Purchasing air flight: early or late

[nordski]

A number of postings have suggested it is better to arrange one's own flights to save money and based upon my previous experience I agree with that position.

 

What are people's experiences with this approach, and more specifically is it better to book early or late?

 

I realize that the price of fuel right now is a wild card in the decision, so I'm considering purchasing flights this month for a cruise that begins April 6th. The pros to this are that we lock in the price and that we may get a better seat selection. The cons are that we lock in the price and, if the economy creates a serious decline in river cruising, how will we handle a possible alteration in the cruise's commencement date?

 

Any thoughts would be really appreciated

 

Thanks

[paul929207]

I book early. I figure sometimes the fares go up and other times they go down. At least I have the routing I want.

[nyfeds]

A number of postings have suggested it is better to arrange one's own flights to save money and based upon my previous experience I agree with that position.

 

What are people's experiences with this approach, and more specifically is it better to book early or late?

 

I realize that the price of fuel right now is a wild card in the decision, so I'm considering purchasing flights this month for a cruise that begins April 6th. The pros to this are that we lock in the price and that we may get a better seat selection. The cons are that we lock in the price and, if the economy creates a serious decline in river cruising, how will we handle a possible alteration in the cruise's commencement date?

 

Any thoughts would be really appreciated

 

Thanks

 

We always book early rather than later. If using FF miles, it would be 331 days out. If purchasing, I usually monitor the intinerary to see the trend of the fares. One way you can monitor fares, is by signing up with Yapta

 

http://www.yapta.com

 

The site will send you alerts of fares rising or dropping on marked itineraries. I suggest going onto the site and giving it a try.

 

If a purchased fare goes down, you can always call the carrier and ask for a credit for the difference.

 

Good luck. For an April booking, I'd be seriously booking now. With the problems facing the airline industry, you may have limited selection of flights and seats, due to flight cutbacks. By booking now, you ensure your itinerary and seat assignment of your preference. Then monitor the booking, so no surprises in any changes that may come about up to the time of departure.

[letsgoeverywhere]

We booked as soon as flights became available and now closer to the date they are $700 pp more. There are cheaper flights but with 2 or 3 stops! We did not consider that the cruiseline would cancel or change dates since they sell out so far in advance. In that case I guess we would have to pay a change penalty.

[bassmomma]

We are booked on an April 17 cruise with Avalon. I booked our flights on BA two weeks ago and at that time, there were no business class seats available for upgrade on our trip over. Coming back home, we were able to use miles for upgrade.

[sokoloff]

Just booked our first cruise for October - decided to take Viking up on their 2 for 1 offer. What I did was put the cruise on a 48 hour hold and then looked around for airline tickets. I found that the airlines were offering their fall fare sales, so we paid $785 from RDU to Europe vs. the $1620 Viking was asking. If I hadn't found such good deals on airfare, we might have just cancelled the trip.

 

Len

[npphotog]

Here's my two cents - If you book your own flight and your airline has a problem (late of cancellations) and you miss scheduled flight, your river boat may leave without you. Sounds too scarey for me. We were a trip where the couple booked their own flights and somehow they were rescheduled for the next day and had a real problem catching up with us. Your choice but that would not be an option for me. Willard

[Car-Stan]

Len,

 

How did you find the Viking 2-for-1 offer? From an e-mail, or did you call them?

 

Does anyone know if these are available from travel agents - on-line or "real" - either from Viking or other lines? (I already know about the deals from GCT.)

 

Stan (Car-Stan)

[sokoloff]

Somehow my wife got on their mailing list and gets an e-mail "special" every few weeks. The 2 for 1 is apparently available to TA's too, since I used the USAA travel service and they got it for me for $250 less than the 2 for 1 price. They were also able to get me the $50 shipboard credits for AARP and for being referred by a previous customer.

 

Len

[H2Otstr]

I get a Viking email or brochure/mailer at least once a week. Just sign up with them and you will be kept informed of all their specials.

[nyfeds]

Here's my two cents - If you book your own flight and your airline has a problem (late of cancellations) and you miss scheduled flight, your river boat may leave without you. Sounds too scarey for me. We were a trip where the couple booked their own flights and somehow they were rescheduled for the next day and had a real problem catching up with us. Your choice but that would not be an option for me. Willard

 

 

We avoid the anxiety of missing our sailing, by arranging our flight(s) to arrive at least a day or two prior to the ship's departure. I do think it's risky to plan to arrive the day of departure. Besides, a pre-cruise stay in the departure city is a must for us.

 

The cruise lines air charges are substantially higher than doing it on your own, in most instances. We like to pick our airline of choice, receive miles for our flights or redeem our FF miles when we can. We arrange a flight itinerary that works best for us, too.

 

Those times that we've purchased air, rather than redeemed FF miles for our tickets, we can do far, far better booking on our own. Getting to your destination a day or two earlier is key.

 

The money you save doing it on your own can go a long way during your vacation. Why give it to the cruise line?

[Car-Stan]

Thanks, for the info!

 

Stan

[nordski]

Thanks for all the interesting suggestions and relevant information (including the web page)

 

The willingness of people to share is what makes this message board so informative and useful and the postings helped to clarify my thinking.

 

A question for Tiggypoo--is there anything in this decision that is particularly relevant for Canadians?

[MSEm]

It is a myth that if you book your air with the cruise line the ship will be held at port if your flight arrives late. I know of a group of 30 that missed the first 3 nights of a 7 night Alaskan cruise. The flight was delayed and the plane landed only 30 minutes before the ship's scheduled depart. They got to spend 2 nights in Seattle and 1 night in Juneau before catching up with the ship.

 

Book your own flights and schedule to arrive at least 1 day early.

 

Emily

[FlyerTalker]

There is an entire forum on CC devoted to air travel. Cruise Air is where almost any of your air questions can be answered.

 

Especially important is to read the sticky at the top of the forum that gives a very complete explanation of just how cruiseline air works.

 

Echoing the comment....buying airfare from the cruiseline is NO guarantee of anything. They will not work to make rearrangements, nor will the ship be "held" for you. They book it only as a convenience for the passenger and make no representations in any way regarding the performance of the airline.

[7SeasLover]

We are flying out of JFK on April 18 for our GCT Ancient Egypt tour/cruise. I can have GCT do our connecting flight from LA to JFK for $450 pp. A good price.

 

I started to check and for that fare, we may be in the air 8 to 11 hours for a typical 5-hour non-stop flight. Granted, they won't bulk the best flights, but that's a long haul only to get to JFK and have to immediately fly to Cairo. Ugh.

 

We are in the act of finding our own flights to NY leaving L.A. on the 16th, and probably arriving at midnight or 1 a.m. on the 17th. I would book an airport hotel, cab over, spend that night (or what's left of it) in the hotel. The next day (the day before we leave) we'll cab into Manhattan (just for fun), then head back to the hotel for a good night's sleep.

 

The next morning we'll eat breakfast and head for the airport for or flight to Cairo. The good thing for us is that my husband may get some ff miles in, and I have at least one free night using Hilton Honors. So we may spend 2 nights in NY and a tad more $$ if we slip into Manhattan (grin), but I would feel better about not missing my flight to Cairo and we'll most assuredly be more rested than if we flew in same day we fly out! Yikes!

[FlyerTalker]

I would check into Priceline for hotels near JFK using their opaque bidding section. Recent reports are finding the JFK Sheraton in the 95-100 range. For not much more, you can often get the Hilton on 6th Ave in Manhattan in the 125-135 range, saving you cabs back and forth (plus the time factor). And saving those HHonors points for when you really need them.