Flight dates will be released through 10/30 so your Sept date will be included in this upcoming schedule
Ok. Free I get. But $120x5 still has to cost more than a 6.5 hour drive? Are you in Atlanta?
I live 14+ hours away so driving isnāt a real option. However, my SW flights are rarely above $99 each way. (I can often find āWanna Get Awayā prices for $59 - $79 each way) On average I pay no more than $225 / person round trip
Being in MCO in about 90 minutes beats 6 - 8 hours stuck in a car each way. Your out of pocket costs can add up to at least half the price of the plane tickets. Then factor in your fatigue / hassle from driving each way. $600 is the better deal - IMHO 
I live 21 hours a way. Itās MUCH cheaper to drive than fly as a family if 8. Leave around 6 PM and be there for check in the next afternoon. 
ETA we are lucky to get round trip < $200. Even at that itās $1600. Round trip gas was less than $700 last time including driving around.
This sounds like my nightmare! 
Youāre stronger willed than me for sure! (Plus with 7 other ppl!!)
IMHO - Thereās a point where my sanity is worth more than a few hundred dollars. 
We road trip all the time on purpose. When I flew last Nov with my girls they said they wouldnāt want to fly every time; the driving part is too fun.
$900 is a lot of savings and we have our own vehicle, too. Iām not a mass transit type and renting a 12-pax vehicle is $$$$$$$$.
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We are about an hour north of Atlanta. We were able to sign up for the SWA credit card when they had the 75,000 point bonusā¦so we got that. We used it on all of the things we were always going to buy anyway as well as bills and kidsā tuitionā¦so it made sense.
So in the end we only have to spend ($56 + $69) total for roundtrip flights for the 5 of us and weāll have points left over if we can book the cheap flights. Any points left over can be used on future trips or āno-kid WDW tripsā for DW and myself.
We drove the last time, and would do it again, but our kids have never been on a plane before and we want to give them that experience since DW and I have done a good bit of traveling ourselves during our lives. Between the cost of gas, travel meals, and bathroom stopsā¦we decided to try flying. Plus, like I said before, SWA out of ATL to MCO is crazy cheap if you can get those cheap flights.
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I normally get tickets on release day. For the first time I have my reservations about this. While SW has a generous change policy I would not be able to travel and use the funds by 3/2021 should COVID19 be a bigger problem. I will look at the pricing tomorrow including the refundable tickets.
Can you book on points?
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Unfortunately I cannot. I have very few points on my account and I donāt do the SW credit card. Thanks for the idea though!
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Mythbusters did a show on this. In the end they found that both with regard to cost and time expenditures, if you live less than 6 hours from your destination you should drive, but if you live any more than 6 hours away you should fly.
(at least I think it was 6hrs was the cutoff)
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Maybe 8 hrs if you drive with a lead foot.
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In your experience what time frame before fight do you find best to purchase Southwest tickets?
Not early because I"m always up at this timeā¦but as of now nothingā¦
That was my all time favorite show! I think Iāll binge it today on Netflix in the background at work.
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I honest to god check daily until the rates are within my expected, which recently for my market is about $140-160 one way per person.
And I did have the opportunity to take advantage of that flight switch recently which saved me literally thousands
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Iād have to imagine there are lots of factors. Some are objective - family size, current gas price
Some subjective - āmy kids are awfulā
Interesting 6 hours was cut off.
For me 24 hours is where Iād start considering flying as long as both DH and I were going on the vacation (two drivers).
14 hours is a single dayās drive. We live about 18 hours away, plus stopsā¦so two days typically. But even with gas and hotels there and back, it is far cheaper than flying would be. Not only is it cheaper as far as flights, but it allows us to stay anywhere and have a vehicle, saving even more.
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May the force be with everyone today.
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Living near Atlanta makes it very tempting to fly when it is affordable. We typically get the $49-$59 flights to MCO if you can snag them quickly. That makes it a no-brainer when it is just DW and myself. But with 5 of us going down, that starts to add up and driving is more affordable.
I will say that Disney charging to park your car at your resort really cuts into the savings vs flying. Luckily, we always rent DVC, and you donāt have to pay to leave your car at your resort if you book on points. Iām sure Disney will eventually make everyone pay though.