Booking air travel

[refman]

How long prior to a cruise do those that fly book air travel. It appears as though the prices for air travel have hit an all time high. We leave the end of march so i`ve been watching various carriers and they all appear to be extremely expensive. Any suggestions would be appreciative as they have always been helpful in the past.again ,thanks in advance for your help.

[HouseRulz]

Air Fares generally are at their lowest 70-90 days before departure. The exception to that are peak travel periods. If you are departing from FL, then you probably aren't going to do any better than what you can get now. The flights to FLL/PBI/MIA have been very high since January. The one thing you can do is go to one of the sites that allows you to price track. This way you get an alert if the fare drops. A drop, however, at this late date, is unlikely.

 

Good luck though.

[refman]

houserulz,

i think we are on the same sailing, 3/27 eurodam. these airline rates from phila. to west palm are insane. i hope they come down soon.

[gregdude]

If your cruise is leaving from Florida you are too late. The end of March is the peak Spring break period for colleges and the week before Easter. From here on out the prices for Florida flights will probably only go up.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We have so few flights out of our airport to anywhere we have no choice but to book as soon as possible for our cruises.

[DaveOKC]

If you are in/near a SW air city, I advise people to book even if the fares are a bit high, since you can always cancel/rebook if prices drop, even just a bit. You only get credit, not cash back though. That way you lock in a price while you are searching for better.

 

I sure wish other airline would do this.

 

DaveOKC

[Randyk47]

We have so few flights out of our airport to anywhere we have no choice but to book as soon as possible for our cruises.

 

Surprisingly we have the same problem to some extent in San Antonio. It's a good size city but not a major airline hub so we have to, with a few exceptions, fly to a major hub to get almost anywhere. Add that our next cruise requires we fly to Europe and we're stuck with flying to a hub and that adds significantly to the cost.

[whogo]

I book airfare and cruise at the same time. A $599 cruise price is only tempting until I find out that airfare is $899. Air and cruise are the two biggest expenses of a cruise vacation budget and I watch them closely.

 

Airfare is a challenge. I will pay a bit more to fly out of our local airport, comparing that price to Chicago flights. Departing from Chicago is sometimes cheaper, even with ground transportation to Chicago factored in.

 

I have found the cruise line's airfare to be the lowest on occasion. With their airfare you can be stuck with lousy departure times and bizarre routings.

 

I am already watching cruise prices on a few Cape Horn itineraries in 2011. I will start tracking independent air when prices become available.

[skolega]

I always book my air before I book my cruise. Sometimes I book it up to 9 months before spring break. We always cruise mid March. I have some friends that still need to find airfare from Kansas City to Florida and it's going to run them about 600-700 per person. Some other friends of ours are driving 4 hours to St. Louis and then flying from there. At this point, I would look into flying to ANY city in Florida and driving in. One way car rentals are fairly cheap.

[CowPrincess]

We booked our most recent cruise about 15 months out. We booked our air about 5 months out. We'd been watching prices. If the air prices aren't reasonable, we are likely to cancel our cruise. We don't expect to get "the cheapest price", just one we are comfortable with. Like others, we won't spend $1000 to take a $599 cruise.

 

We don't emotionally commit to a cruise until we know a ballpark amount for the airfare.

[2ptu/000]

Book as early as possible. Check airline websites. Some airlines don't appear on travel sites. Check Jet Blue, Southwest to Florida. Check Icelandic Air to Europe.

[grandgeezer]

I book airfare and cruise at the same time. A $599 cruise price is only tempting until I find out that airfare is $899. Air and cruise are the two biggest expenses of a cruise vacation budget and I watch them closely.

 

Airfare is a challenge. I will pay a bit more to fly out of our local airport, comparing that price to Chicago flights. Departing from Chicago is sometimes cheaper, even with ground transportation to Chicago factored in.

 

I have found the cruise line's airfare to be the lowest on occasion. With their airfare you can be stuck with lousy departure times and bizarre routings.

 

I am already watching cruise prices on a few Cape Horn itineraries in 2011. I will start tracking independent air when prices become available.

 

I find the comment about cruiseline airfare being cheaper on any occasion to be astounding. Is this for flights to embarkation ports outside the U.S.? I just booked our flights for our 15th cruise, in May, and in ALL occasions, the cost has been less than 50% of what I could get through the cruiseline. I've cruised on HAL, Princess, X, RCL, and NCL and had the same results. There are reasons to book air through the cruiseline, but I've never found pricing to be one of them.

[Randyk47]

I find the comment about cruiseline airfare being cheaper on any occasion to be astounding. Is this for flights to embarkation ports outside the U.S.? I just booked our flights for our 15th cruise, in May, and in ALL occasions, the cost has been less than 50% of what I could get through the cruiseline. I've cruised on HAL, Princess, X, RCL, and NCL and had the same results. There are reasons to book air through the cruiseline, but I've never found pricing to be one of them.

 

The only time I've used cruise line provided air was with HAL back in 2004. We booked a last minute cruise out of Ft Lauderdale and it just happened to be during the spring break period. We couldn't find a flight that got us there at a decent time. HAL came through with both a flight and a hotel. Other than that instance I'd have to agree that I've never seen an occasion where we couldn't beat cruise line airfare and usually by a whole lot.

[pris993]

We generally book anywhere from 11 months if we are using miles to about 6 months in advance.

 

If you are going to Florida in March I would say book ASAP. Airlines have been cutting flight and flights are full often.

 

We are booked for Florida in early March, we booked last Sept I think. San Francisco to Miami non stop. At the time, we checked, found a reasonable rate and booked figuring it would not get cheaper.

 

Booking early sometime we lose, had prices go down on an Air France flight last year with the economy went south.

