When are you buying your airline tickets?

Our cruise is in mid December. We are flying into Ft. Lauderdale. Do many of you buy when you see a good price or do you wait until so many weeks before you leave? We always drive, but that is because we were leaving from Port Canaveral. With the longer distance this time I would rather fly.

Is it to early or should I buy as soon as possible? :confused:

Thank you~!!

I usually buy our tickets about 6 months prior.

We've already purchased our tickets for our January cruise.

Our cruise is in mid December. We are flying into Ft. Lauderdale. Do many of you buy when you see a good price or do you wait until so many weeks before you leave? We always drive, but that is because we were leaving from Port Canaveral. With the longer distance this time I would rather fly.

 

Is it to early or should I buy as soon as possible? :confused:

Thank you~!!

Check the large travel sites by inputting your travel dates/info and see what the cost is, then watch it. It is amazing how it will fluctuate. The prices tend to drop mid week (Tuesday-ish) and can climb toward the weekends - but not always. You have to be prepared to realize a good price and then book it. I have done the research through the large travel site (the gnome, etc.) but after finding the flights I like, then went directly to the airline's site and checked the same flight's prices there - sometimes it has been $5-$10 cheaper.

It is never too soon, but it can get too late and the prices will reflect it.

Thank you all~ Looks like I better get on the ball :-)

For December I would purchase as far in advance as possible - that is prime $$$ holiday season combined with school breaks, work holidays, etc. Be sure to include your airfare in your trip insurance total that way it is covered.

For us it varies. I do a little resarch first. Try a Google Search for "airfare trend tracker" and you will see a sight (its free) that allows you to enter the two cities in questioon. A graph will appear and you can see what the historical fare has been for the month in question. That helps me to ballpark what I can expect. When fares close in on the historical or I feel I can live with it, I book it. So, on average, I have booked about 3 - 5 months out.

I have to admit, as has been posted several times, fares are higher this year than in years past. So I think we are looking at new patterns we have to factor in and budget for.

Cruising in Feb 2013, Presidents week - we purchased booked our flights about 10 days ago when the charter airlines released a new block of fares for Feb and March 2013. Prices were a little higher than in the past but have jumped $200 in the past 10 days. There may still be a seat sale, later on - but glad we purchased when we did as Feb can be a busy(expensive) time for air travel

Book early for Dec.

Our cruise is in mid December. We are flying into Ft. Lauderdale. Do many of you buy when you see a good price or do you wait until so many weeks before you leave? We always drive, but that is because we were leaving from Port Canaveral. With the longer distance this time I would rather fly.

 

Is it to early or should I buy as soon as possible? :confused:

 

Thank you~!!

I am close to you, and I assume you are flying out of Charleston. I have been searching the flights for some time now for a Feb. departure. Flying out of Charleston is pricier than most other places in the country. The prices are starting to drop a little. Southwest is still a little higher than U.S. Air, but you save the baggage fees. I found a reasonably priced fare from Southwest but the connecting flight was in NYC. That made no sense.

I usually drive to Port Canaveral also, but I said never again. I hate it. The other option is the train. The round trip is about 7-8 hours to PC and is $108 with no baggage fees. I have done this sailing out of Tampa before and it is not a bad trip.

Another option someone told me to try was to split it up, not book a round trip. Try the name your own price deal for the trip down since it really does not matter when your flight is, and a regular flight for the return trip. I search for flights every few days and something will come up. I just hate paying $400 plus baggage fees for such a short trip. I want to take two bags because for some reason my clothes must swell in the Caribbean heat, I always come back with more stuff than I left with:D. Good luck with finding your flight.

The sooner the better. We usually book the cruise 9 to 12 months out, then decide what we think is a good price for tickets, I check the sites every day, then book when it hits my price. This next cruise, I am almost embarassed to say, I booked the air before I booked the cruise, I saw the target price and hit on it. Good thing too, the tickets I bought for 418$ are now selling between 800 and 1000.

Our cruise is in mid December. We are flying into Ft. Lauderdale. Do many of you buy when you see a good price or do you wait until so many weeks before you leave? We always drive, but that is because we were leaving from Port Canaveral. With the longer distance this time I would rather fly.

 

Is it to early or should I buy as soon as possible? :confused:

 

Thank you~!!

I purchased a 1st class ticket from Arizona in march. In fact I purchased my air ticket before I paid off my cruise for this December. Sure glad I did--- one way 1st class fare was 599.00 so the total was 1100.00 rt. A wk later the fare was 1700.00 for one way. They only had so many fares available at the lower price.

Sometimes I know that southwest has sales but the fare depends on the market.

Typically I book airline tickets 3-4 months prior and haven't been stung yet with the prices significantly dropping.

That being said - I just happened to accidentally come across flights to Honolulu for a STEAL for this September. They're actually cheaper than the flights from LAX to HNL... and i'd be coming from Canada - the opposite side of Canada at that!

If I was only retired.... :(

I booked our flight to FLL from PHL in Jan or Feb when it was $316, which is what we paid last year. I just checked yesterday and it went down to $260!!!! I will not be checking again:mad:

We're cruising in November (thanksgiving week). I bought air fare in January, so 11 months in advance. They have doubled plus, I feel good about the decision to book them so early.

