When do you purchase your flights?

Is there a better time to buy your flights? There are only two non-stop flights for us going from Nashville to Miami. I am wondering there is a cheaper time to purchase--booking early--booking 3 months out??

I don't want to lose the non-stop flights, but I also would not like to leave money on the table.

We are traveling May/2017.

I purchase flights after doing adequate price comparisons depending on said route, depending on length of routes, depending on how many flights per day on each route. There are many factors at play with airfares. for our usual SAn Francisco to Ft. Lauderdale flights, for example, a typical ticket ranges anywhere from $365 to $550. Only you can determine what price you are willing to pay. We usually purchase tix 4-6 months out. This time we purchased tix 9 months out due to an exceptionally low rate.

Airfares are driven by supply and demand. If you must have that nonstop flight, then it is better to grab it sooner rather than later unless the fare is prohibitively expensive. If seats aren't selling, rates will drop, but if you wait too long, the flight could sell out, too. I have purchased many tix in the past at a decent rate, only to watch them escalate every day thereafter

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There are numerous flights going from Nashville to FLL every day on Southwest. Would you consider flying into FLL if the price was right and then getting a transfer to MIA? I paid $218 for a round trip from Nashville to FLL on SW. My cruise is this coming December.

Roz

About a week before final payment is due, once we have obtained tickets then we make our final payment.

In general, we purchase our flights early. We do the up-front research to have a sense of the going rate and once we find the price we want we book the flight.

Keith

We always fly Southwest and I purchase our flights the day the flight schedule opens up. I've found that most of the time I'll find one price drop up until our flight time and since Southwest allows you to change your flight without a charge I get back the difference either in flight credit, back to credit card or points returned to my account.

I purchased our tickets for our August 2016 cruise in September and our airline tickets in November. Flights from Cincy to Miami were very bad logistically. No direct flights, 3-4 hour layovers, return not getting home until almost midnight for a 2 1/2 hour flight. I booked a direct flight Cincy to FLL, leaving Friday 9:10, arriving 11:37. Return at 12:45, plenty of time from POM, home by 3:20. Now that same flight is over $200 more. Doesn't always work that way, but for 8 months now its been done. Got the flight and seats we wanted. Regards, Gerry.

One of the reasons I don't sail out of Miami is the expensive flights and bad routings. Much better for me to fly SW directly to FLL.

Roz

I look at the seating chart. If the flights are still relatively empty I wait. I usually book anywhere from 4-12 weeks out. I did book my flight for September back in May which is early for me but the price looked really good. Glad I did as the price went up the following week and is now 50% more than I paid and the flights are getting full.

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Generally we book 4-6 months out. Just booked flights for our Dec 3rd cruise out or Port Canaveral and got a good price. We only have one cost effective, nonstop flight out of our local small airport, so costs only rise unless there are unsold seats at the last minute. Best of Luck!

I'm partial to Southwest, and for about a year, I've found the best price on opening day for weekend flights...especially Sunday flights. This was not my experience in previous years, and I watch my fares daily.

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I just purchased our flights for our April 2017 cruise. The booking for that month just opened up recently and I got a good price. I am flying Jet Blue from JFK (NY) to FLL. I like to do it early , get my choice of seats, and then I can just wait for the cruise to get here. I was thinking maybe coming home on Sunday (the cruise returns Sat) but the price was over $100 add'l per person for Sunday. So Saturday it is.

I usually fly Southwest from STL to FLL and take a shuttle (JMS, QLS or SAS) to Port of Miami for $15 or less per person, or rent a car, depending on if we fly in day of or day before. I find I can get a non-stop on Southwest and have to transfer on everyone else.

I buy my ticket as soon as the schedule is released. On my most recent trip, the WGA (cheapest bucket of tickets) are sold out for the late February dates. Glad I booked early!

To compare ticket prices, remember that Southwest doesn't charge for up to two checked bags per person nor do they assign seats so you do not pay a fee to choose a seat. Not everyone likes flying with them because of the lack of assigned seats, but I find it simple.

Also, you can only buy tickets on Southwest.com.

