 to 1200 dollars currently, for mostly empty planes. That’s not supply/demand, or even realistic estimate of costs. Thats price gouging on the airlines part. Please don’t tell me that their costs have doubled or tripled in the space of a couple of months. Right now I’m booked on Southwest from the airport two hours away….for a nice steal of over 700…. which is also super inflated and way outside the norm of pricing, almost double where they were sitting just last year. Wishing for even a slight Black Friday discount is not entitlement when prices right now doubled/tripled for all options. Inflation is bad but I’m pretty sure it hasn’t increased by that much!!

How do you know the planes are "mostly empty"?

 

[Lewisc]

I'd be careful with using the station at DS and expecting to not be charged. Avis in particular seems to be getting into the telematics and it will read to the tenth of a gallon. If it comes in more than .6 less than full they charge you for it. My recommendation is always the Wawa on Semoran just north of the airport. They have the same prices as elsewhere in Orlando with no markup.

The policy is to return the car with a full tank of gas, not with a gauge just showing F. Some gauges show the arrow above F when full.

I hope Avis makes sure the gas is topped off before renting it.

 

[focusondisney]

I don’t remember SW or Jetblue ever doing Black Friday sales. JB has a Cyber Monday sale, I booked JB for our return flight in March & cancelled our SW flight.


As for increased prices on mostly empty flights from a small, not well used airport. That’s not price gouging, it’s the price of service. If any airline is running mostly empty planes, you can bet the people on the plane will be making up that lost revenue. The alternative would be less flights or the airline leaving your airport altogether.

 

[gottalovepluto]

I did not understand the entitled comment either. We flew to Orlando (a 2 hour flight) 4 months ago for 165.00 one way per person. Today, a flight is 310.00 FOR the Cyber Monday sale. Yesterday, it was 360.00.

Gotta compare apples to apples. 4 months ago FL was making its annual attempt at being hot as hell. It’s not a popular time.

 

[EACarlson]

The policy is to return the car with a full tank of gas, not with a gauge just showing F. Some gauges show the arrow above F when full.

I hope Avis makes sure the gas is topped off before renting it.

With any of the Avis cars that are using the telematics, it tells you in the app what the current level is when you pick up the car and at any point during the rental. Many of the reports I've seen that they will remove the charge if you can show a fuel receipt from within 5 miles of the airport. DS is further than that.

Expect SW airfares to go up, they are in negotiations with their pilots' union that will increase costs, just like what is happening at other airlines. Those costs are going up dramatically.

 

[Keladry84]

How do you know the planes are "mostly empty"?

You can see the seat availability through the airline website before purchasing. That doesn't mean they will stay mostly empty, but for now they are.

 

[Keladry84]

As for increased prices on mostly empty flights from a small, not well used airport. That’s not price gouging, it’s the price of service. If any airline is running mostly empty planes, you can bet the people on the plane will be making up that lost revenue. The alternative would be less flights or the airline leaving your airport altogether.

The planes from this airport are usually full closer to the travel dates (remember I am looking at March 5 months out) The price gouging is the 2-3x sudden increase in advanced purchase price, and are not related to non-usage of the airport. Supply/demand pricing (and normal pricing) usually have cheaper prices early on and expensive closer to.

 

[Lewisc]

You can see the seat availability through the airline website before purchasing. That doesn't mean they will stay mostly empty, but for now they are.

Where can I find this on Southwest?

Seat availability more then 24 hours on advance doesn't reflect bookings. Many pax don't pay for assigned seats. A flight could appear empty on seating charts but be sold out.

 

[EACarlson]

The planes from this airport are usually full closer to the travel dates (remember I am looking at March 5 months out) The price gouging is the 2-3x sudden increase in advanced purchase price, and are not related to non-usage of the airport. Supply/demand pricing (and normal pricing) usually have cheaper prices early on and expensive closer to.

Many airlines, SW chief among them, have found that many people expect that and have released flights at higher prices. Then some times prices will dip and then go back up the last couple weeks before the flight. I purchased my MCO flight for January in September for $242 RT, that flight today with the 30% deal is now that much each way. Revenue Management has advanced far beyond what it was even a few years ago.
For SW in particular, they built their currently released schedule assuming that they would have the Boeing 737 Max7 plane for at least part of the schedule, that is not going to happen now so some of the schedule has been cut. March is one of the highest demand times of the year, almost no chance that airfares come down to historical values.

 

[Keladry84]

Where can I find this on Southwest?

Seat availability more then 24 hours on advance doesn't reflect bookings. Many pax don't pay for assigned seats. A flight could appear empty on seating charts but be sold out.

On American, not Southwest. Many seats area available for no extra charge, and you are assigned a seat at booking if you don't select one. I've found these to be accurate when I compare the chart available a couple of days before the flight to actual people on the flight.

I don't know of a way to see how many tickets are sold for Southwest. Southwest doesn't have assigned seats.