Flights - How far out do you book them?

Just curious what your standard practice is.

I just booked mine for my cruise in June. Wondering if I would have found cheaper flights closer to the sail date? I hate to wait (for anything!) and take the chance that I won't be able to get the flights/times I want at a decent price.

You?

Just curious what your standard practice is.

 

I just booked mine for my cruise in June. Wondering if I would have found cheaper flights closer to the sail date? I hate to wait (for anything!) and take the chance that I won't be able to get the flights/times I want at a decent price.

 

You?

You'll find airfare tends to get higher as you approach your cruise date . If you buy a full flex ticket and prices drops , you can cancel and get the better price.

Just curious what your standard practice is.

 

I just booked mine for my cruise in June. Wondering if I would have found cheaper flights closer to the sail date? I hate to wait (for anything!) and take the chance that I won't be able to get the flights/times I want at a decent price.

 

You?

We booked our direct flight from Detroit to Fort Lauderdale on Delta, March 9th, 2012, for our upcoming cruise 1/20/13. The price ($271.90) never dropped below what we paid. By May the price was $75 higher and just continued to climb. I know this because I continued to monitor it and kept a chart on prices. By 10/6/2012, the price was $565 each and just fluctuated up and down by 10 or 20.

My experience seems to indicate the cheapest fares are the first seats sold and that prices rise as the flight fills up. Supply and demand is definitely in play; however, they have limited supply in some areas to drive up prices. Non-stop flights are worth more to me with so many hubs and connecting flights.

I have always had better luck getting deals on flights by purchasing them way in advance. Not that a deal can't be found closer to the date of the flight, but I always feel better knowing I've got everything lined up ahead of time.

Barry

sent from my RAZR M

We buy when we see a price we like. This trip happened to be 8 months out.

I've been checking on air fare since we booked our upcoming cruise back in May of last year. Up until New Year's, I was checking on it about twice a week. The best prices I saw were in Sept., right after the Labor Day weekend. Then, as it got closer to Thanksgiving, prices kept going up. There may be some exceptions, but most airlines won't let you book more than six months ahead. Since New Year's, I've been checking on air fare every day, plus available seats on the flights I want to book. Right now, while the prices aren't as low as I'd hoped they would go, they're reasonable, and the seats are starting to fill up. So, it may be in our best interest to go ahead and book our flights now before prices go back up and/or the flights we want are sold out. By the way, I've found that it's cheaper to book two one-way flights than a round trip flight, plus there are more choices for flight times.

I always check around for lower fares in/out of other cities in Florida; sometimes the savings will pay for my rental car, which is great to have wheels for shopping and dining.

We buy when we see a price we like. This trip happened to be 8 months out.

This is what we tend to do, if i find a price I can live with I book. I do not keep going back and check on the price :p :D

By the way, I've found that it's cheaper to book two one-way flights than a round trip flight, plus there are more choices for flight times.

This is exactly what I did! For round-trip tickets, the flight times sucked and the price was higher. Flying down on Delta and back on AirTran.;)

Yes, I refuse to look at airfare again; I do NOT want to know if it gets cheaper. I bought at a price I can live with. Flying out of Dayton to FLL and taking the SAS shuttle to Miami.

Yes, I refuse to look at airfare again; I do NOT want to know if it gets cheaper. I bought at a price I can live with. Flying out of Dayton to FLL and taking the SAS shuttle to Miami.

In the future, if you haven't already, compare prices flying out of Columbus/CMH. Great fares to Florida are harder to come by than the past but it may be worth the drive, especially for those needing more than 2 fares with children.

Oh, yeah; I check flying out of Dayton, Cincinnati and Columbus and into Ft. Lauderdale and Miami. I feel good about the fare I got.

I generally book my air soon after booking the cruise. I do a lot of checking around and when I see a fare I can live with I buy it. Many airlines sell seats 330 days out and I often buy on the first day they're available. I find that there are a few low-priced seats on those days and I snap them up. When booking non-refundable air fare that far ahead be sure you have travel insurance so you can cancel if need be.

Just curious what your standard practice is.

