When to book airplane tickets

When do you book your airplane tickets for your cruise?

Our cruise is late February. Looking at flights there are only two flights that leave with the timing we like.

Arrival tin FLL day before cruise - before 5pm

Leaving for home 11:30/1:00

All other flights will involve getting to FLL later in evening and Flight home would leave us at the airport until approx 4pm

I am concerned if I book now the flights would change timing. (We have one layover each way)

Any advice?

I don't know if you consider Southwest, but they don't even have their flight schedules out for that far in advance.

When do you book your airplane tickets for your cruise?

Our cruise is late February. Looking at flights there are only two flights that leave with the timing we like.

Arrival tin FLL day before cruise - before 5pm

Leaving for home 11:30/1:00

 

All other flights will involve getting to FLL later in evening and Flight home would leave us at the airport until approx 4pm

 

I am concerned if I book now the flights would change timing. (We have one layover each way)

 

Any advice?

If you plan to go to port a day early then you'll be safe if there are any changes to your flight. I booked our flights 9 months in advance. We got the best price, at $345 round trip to Puerto Rico. I've checked on an almost daily basis to track price changes and the same flight is now $1400 round trip. We did, however, have our flights changed by the airline. Initially it made me angry because I specifically chose the flight times that worked for us, but I found out that even with non-refundable tickets, the airline was willing to let me change the flights for free to a time I liked better. I think you're safest bet is to book now. The prices will only go up. If they change your flight time, they should allow you to swap them for different times.

Typically we book our flights at the 330 day period, normally the day the return flight is within the released booking window.

It may vary slightly for some airlines.

I use miles, and EVIP,s when possible, so seeing as they only release a limited # of these on any one flight, I like to get in ASAP.

$5 a flight ain't too shabby :)

Our flights for our next cruise have changed 4 times in the last 9 months:eek:

These have been a flight# change and 3 minor flight time changes. But luckily no deal breakers.

Still managed to keep 6 of us on same planes with the occasional shuffling of seats.

Prices of flights these days are stupendous:eek:

Happy Days!

When do you book your airplane tickets for your cruise?

Our cruise is late February. Looking at flights there are only two flights that leave with the timing we like.

Arrival tin FLL day before cruise - before 5pm

Leaving for home 11:30/1:00

 

All other flights will involve getting to FLL later in evening and Flight home would leave us at the airport until approx 4pm

 

I am concerned if I book now the flights would change timing. (We have one layover each way)

 

Any advice?

I would say book it if the pricing and schedule seems to fit your needs. IF the airlines change the flights, they will allow you to switch your reservation once with no charge to you. We just had this happen twice on our upcoming cruise. I notice you are in Cinci - - we are too, and opt to book as soon as we find something that suits us. No telling what will happen with CVG by February.

Good luck with your choice and have a wonderful cruise!:)

We booked with Southwest in Dec. for our upcoming trip this Friday about 4 months out. Thankfully we hadn't purchased them sooner as they were running almost $300 more pp x 5! It's not always cheaper booking early.

I would say book it if the pricing and schedule seems to fit your needs. IF the airlines change the flights, they will allow you to switch your reservation once with no charge to you. We just had this happen twice on our upcoming cruise. I notice you are in Cinci - - we are too, and opt to book as soon as we find something that suits us. No telling what will happen with CVG by February.

 

Good luck with your choice and have a wonderful cruise!:)

I think most carriers will allow you to make more than one change for free if they change the flights more than once.

I think you'll agree, it's always best to at least look and see what else may be available and then call the carrier direct to see what your options are at that point in time. ;)

I went ahead and booked the flights. I had enough for 1 first class seat and one coach. Guess who is going first class?? :p

Better safe than sorry, AA said they only have certain amount of first class redeeming miles seats, so it worked out great.

Now I just need to keep an eye on the flights for changes.

Book my flights when I make my final payment for the cruise.

When do you book your airplane tickets for your cruise?

Our cruise is late February. Looking at flights there are only two flights that leave with the timing we like.

Arrival tin FLL day before cruise - before 5pm

Leaving for home 11:30/1:00

 

All other flights will involve getting to FLL later in evening and Flight home would leave us at the airport until approx 4pm

 

I am concerned if I book now the flights would change timing. (We have one layover each way)

 

Any advice?

I'm already booked for the Feb. Oasis cruise. Got a good price of $267 per and an 8/10am flights on United. Although the March 26 flight schedules aren't out yet, I do a mock booking in the early days of March for the days of the flight (Sat./Sat.)to get a feel for the approximate flight cost. For instance, on the first day that the flights are available the cost is in the area of $1,000 per, which is absurd. I track and then book when the fare is the right ballpark.