If you price one ticket and get a good price, then open another incognito window and price enough tickets for the entire family and they cost more, just open a couple more incognito windows and split the group up into two ticket groupings to keep the price low. You might find that there are two tickets in one price bucket and 3 in another. As long as you have one adult on each PRN you can buy them online.

We are sailing on April 3 out of Ft Lauderdale, I have been watching flights every days on April 2-April 8 since the day they became available and they are crazy expensive. If they don't come down lots we will be driving.

Flying from MLI to FLL for 5 if anyone has any ideas I haven't explored.

I'm partial to Southwest, and for about a year, I've found the best price on opening day for weekend flights...especially Sunday flights. This was not my experience in previous years, and I watch my fares daily.

 

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I need flights for March 16, 2018...when will Southwest open for this booking? I've heard some say that it's best to not buy on opening day...with Southwest you've found this to not be the case ? I need to buy 10 tickets :eek:

Don't usually buy early, but we are cruising in the winter to Miami. We fly out of Newark NJ, and I purchased 2 tickets from EWR to MIA for 1/27/17 3 months ago and paid $197 RT on United. The same flight on United nonstop is now $450+ each.

I guess this time we did OK purchasing early.

Is there a better time to buy your flights? There are only two non-stop flights for us going from Nashville to Miami. I am wondering there is a cheaper time to purchase--booking early--booking 3 months out??

 

I don't want to lose the non-stop flights, but I also would not like to leave money on the table.

 

We are traveling May/2017.

As long as you have good trip insurance (May 2017 is a long ways off) I would buy the non-stop tickets as soon as possible. They will not be getting any cheaper and seat selection will only get worse.

I need flights for March 16, 2018...when will Southwest open for this booking? I've heard some say that it's best to not buy on opening day...with Southwest you've found this to not be the case ? I need to buy 10 tickets :eek:

March 2018? Figure around August 2018.

I am waiting now for them to open up for next March/April, on August 5th.

March 2018? Figure around August 2018.

I am waiting now for them to open up for next March/April, on August 5th.

Oh dear :o :eek:...Sorry of course I meant March 2017.....So next month then?

Thanks so much...no wonder no one else answered...they probably thought I was crazy...glad you caught my mistake.

Southwest isn't usually what I would use...so new to them and how their schedules work. Again much thanks.

I went ahead and booked our flights. Got the non stop flight at a decent price. When I did a mock booking seats were already limited. I was concerned about the flight being sold out. (Small commuter plane). Thanks for your advice.

We always buy as early as we can. For our upcoming September cruise, we bought our airfare last November for $412 pp. It is now $1392 pp.

I check prices regularly close to their opening and once I feel comfortable with the price I will book them. This isn't for FL, but our flights from So Calif to IAH ( Houston) are ridiculous right now. I can book my husband & I round trip from home to Boston for around $200 more for the both of us then a PP ticket to Houston or IAH. Example, a pp price right now to IAH is running close to $700 PP while we can do Boston round trip for $850- 900 for the both of us.

Major airlines have availability at about 331/330 days out for outbound/return air travel dates. We check prices for the first 10/14 days after the return date opens for the fare class type we want - then book early based on that data. Normally by booking early we get the lowest prices, choice of our preferred 2 side seats, preferred route itinerary, have direct airline booking control & that nagging "when to book our air travel question" is done & paid well in advance. However - airline changes (Flt #s, Times, Equipment Changes, etc) will happen - so on-line checking is needed to manage your flight arrangements. IMO - No big deal & certainly does pay off. Of course - all of this is for major carriers & depends on your home airport, destination, airline carrier, etc.

I liked to book early, but that also gives them more time to change things, and they do. It's a trade-off.

I liked to book early, but that also gives them more time to change things, and they do. It's a trade-off.

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Agree - but IF you stay on top of things with the airlines - as should be done with any travel booking - all should be well. On average there's 3 itinerary changes over the 11 month out early booking date - but most are simple no impact changes. However - we do need to watch out for those aircraft equipment changes that may change seat configurations - otherwise IMO not much trouble.