 

Another option someone told me to try was to split it up, not book a round trip. Try the name your own price deal for the trip down since it really does not matter when your flight is, and a regular flight for the return trip. I search for flights every few days and something will come up. I just hate paying $400 plus baggage fees for such a short trip. I want to take two bags because for some reason my clothes must swell in the Caribbean heat, I always come back with more stuff than I left with:D. Good luck with finding your flight.

Splitting it up is a great option but please note that Priceline does not allow one-way "Name Your Own Price" bookings for flights. You must book a round-trip with the same cities (e.g. you can't fly Los Angeles - Miami and then Barcelona - Los Angeles on a NYOP booking on Priceline). Generally, Name Your Own Price bookings are bad for cruisers because you could get a super early morning return flight and be in trouble.

I would suggest using Kayak which will display what it calls "Hacker Fares" when it's better to purchase a one-way on one airline and return on another airline. Also be sure to check Southwest as no travel website except Southwest's own are allowed to show their fares.

Good luck!

I booked our flight to FLL from PHL in Jan or Feb when it was $316, which is what we paid last year. I just checked yesterday and it went down to $260!!!! I will not be checking again:mad:

This happened to me one year after booking 4 tickets out of Buffalo NY to FLL around xmas week. There was a price drop of a couple hundred dollars so I called the airline and they honoured the new price. They put the money I was refunded into their bank and gave me a year to use it. Most airlines should be able to refund the difference. Never hurts to call;)

Splitting it up is a great option but please note that Priceline does not allow one-way "Name Your Own Price" bookings for flights. You must book a round-trip with the same cities (e.g. you can't fly Los Angeles - Miami and then Barcelona - Los Angeles on a NYOP booking on Priceline). Generally, Name Your Own Price bookings are bad for cruisers because you could get a super early morning return flight and be in trouble.

 

I would suggest using Kayak which will display what it calls "Hacker Fares" when it's better to purchase a one-way on one airline and return on another airline. Also be sure to check Southwest as no travel website except Southwest's own are allowed to show their fares.

 

Good luck!

Thanks, I did not know that. I frequently do the name your own price when flying or looking for a hotel. I would be afraid to on a cruise because with my luck I would bet a 6am return flight.

We booked almost 10 months out. As others have said, we researched prices for our flight path (CLT to SJU) and booked when we were happy with the price point. Our flights didn't go up, we were just concerned they would sell out- only three direct flights were occurring that day, and we HAD to fly in day of. Prices are $200+pp higher this year into SJ, so we're driving to FL and trying a PC departure cruise instead...good luck!

This happened to me one year after booking 4 tickets out of Buffalo NY to FLL around xmas week. There was a price drop of a couple hundred dollars so I called the airline and they honoured the new price. They put the money I was refunded into their bank and gave me a year to use it. Most airlines should be able to refund the difference. Never hurts to call;)

Really????? Will try that! Thanks!!

I purchase when they open up 330 day in advance. My flights for December went from $325 to $650. Crazy!

I purchase when they open up 330 day in advance. My flights for December went from $325 to $650. Crazy!

That's exactly what I do. I use my miles for first class and there's a specific seat that I like so I "buy" early. The only one I don't buy as early is Southwest, which I rarely fly. It's usually American.

Splitting it up is a great option but please note that Priceline does not allow one-way "Name Your Own Price" bookings for flights. You must book a round-trip with the same cities (e.g. you can't fly Los Angeles - Miami and then Barcelona - Los Angeles on a NYOP booking on Priceline). Generally, Name Your Own Price bookings are bad for cruisers because you could get a super early morning return flight and be in trouble.

 

I would suggest using Kayak which will display what it calls "Hacker Fares" when it's better to purchase a one-way on one airline and return on another airline. Also be sure to check Southwest as no travel website except Southwest's own are allowed to show their fares.

 

Good luck!

Thats what I thought, but Priceline DOES NOW let you book one way flights that you bid on. They didn't used too. Cruse fare is sometimes hard to bid on if you leave the same day as you debark, they can give you a flight as early as 6am. But they do one way now, so for going to your cruise port and staying a day early definitely try it...

Most definitely use kayak and split the flight into one way. Even if you do round trip the airlines still show you the each way fare and charge both prices for your round trip. You may find one airline going is cheaper and a different one is cheaper coming back.

We did this for our cruise in January, kept looking and looking for air from socal to fll and nothing under about $420 either one way or roundtrip. Finally found Southwest from LA to FLL for $150 oneway so we booked that. I am still wanting to find something less than $200 for our return. Im kind of luck because I have 4 airports to choose from, SAN, SNA, LAX, ONT I live in north San Diego so a drive to any of these is ok. Plus we have FLL, MIA, PBI and even RSL in Flordia. So lots of choices. I check everyday for our return trip but still nothing, I need to be patient....

2 other points,

1. if you use a site like kayak remember that it will not show Southwest. You have to check Southwest on ts own site....

2. Southwest has somethings not so good like no assigned seats but they do have 2 important things gong for it, no baggage fees and no change fees. Like I said we already booked LA to FLL for $150 but if I can find the same rate from SAN or SNA I can change with no $100 a ticket change so a real plus....