Booking Air Travel Easter Week

I've never traveled by air during this time before but am planning to next Spring, the Thursday before Easter, through the Saturday after (end of March into April). I plan to book tickets on Delta because I have enough Flexperks points to get two tickets free and I want to get those soon before there are no free tickets left on certain flights. I'll need to buy two tickets and right now, the price of one nonstop ticket to Miami from Minneapolis is $900 approximately. I've thought about waiting to see if prices go down but at six months out and it being Easter Week and spring break time, I'm thinking the prices aren't likely to go down - much - given this high demand time. Anyone have any experience with booking airfare during this time?

I seriously doubt airfares will go down, given the high demand for Florida in that time frame. How comfortable are you with the fair risk the price will go up?

Thanks. Kind of what I'm thinking. Just looking for validation. I don't think the airline is going to have a hard time selling out the Miami flight I want in that timeframe given likely demand. In fact, I was considering a cheaper flight to Fort Lauderdale instead but all the free tickets on that flight are now gone. :P So I think I'm just going to book this week yet.

I don't see the prices coming down. You could watch the fare for a couple of weeks just to see if there is any fluctuation.

Lots of people travel because it is the holiday and also because it is still part of the season in Florida.

Keith

I've never traveled by air during this time before but am planning to next Spring, the Thursday before Easter, through the Saturday after (end of March into April). I plan to book tickets on Delta because I have enough Flexperks points to get two tickets free and I want to get those soon before there are no free tickets left on certain flights. I'll need to buy two tickets and right now, the price of one nonstop ticket to Miami from Minneapolis is $900 approximately. I've thought about waiting to see if prices go down but at six months out and it being Easter Week and spring break time, I'm thinking the prices aren't likely to go down - much - given this high demand time. Anyone have any experience with booking airfare during this time?

I'm confused, haven't heard of Flexperks points - is that Delta miles? I assume maybe something different since you mention $$ after that. 900.00 RT to MSP-MIA?!?!?! WOW:eek: Last week we purchase RT tickets GRR (Michigan) to SJU (Puerto Rico) from 3/23-4/2 for 388.00........

No. Its US Bank points credit card program for miles you can use on any airline. I have one free flexperks ticket and one SkyMiles (delta) ticket. The US Bank program is great. You earn a mile for every dollar spent and double your most frequent category like groceries. I have everthing paid through it and then transfer a payment from checking once a week so its paid in full each week. Lower priced tickets run 20,000-30,000 points. Higher priced, 40,000-50,000. I am no longer doing Skymiles after this as its going to be harder to earn points and use. I checked up and down and its nearly $800 for FLL and $900 to MIA no matter what way you slice it on Delta during this timeframe.

Is your trip MSP-MIA, depart 24 March, return 02 April?

You certainly don't have to pay $900 for these tickets. Split up your party and consider having a stop and flying on other airlines.

Even if you must have a nonstop, I see two with times that would work on DL that are only $787.

No. Its US Bank points credit card program for miles you can use on any airline. I have one free flexperks ticket and one SkyMiles (delta) ticket....I checked up and down and its nearly $800 for FLL and $900 to MIA no matter what way you slice it on Delta during this timeframe.

Have you confirmed how many miles you need for the ticket you plan to buy with Sky Miles? Just wondering, because it can vary a LOT, and if the $ price is $800-900, then it's probably going to be an exorbitant amount of miles as well.

Thanks. Yes, I know I could save around $200-$300 by taking connecting flights or even more by splitting up. But its my wife and young kids and we all want to travel together. Especially as its the kids first flight. I've confirmed the miles/points. Right now its like 67,000 skymiles and 50,000 flexperk points for the two "free tickets." That's a lot of miles and points but I'm guessing its not going down anytime soon. All a matter of supply and demand. Also, I've looked at cheaper alternatives like SunCountry. I could get 4 nonstop tickets for about $1,800 but there's one flight a day. And from what I've heard, its time to use your SkyMiles because in about a year, they're going to be worthless. Delta admitted as much.

Or worth a LOT less I should say. : )

If you can't change your flight requirements, advise you grab the award seats while they are still available. Odds are, prices are not going down around spring break. The more restrictive your requirements, the more expensive your tickets are going to be.

I wouldn't choose an airline that had only one flight a day. That's just asking for trouble.

Agree. And I checked this morning as I had planned to book later today and each ticket went up by $100, so now nearly $1,000 a ticket. : P Will wait until at least later to see if they come back down slightly.

So, let's take the "10000 foot view" of the situation. You are traveling during peak season, are restricting things to nonstops (the most expensive option regardless of season), and looked for validation and received it. Fares have gone up $100 in the meantime (realize that's not chump change for a whole family).

Time for a thought exercise that others here often pose- What is the likelihood the fares will increase further, and what action will you take (bite the bullet, cancel the trip, etc)? What is the likelihood the fares will go down and what "strike price" have you set to take action?

Now that the academic year has started and things have settled down, thousands of college students and grade school families are busy arranging Spring Break....my son and my neighbors among them. There will be a surge of bookings to FL and the cheapest leisure fares will sell out. You may be starting to see that already!

 

Time for a thought exercise that others here often pose- What is the likelihood the fares will increase further, and what action will you take (bite the bullet, cancel the trip, etc)? What is the likelihood the fares will go down and what "strike price" have you set to take action?

 

Or as I often phrase it, as a flow chart of sorts:

Are you willing and able to pay MORE if you wait and the price goes up instead of down?

--If yes, feel free to wait. It's a gamble, but you already decided you'd be willing and able to pay more if the gamble doesn't pay off.

--If no, then ask yourself the next question:

Are you willing and able to pay the CURRENT price?

--If yes, buy the tickets.

--If no, be prepared to cancel your trip if you wait for fares to go down and they don't. Make sure you know the date by which you can cancel the cruise without penalty.

Have you considered going to Hawaii? It's now cheaper (or at most the same price, i.e., $1000 pp) to fly to Honolulu during that time frame, and I'd sure rather go to Honolulu than Miami! How about London? There's a nonstop to London for about $1000, too.

We've considered Hawaii in the future. I checked and right now I could get delta flights for about $400-$500 more ticket. So now you've got me thinking about a future trip. : ) For this one, we're headed to Miami for a week long cruise on NCL's Escape. I booked the two awards tickets last night and am going to book the two paid ones by this weekend. Still a lot of seats open on the flight according to the seating chart.

I guess the lesson I've learned (and there are many great points made on this thread) is that if you have a certain flight time window and need to go on a certain airline - and have to do so during a holiday week/spring break - book as soon as you feel comfortable doing so. I'm so used to just booking what I need for work travel so long as it fits with corporate policy.

In this case, it would have been a mistake to book air when we did the cruise (January of this year) as we ended up switching weeks due to my wife's new job. But I should have booked a month or two ago. Lesson learned for next time. Thanks all for your input.

We've considered Hawaii in the future. I checked and right now I could get delta flights for about $400-$500 more ticket. So now you've got me thinking about a future trip..

Just remember that the price you are seeing NOW for Hawaii may have no bearing on what the actual price is at whatever time in the FUTURE you might decide to book a trip there. ;)