 

I just booked mine for my cruise in June. Wondering if I would have found cheaper flights closer to the sail date? I hate to wait (for anything!) and take the chance that I won't be able to get the flights/times I want at a decent price.

 

You?

We are fortunate that we have 3 airports within 50 miles of us. We have all the discount carriers available and can wait to make choices. However, I usually book the flight and the hotel at the same time, that way I know I am set to go. Also, I choose the option of paying for specific seats. Carol loves the window! We almost always cruise out of Florida, I want to be in shorts and t-shirt immediately. We are retired and can afford to go down early. We usually try to get into town two days before the cruise and chillax!

I'll start looking almost immediately after we get back from a cruise. I have a set price for air fare in my mind. I'll check the tentative dates for our next cruise then set up flight queries in Kayak, Orbits for PHI, EWR and ABE to SJU. I'll also check United and JetBlue (when they open flights). Once a price meets my price I'll buy the seats, usually about 6 months ahead of time.

For our cruise next month we bought the flights down mid-December and just last week bought our flights home. The prices tend to drop Tues-Thurs then jump back up for the weekends. We got really great prices!

I generally book my air soon after booking the cruise. I do a lot of checking around and when I see a fare I can live with I buy it. Many airlines sell seats 330 days out and I often buy on the first day they're available. I find that there are a few low-priced seats on those days and I snap them up. When booking non-refundable air fare that far ahead be sure you have travel insurance so you can cancel if need be.

We generally fly Jet Blue or SWA; both airlines don't open their schedule as far out as the dinosaur airlines, so we end up having to wait. A few years ago, it was worth waiting for a deal, as there were airfare bargains galore. These days, the prices are trending up so the sooner you can buy usually the better.

We booked our flight to FLL for our upcoming April cruise in October when the schedule for SWA was opened. As someone else said, I paid what I paid, and don't want to know if it goes down. :)

Kevin C

If I'm flying to a destination during a peak season ( for that destination)

Prices are typically lower when they first come out

If not a peak season / holiday then I find the best deals below 90 days out

I use a fare watcher and pounce

Just booked a r/ t fare from tampa to Hawaii for 400.00 less then my bIL for the same dates

My experience seems to indicate the cheapest fares are the first seats sold ...

Often there are no fares filed for the cheapest booking classes immediately that the flight opens for booking, and often no seats are made available in those booking classes even if cheap fares have been filed. You just won't know until you look and compare what's there to what you could reasonably expect for a cheap fare. The industry definitely does not work on a first come first served basis for the cheapest seats, because sales at a later date can often bring lower fares than when the flight first opens for booking.

There are also times when you'll see lightly loaded flights even close to the date of travel, combined with a sale that starts just before then. Sometimes, this means that you can get extraordinarily cheap fares very shortly before travel. Again, you never know.

Indeed, until the door of the aircraft shuts and the aircraft pushes back, it's often hard to know what the cheapest possible fare for that flight was.

Typically flights open for booking 330 days prior to departure. I book cruises well in advance of that to get the cabin we want. I book the air within a week of it becoming available. Have I lost out on some seat sales, yes. Have I saved money over increased fares as the travel date approached, way more times then I lost.

There may be some exceptions, but most airlines won't let you book more than six months ahead.

Not so. The legacy airlines can generally all be booked 330 days out, which is about 11 months.

We booked our flight to FLL for our upcoming April cruise in October when the schedule for SWA was opened. As someone else said, I paid what I paid, and don't want to know if it goes down. :)

 

As Southwest will allow you to change your tickets to the lower price, if it becomes available, with no fee, it makes no sense for you to not check the price on a regular basis.

Thats one reason I love Southwest, you can book anytime and re-book at a lower rate for free as many times as you like until departure. If booking on points you have even more options - free change, free cancel, heck you even get a full refund if you no show the flight. You can buy Southwest points on their website even if you dont fly them often, works very well for people that need flexibility in flight dates.

We buy when we see a price we like. This trip happened to be 8 months out.

Us too.

For our upcoming trip, we started checking a couple of years ago to budget what we would need and what was a 'good' rate.

We booked out air in the summer. Price has only gone up from there.