Q re: plane fares?

[Dsnygirl]

When do a lot of you make your plane reservations compared to your travel dates? We don't fly a lot, and last year, made flight arrangements 7 months in advance, and paid an awful lot for tickets that were a lot less about 3 or 4 months out from our flight dates. Now, we're looking at October - just wondering again if we should wait until closer to the date for better prices and what people historically find to be the best time to book their flights compared to their departure date.

Thanks!

[CanadianWDWFan]

Hi Blythe,

We tend to follow airfares, so we kind of know what a good price would be. For our upcoming trip in April, we booked our flights in August. For our trip in October we booked in February. All the flights we booked on AirTran out of Buffalo. We found that the flights to Orlando didn't drop below $89 each way(plus taxes), When we booked we were told by AirTran that if a cheaper fare came up we could call and get a credit for the difference. But I have yet to see that fare drop below that $89.

I hope that this helps.

[DisneyDudet]

We usually buy them once we start planning.

We are going in Oct as well and bought tickets on Monday. We used Air Tran as well, as they have been the cheapest out there for us.

Now, seeing as gas is going up quite a bit.. and will continue to do so, I doubt tickets go down any time soon.

We got $99 each way per person on air tran. We could have gotten to MCO an hour and a half earlier w/ American, but for $270 more. As much as we like our time there, considering the amount, its not worth it.

I say you should shop now, and buy soon.

[BronxTigger]

For the trip in October, I had a very limited time period I was working with. I cannot miss any work for this kind of thing (Disney trip!), so I had to leave late on Friday and late, but not too late, on Sunday. I searched and found the best time for a good price and when I found it, I booked.

Its $220 round trip per person, which is not bad, and the times are about as good as I could ask for in my situation.

[kakn7294]

I bought my tickets to Orlando on the day that they were available for sale on Southwest - they were $49 each (can't beat that!). However, I still don't have any tickets to return to Pittsburgh since they are $122. I'm waiting to see if I get a Ding for a better price. Hopefully I'll get one and not get burned by waiting. I'm actually in a pretty good spot though as I can take my pick of 3 flights home - I'm not locked into needing anything specific beyond the date. If I see one flight in the lowest price category sell out, I'll purchase my tickets then.

[dinahvixen]

How are you guys getting these great rates? I live in Cincinnati and it's an expensive hub, but the others "nearby" are pricey, too. The cheapest was a dawn flight for 230. I can't leave that early b/c of work. Is there a certain site to use to get good rates?

[BronxTigger]

Posted by dinahvixen
How are you guys getting these great rates?

I don't know how others do it, but I use a rather intense approach. Living in NYC, I have 3 main airports plus a few smaller ones to choose from. Most airlines fly out of one of the main 3; a notable exception is Southwest.

I use search engines such as expedia, travelocity, and orbitz. I'll also check each airlines' website directly, since sometimes there are better deals by dealing directly with the airline. Additionally, if my travel dates and/or times of day are flexible, I will change the dates/times and see how the prices change. Some days of the week are usually cheaper than others (Wednesday, for example is usually one of the cheapest days to fly.) Also, prices can fluctuate a lot at different airports, so I will choose different airports. Sometimes a 2 hour drive can get you a significant price change.

[Mufasa]

There's an excellent flight planning tool that you can find known as farecast (you can find it by doing a google search).

If you're travelling within the next few months, then you can enter your target dates for a particular route in farecast and it will show you the current rates as well as a historical view and uses a model to forecast rates based on historical rates and how they have fluctuated and help you narrow down the optimal dates for flying or whether you should decide to buy now or wait.

If you're concerned about whether you should wait- you can also do what they call fare guard. If you see a price and you're not sure if you should wait to see if fares drop, you can lock in the lower rate- you have to buy within 7 days, but if the price drops then you just purchase the ticket at the lower rate (minus a service charge to lock in the price with fareguard). If the fare should increase, you still purchase the ticket at the higher price, but get a refund check from farecast for the price difference. It's their way of guaranteeing the accuracy of their predictions with their search model.

Definitely worth checking out if you're in the market shopping for airfare as it helps to take some of the guesswork out of figuring out when you should travel or if you're getting the best price on a particular route.

[iheartmickey]

I use the site sidestep. It searches all the travel websites for you (Expedia, Orbitz, etc)

I am also traveling in Oct and I'm still waiting for the fares to drop just a little. I kind of know what amount we paid last time and because we have so many airports around us I'll keep searching until I find the rate I want. My cut off is 3 months out. If I don't see the rate I want I get my tickets then.

dinahvixen .... I got a decent rate last year out of Cincy for my mom to meet us down at WDW. I would just keep an eye on the rates and make sure you check Dayton, and Columbus. It's a bit of a drive but they can have much better rates sometimes. I'm looking for her for this Oct and hoping I can get a good deal again!

[Dsnygirl]

There's an excellent flight planning tool that you can find known as farecast (you can find it by doing a google search).

If you're travelling within the next few months, then you can enter your target dates for a particular route in farecast and it will show you the current rates as well as a historical view and uses a model to forecast rates based on historical rates and how they have fluctuated and help you narrow down the optimal dates for flying or whether you should decide to buy now or wait.

If you're concerned about whether you should wait- you can also do what they call fare guard. If you see a price and you're not sure if you should wait to see if fares drop, you can lock in the lower rate- you have to buy within 7 days, but if the price drops then you just purchase the ticket at the lower rate (minus a service charge to lock in the price with fareguard). If the fare should increase, you still purchase the ticket at the higher price, but get a refund check from farecast for the price difference. It's their way of guaranteeing the accuracy of their predictions with their search model.

Definitely worth checking out if you're in the market shopping for airfare as it helps to take some of the guesswork out of figuring out when you should travel or if you're getting the best price on a particular route.

