Which do you book first, Room or Airfare?

[mastermind307]

I usually have my room booked before Southwest releases airfare for the dates I'm traveling. This year, however, I'm booking my room a little later than normal and Southwest will be releasing my travel dates about the same time.
My dates are flexible. I want to get the best deal possible on airfare, which normally is the day Southwest releases the dates. But on the other hand, if I book the airfare first, my first or second resort choice may not have availability. So do I book the airfare at a good price and take the chance to not stay where I want. Or do I book the room so I can stay where I want, but then might have to pay more for airfare? Which is better to book first?

 

[Shanti]

I usually have my room booked before Southwest releases airfare for the dates I'm traveling. This year, however, I'm booking my room a little later than normal and Southwest will be releasing my travel dates about the same time.
My dates are flexible. I want to get the best deal possible on airfare, which normally is the day Southwest releases the dates. But on the other hand, if I book the airfare first, my first or second resort choice may not have availability. So do I book the airfare at a good price and take the chance to not stay where I want. Or do I book the room so I can stay where I want, but then might have to pay more for airfare? Which is better to book first?

I would book the room first. I fly SWA a lot, and get good deals through them 2-3 months in advance of our trips.

 

[gillep]

I always book my room first.

 

[Sue M]

Sometimes I book flight first, sometimes room. I don't fly SW, so I don't have to wait for their schedule. My upcoming trip I booked room first. Then when I booked flight I decided to come in a day earlier and was able to add an extra day on my room res.

 

[barbliny]

I fly Southwest and have done it both ways.

However, the option you don't mention is the one I use most often. Having SW and Disney both open at the same time on my laptop - going back and forth getting the best combination of cheap flights and discounted room that I can by tweaking my dates slightly. But, this may be a method that works better for empty-nesters!!

I will grab a discounted room as early as I can. I usually don't book airfare more than 3 months out - and it usually works in my favor. Even with that, I often am able to get a cheaper SW seat in the coming months and wind up with refunded travel funds forcing me to take another trip!

And unless you are traveling on peak holiday periods (Easter, Thanksgiving, etc) - the Southwest release-day fare is rarely the lowest it will go.

 

[DisneyDeb83]

I would book the air first, esp if you fly Southwest because you can always adjust your days if you need to. Of course, you may not get the same low price if you do change dates. We booked free dining at Pop in September beginning on a Sunday. Big mistake, the first flight out in the am has stayed around $220 or higher one way per person. We ended up getting the latest flight Saturday evening, arriving around 8 pm for $72 pp. Of course, now no availability at Pop for the extra night, so staying cheap offsite.

 

[vanjust14]

I say room first. Southwest flights tend to be lowest approx 45 days out in my experience. You have to be diligent about constantly checking, especially on Tuesday mornings. I just booked my southwest flights last Tuesday for a sept 3-9 trip for $198 RT. When I first booked my room in April flights were easily $300.

 

[Kellygain8704]

Booked our flights first. We are flying JetBlue, and weren't too flexible with our dates, as I am a teacher, and twins are school age. We are traveling during our April Break. I stalked the message boards, and somehow figured out the date and time that JetBlue was to release flights for our travel dates. I booked the flights within a few hours of their release. That was two weeks ago. I just checked fairs for the same JetBlue flights on same dates, etc, and the total cost for (4) of us has INCREASED $2,200.00 ABOVE what I paid two weeks ago!

 

[Kellygain8704]

... I do sometimes think that the answer to your question can make a difference dependent upon your travel dates/ flexibility, as well as the general area you are flying out of.

Larger metro airports often have some better, more competitive rates at any given time. Smaller cities or regional airports are sometimes more constrictive.

Our city (not small) is notorious for having high fairs to fly most anywhere. It is common for people in our area to drive a few hours or even STATES away to other airports to get more competitive rates.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I would book the room first then look at flight prices when they are released. If you can get better flight prices on different days, you can then search for different room availability and compare prices to see if you need to change things up. At least at that point, you will have actual costs to compare.

 

[DisDINK]

I usually do room first. For an upcoming fall trip, I had to add an extra night at Pop on the front end of the reservation because it SW airfare was cheaper even with the cost of flight if we flew out a night earlier. Called Disney and it was no problem to add the extra night. We have juggled room reservations around airfare before and it was no big deal.

 

[tinkerbella16]

We always book our package first and then wait for SW to open up flights.

 

[HaveKidsWillTravel]

We always book air first. We fly jet blue which has a direct flight from central ny. If you want to go during a popular time flights get crazy expensive crazy fast. Already flights for our spring break (weekend day to weekend day) tripled in price the day after they were released. We are flying a Monday to Monday for 2k less than Saturday to Saturday. (Fam of four) And the mon to mon flights have already drastically increased! Disney is the only vacation where we buy flights first. Just because of our location and desire to fly non stop on jet blue.

 

[Pmlocke]

Room always. Airfare has a way of dropping the closer you get to departure date. three months ago I got my room and dining reservations for November. At that time the round trip ticket was $648. each. I just got it at $158. round trip.

 

[scrapquitler]

I book airfare first usually. I adjust what days I'm going based on cheaper airfare or more convenient flights, then I book my room. I am pretty flexible about where I stay, and if I couldn't find a room on property for my dates, I wouldn't mind staying offsite instead (I know that's not a popular opinion around here).

 

[EdmondD]

I say room first. Southwest flights tend to be lowest approx 45 days out in my experience. You have to be diligent about constantly checking, especially on Tuesday mornings. I just booked my southwest flights last Tuesday for a sept 3-9 trip for $198 RT. When I first booked my room in April flights were easily $300.

This is 100 percent true. People think fares are lowest early and then only go up, but SW will change around quite a bit. Around the 45-day mark is typically when they are the best, but yes, check often. I usually check once an hour throughout the day. (I have heard the Tuesday morning thing doesn't apply for SW, but that may not be true.)

 

[goofyintoronto]

All depends on the offer at the moment...if there's a free dining offer that im looking at (which hasnt happened in a couple of years for the time i like to travel), then i do the disney pkg first, then the flight after. However if there's only a room offer going on, i book airfare first, then the resort. I've done both ways.

Im from Canada, if I want to fly southwest or jetblue i have to go to buffalo. Which i've done before, but i'd rather not. I'd much rather fly out of toronto.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

Can't see a reason to book a flight first then try to fit the room in. Just my 2p.

 

[PSUGuy]

We stay at Board Walk during Food&Wine using rented DVC points which means we have to book that 11 months out or risk getting shut out, so it's the room. I get up early when SW opens their window and book immediately. One time I had good airfare selected for the 2 of us but by the time I had all the info in the rates were gone. I'll book a rental car as soon as a reasonable rate appears then go back and cancel and re-book as rates go down. We have a mid-size Dollar car, 11 days for $197.66, now that would be $100 more. Also, I've got two 9 day hoppers from UT which we'll upgrade to APs the first day on our Nov. trip and next year we'll go a few weeks earlier to get that trip on the AP.

Bill From PA

 

[Dakota731]

Next time I'm doing air first! Our roundtrip from SWA ended up being almost $500 and if I was more flexible with dates I could have saved a lot of money. I'd rather choose a different resort than spend all this extra money.