 

But we want direct non stop flights so best to book in advance.

 

Air travel is not much fun these days, so we look for the most direct flight even if more expensive.

[whogo]

I find the comment about cruiseline airfare being cheaper on any occasion to be astounding. Is this for flights to embarkation ports outside the U.S.? I just booked our flights for our 15th cruise, in May, and in ALL occasions, the cost has been less than 50% of what I could get through the cruiseline. I've cruised on HAL, Princess, X, RCL, and NCL and had the same results. There are reasons to book air through the cruiseline, but I've never found pricing to be one of them.

Cruise airfare for our 2006 holiday cruise on the Volendam was cheaper through Holland America than anything I could find on my own, including looking for departures from Chicago, Des Moines, Peoria and Cedar Rapids.

[Sue from Canada]

Book as early as possible. Check airline websites. Some airlines don't appear on travel sites. Check Jet Blue, Southwest to Florida. Check Icelandic Air to Europe.

 

In Canada cheap airfares to the US are almost non-existant. I've been looking since last fall for decent fares from Eastern Canada to Seattle this May. I'm not willing yet to pay $680CDN.

[grandgeezer]

In Canada cheap airfares to the US are almost non-existant. I've been looking since last fall for decent fares from Eastern Canada to Seattle this May. I'm not willing yet to pay $680CDN.

 

I agree. We're coming home from Vancouver to Phoenix in May, and the best I could find was $188 p.p. In December, we did Miami to Phoenix for $168 p.p. and I think that distance is much greater than Vancouver to Phoenix. Two years ago, we did Ft. Lauderdale to Phoenix for $135 p.p. and the best part, no luggage fees.

[CowPrincess]

In Canada cheap airfares to the US are almost non-existant. I've been looking since last fall for decent fares from Eastern Canada to Seattle this May. I'm not willing yet to pay $680CDN.

 

Is it any better going to Vancouver and shuttling/Amtraking to Seattle?

[Sue from Canada]

Is it any better going to Vancouver and shuttling/Amtraking to Seattle?

 

The last time I looked at the Amtrak schedules it was not feasible. Guess I'll look again. Thanks for reminding me.

[jhannah]

As a general rule, I will book airfare as soon as I can. Cruises are usually booked a year or more in advance ... too early for booking air. So at the 329 day mark I'm looking at fares. I may watch them a week or so ... but will generally book and keep tabs on them with Yapta. I like to book early to select a seat that's not in the middle or doesn't lean back or is by the lavatory. I always check with seatguru dot com before making my selection.

[HouseRulz]

houserulz,

i think we are on the same sailing, 3/27 eurodam. these airline rates from phila. to west palm are insane. i hope they come down soon.

 

Yes I am on the same cruise. I got a flight for under 200$ r/t, but I am not flying back until Tuesday.

 

I think I can say this on here: Go to Kayak. It's not actually a travel agency, but they list flights for all airlines except Southwest (I would never fly that airline anyway). You can create the flight options you want (i.e. leave PHL on Fri/Sat and fly into MIA/PBI/FLL. Return on Sat/Sun, etc.). Then when you get the results there is an option on the results page (upper-left) to set an alert. Kayak will rerun your search overnight and then let you know any change in fares.

 

Right now the lowest I see is 398$. While the fares are not going to go on sale at this late date, you might catch a cancellation. Airline fares are done in buckets. For instance, Delta (and most major carriers) has 9 different coach fares for every flight. They have a set number of slots open for each fare. If someone who has one of the cheapest prices cancels, then whoever is lucky enough to look up that flight right after the cancellation can get the fare.

 

The other thing I do a lot of now, is look at fares for the inbound and outbound separately. Unless you are traveling overseas or get a special sale fare, most airlines do not discount round-trip fares over one-way fares. Thus you might find that either your trip down, or trip back is quite cheap. I often will book the cheep leg, set up for an alert on the other leg, and then pounce on a change in price right away.

 

Case in point. I am on the Eurodam on the 27th. My mother lives in Boca Raton so I have flexibility on when I fly in/out. The cheapest fare I could find r/t was 335. When I checked, the flight down on Friday afternoon was actually only 86$, but the flight back was $249. I bought the flight down, and then set an alert for the flight back. 6 days later 2 seats opened up on a flight back for 95$. I then booked the return leg. Thus by using this strategy I ended up paying $181 r/t (including tax).

 

It might be too late for this, especially if you are more than 2 people, but in general I have a lot of luck with this strategy.

 

For those that book early, I would recommend you learn the Fare Codes for your favorite airline. This way, when you go to book wayyyyy in advance, you can see if you are getting the best fare possible. I know they vary slightly by airline but for Delta:

Code L, U, T = el Cheepo

Code H, Q, K = average

Code Y, B, M = Find somewhere else to go.

 

Good luck Refman, looking forward to seeing you on the E-dam in March.

[mudscraper]

HouseRulz

 

Great tips and clues. Thanks

 

Rich

[jmps]

What is wrong with Southwest? Everytime we have flown them we have had no complaints. Free baggage is a real plus that outweighs the need to check online to get earlier boarding.

[HouseRulz]

What is wrong with Southwest? Everytime we have flown them we have had no complaints. Free baggage is a real plus that outweighs the need to check online to get earlier boarding.

 

I fly often enough that I have elite status. Thus I do not pay for baggage and I receive an upgrade when they are available. Southwest has no program to recognize loyalty. This is my nice response. Because the folks on CC are so polite, I will avoid digressing into a tirade about Southwest.

 

If they work for you that's great. But no frequent traveler I know flies SW unless they absolutely have to.

[refman]

thanks for all the info. i thought waiting to last minute was a good idea but i was so wrong this time. i`m going to try the one way deals now and see how that works.