History of Airfares?

[UpstateCruizer]

Is there a way to see what an average price range that a flight has sold for in the past months? We are looking to fly on Delta next April and I'm trying to get an idea of what the prices have been averaging. There was a site where you could go and see particular fares forecasted based on previous costs but I haven't seen it recently? Any input about where to look for previous flight costs? Thanks!

[parody]

There are a number of sites that will report historical average airfares. However, one must be a little careful in interpreting what you are seeing. One useful site is http://history.farecompare.com in that one can get a good indication of how fares have fluctuated over time. But, it is an average being reported over various factors that may not apply to your situation (although one can see the results by airline and advance purchase). The US Department of Transportation also reports historical fares here. I believe it is Table 5 that you are interested in, but there is quite a large lag time in reporting results and not every O/D pair is covered. There once was a more user-friendly version, but I'm not sure that it is still online. Farecast.com developed an algorithm for projecting whether certain fares would increase or decrease in the future. Because of its uniqueness, etc., it was acquired by Microsoft and is now incorporated into Bing travel. This discussion assumes you are interested in US domestic fares. A smaller number of sites report international airfares.

[kenish]

Airfares are commodity pricing, very much like stocks. In my opinion, the same boilerplate you see with investments applies to airfares "Past performance...."

 

That said, the Sunday before your cruise is Easter so that will be a heavy travel weekend. Additionally, it will be Spring Break for many colleges. Combined with the 20% reduction in capacity over the past 2 years, that puts upward pressure on fares.

 

Instead of looking at past history, I would start looking at fares on a regular basis. What matters is finding a good fare for *you*, not getting caught in "analysis paralysis" over what somebody paid last April. Probably too early to book now; IMO the best window will be early December while everyone is busy with the holidays. After the first of the year, everyone's focus will shift to Easter and the best fares will be booked. (If you are not traveling on Easter weekend you can probably wait longer).

 

Hope this helps!

[UpstateCruizer]

There are a number of sites that will report historical average airfares. However, one must be a little careful in interpreting what you are seeing. One useful site is http://history.farecompare.com in that one can get a good indication of how fares have fluctuated over time. But, it is an average being reported over various factors that may not apply to your situation (although one can see the results by airline and advance purchase). The US Department of Transportation also reports historical fares here. I believe it is Table 5 that you are interested in, but there is quite a large lag time in reporting results and not every O/D pair is covered. There once was a more user-friendly version, but I'm not sure that it is still online. Farecast.com developed an algorithm for projecting whether certain fares would increase or decrease in the future. Because of its uniqueness, etc., it was acquired by Microsoft and is now incorporated into Bing travel. This discussion assumes you are interested in US domestic fares. A smaller number of sites report international airfares.

 

Thank you so much :) This was perfect!