Thanks for the info - I'll be a lot of us could use it!

[DisneyDudet]

Join the airline's website email, and you'll get notified of deals that way.

I know with air tran that they will have deals about a few weeks out from flight date, but I can't wait that long. We did use the deal when we went for our last min trip in Jan 06.

I agree with always checking with the airline to see if there is any great deals.

Depending on the destination, flying out of DFW is pricey, which is one of the reasons we don't take as many trips as others. Southwest, who flies out of the smaller airport here, is more expensive when flying to MCO, because of regulations put on them to where they can fly, so I would have to have connecting flights.

Just search and when you think you've found a great deal (mostly to us on Air Tran), book, because it could change.

[Dopey's Girl]

I booked my flight for September, on Friday. $225 roundtrip on Airtran from Minneapolis...that is about $35 cheaper than I have paid in a long time. I know about what I have paid in the past, so I log on to all the travel sites (travelocity, orbitz, etc.) and then onto the airlines sites and price things out. I pick a time when I want to have them booked by, and if I see a deal before then, I book, if not, I book by my date and deal with the price...

[Bruegge]

How are you guys getting these great rates? I live in Cincinnati and it's an expensive hub, but the others "nearby" are pricey, too. The cheapest was a dawn flight for 230. I can't leave that early b/c of work. Is there a certain site to use to get good rates?

Delta is a bad deal..... well I vented

Delta built the huge hub in CVG and now ALL flights are very expensive. Even American/and the others (out of the old terminal) feel they can raise prices to stay "equal??" with delta.

DBIL has a son in Gainesville. Boy does he complain about it.....

For some reason cheap carriers air tran, sky blue and other cheap flyers cant seem to break in there. I'm not sure what delta does but it's made Cincinnati the 3rd most expensive airport to fly out of.


Scott
P.S. I use kayak.com to search for prices. Just remember Southwest.com is the only place to check their fares.

[thrillme]

I keep watching Southwest for the "dates" I want to fly. Normally when they FIRST release their fares for the next time period. Those fares are going to be the cheapest. I compare Southwest with everybody else.

Sometimes I find cheaper fares on other Airlines. Your best bet to get the cheapest fare is to continueously check the different airlines for at least a year before you travel and note the "trends". Getting them about 6-7 months out is usually your best bet. Sure OCCASIONALLY 3-4 months out the price will go down but lately with the RIDICULOUS rise in gas...I doubt will see any drop anytime soon.

In fact I'm almost surprised airlines aren't calling those who had good rates to tell them that the price has gone up we'll have to pay the difference or they'll cancel (nah I KNOW they can't do that but...).

[CanadianWDWFan]

I think that the bottom line is that you have to be comfortable with the price you find. Once you buy your tickets, don't go back and seach all the time for cheaper fares. It will just make you crazy. Sure watch them to try and get a flight credit but don't dwell on it too much.

For you guys who think you have it bad for expensive flights, from Toronto to Orlando, on a discount airline, they wanted over $2200 for the 4 of us to fly!!! Therefore we now drive the two hours to Buffalo to get the $89 each way fares.

[Bruegge]

FYI,

as of 3-24-07 (last time I had to change flight times),

If you book a flight with the dreaded "non refundable" or "cheapest fare ticket" and change it for a better fare (same flight or different) American Airlines charges you a $100/ticket penalty.

Delta charges $75.00/ticket

Southwest doesn't charge a "penalty"

All Three (not sure of other airlines, those 3 I deal with mostly) will hold you savings in an account for future travel for 1 year. Fly that airline again in a year or lose your "savings".

So, try and play the game correctly the first time. Trying to maximize your savings is a tough job.

Scott

[BellewanaB]

Ok, I'm totally a JetBlue flight attendent.

Use the farecast option because rates change by the HOUR.

Choose your airline according to your priorities. JetBlue now has the customer Bill of Rights where if for any reason there is a delay that is the companies fault, you will be compensated accordingly (from $25 vouchers to complete reimbursements). I would VERY much consider this being from upstate NY if you're traveling during any cold months becuase you guys are ALWAYS experiencing delays.

Last I checked, it's also only $25/ticket to change if you need to.

You can also book through AAA and get travel insurence on the entire trip, God forbid someting happens to either of you and you cannot go, at least you won't lose your money.

As for other carriers, all I can say is whever there's a delay, they all dump their original reservations and come over to us to get to where they're going!

happy planning!
P.S. try to avoid connecting in JFK or Newark to get to MCO as they are also notorious for delays. (can you tell I'm also Boston based?)

[MinnieMommie]

I bought my tickets to Orlando on the day that they were available for sale on Southwest - they were $49 each (can't beat that!). However, I still don't have any tickets to return to Pittsburgh since they are $122. I'm waiting to see if I get a Ding for a better price. Hopefully I'll get one and not get burned by waiting. I'm actually in a pretty good spot though as I can take my pick of 3 flights home - I'm not locked into needing anything specific beyond the date. If I see one flight in the lowest price category sell out, I'll purchase my tickets then.

I just found a ding and booked to Orlando for $49 each way. You still have a few more hours so check it out. I hope it works for you.

In general I wait it out and book close to when my trip dates are. I have been lucky with getting better deals closer to my travel dates.

[Dsnygirl]

I just found a ding and booked to Orlando for $49 each way.

?? what's a ding?? Am I missing something when I'm searching, or do I have to sign up to be contacted should a fare go lower?

[faline]

Ding is software offered by Southwest Airlines. You download the software onto your computer. Southwest uses this software to make special internet offers to those who have subscribed. When they make an offer, you hear a "ding" on your computer and the spcials pops us. Usually, the offers are time limited - sometimes available for just a few hours and usually for limited destinations.

For more information, go to Southwest Airline's site.