Advice Needed- Best time to buy airline tickets

[MissManda]

We are planning a trip to DW June 9 -16th, 2012. Only flown a couple of time so I'm still pretty much a novice at navigating prices and fares.

I'm pretty sure we'll be flying Southwest. Right now they are the cheapest flights I can find. I know that the June fares were just released. Are the fares usually pretty fixed with Southwest? Or do they tend to go up or down as time goes by? Really debating on the best time to book my tickets.


Any advice is appreciated.

 

[ancestry]

Instead of playing gambling games to get the low price (which may or may not happen) I set a price in my mind that I am willing to pay and I go ahead and book once the prices hit that point. I try to determine what a fair price is to pay depending on what time of the year we are traveling.

With Southwest you can receive a travel credit if the price drops after you book.

 

[Anna114]

I fly SW all of the time. I find (most of the time) I buy my tickets as soon as SW publishes the new dates. Unless they go on sale they are usually the best prices. I fly out of Long Island and find that I can keep the price under $500 including taxes and EB for 2 people. My husband will not do layovers or chaining planes so I need to get in there early to get what I want. While I don't do it aggressively I do check prices on occasion and can not remember when the prices ended up cheaper then what I paid.