Watching United prices before all other airlines reach the 330 day out mark helped me book my mn to hi flight. The fight has changed since and we were able to change or flight for free which made for one less layover, a much better flight. I watch my flights using a flight matrix online. It saves my info and tracks all airlines.

I try not to book too far out, as they tend to change the schedules so much....dropping flights, changing times.....

I find the best prices are somewhere between 45-30 days out...but for a cruise, I usually book about 90 days out.

I booked about 300 days out for our August 22 Oasis cruise from CVG. For us the times with Delta were perfect. Direct flight leaving Cincy Friday at 9:35, arriving FLL 12:06. Having most of Friday to shop, take the water taxi, and have a nice dinner in Ft. Lauderdale Friday evening. Flight home Saturday leaves 12:40, arrives home 3:15. Planning on using the luggage valet. Won't have to touch the bags until they are on the CVG carousel. Sweet. So far the prices are about the same as when we booked them. They did change the times once, 5-7 minutes, no big deal. Gerry

I'm about 2 weeks out from being able to start pricing airfare :-) Thanks for the tips!

If you're not traveling a day early, I would definitely not book non-refundable or non-transferable tickets until you're actually within the season (ie. don't book summer tickets while they're still flying winter schedules, etc). If you are already dealing with a tight schedule or traveling on cruise day, you are taking a big risk. One small schedule change or cancelled flight could ruin your plans.

We booked with Southwest in Dec. for our upcoming trip this Friday about 4 months out. Thankfully we hadn't purchased them sooner as they were running almost $300 more pp x 5! It's not always cheaper booking early.

If the prices drop you can contact and get a credit from Southwest for use on another flight.

JoeRum.

Statistically speaking, the ideal time is 47-57 days for domestic flights, depending on the article you read. I've found that magical 6-7 week window to be the cheapest, but I only fly United. I also have booked many flights at the 330 day mark (opening day), when I am using miles (especially) or when I need to use miles for the boys and I'm paying cash (to keep gold status -- they are silver) to ensure that I get a pretty low price and their mileage flights are still in the "saver" category.

I went ahead and booked the flights. I had enough for 1 first class seat and one coach. Guess who is going first class?? :p

Better safe than sorry, AA said they only have certain amount of first class redeeming miles seats, so it worked out great.

Now I just need to keep an eye on the flights for changes.

Hooray! Have a great trip!

Statistically speaking, the ideal time is 47-57 days for domestic flights, depending on the article you read.

....57 days and/or on a Tuesday.

When do you book your airplane tickets for your cruise?

Our cruise is late February. Looking at flights there are only two flights that leave with the timing we like.

If you are going to limit yourself to only TWO possible flights, I'd book sooner than later. Prices will likely go up and down numerous times, and there is no way to predict exactly when or by how much. Articles that tell you "the best time is XX-XX days prior" are telling you the what happened in the past, on average. Will it be the same for your future flights? No way to know. There are always extremes and there's no telling whether there will be factors that affect your specific flight one way or the other. And again... since you are limiting yourself to only TWO flights, you have already narrowed down the choices a lot. If those two flights sell well, don't be surprised to see the prices go higher than you'd like, or to see seat availability be quite limited by the time you book.

I buy my flights after I make my final payment for my cruise. I plan to buy my tickets in the next month or so, prices should be ok.

I'm already booked for the Feb. Oasis cruise. Got a good price of $267 per and an 8/10am flights on United. Although the March 26 flight schedules aren't out yet, I do a mock booking in the early days of March for the days of the flight (Sat./Sat.)to get a feel for the approximate flight cost. For instance, on the first day that the flights are available the cost is in the area of $1,000 per, which is absurd. I track and then book when the fare is the right ballpark.

The main reason, assuming the prices are not outrageous, that I book early is the ability to get aisle seats.

I purchased my tickets to San Juan for my October cruise last month. I get low airfare alerts to my email from airfarewatchdog dot com. When I get an alert for a low airfare that is significantly lower than what I have been seeing, I jump right on it. :cool:

When do you book your airplane tickets for your cruise?

Our cruise is late February. Looking at flights there are only two flights that leave with the timing we like.

Good news for you...we're on that same cruise. ;-)

I just saw something about this in the Angie's List magazine.

https://www.angieslist.com/articles/become-ticket-master-best-time-buy-airline-tickets.htm

Normally we book right away, but, we're going to wait and see. The prices are really high anyway, so it wasn't a difficult choice.