Air Travel, when to book?

[Claud26]

trying to plan out our trip for next year for Halloween.... Just wondering how you handel your flight arrangements ... Should I book Southwest when it becomes available and then hope to get a DING OR do I wait it out ?? and If I wait, how long do I wait.
As far as WestJet and Airtransat how far in advanced to they come out with specials ?? very rare or worth the wait to fly out of Toronto?
Last December we flew out of Buffalo on Air Tran for $79.00 each way ... since it was our first trip I didn't want to have to gamble with our flight Also we don't travel a lot so a credit on Southwest is not ideal.
thanks for your help

 

[BitsnBearsMom]

Well we're going this October and I'm still waiting to book our flight! It's fil's first time ever flying and I don't want to stress him out more then he is The best I could find so far is $94 each way on Airtranfrom buffalo. Looking at the possibility of flying out of TO too but the idea of saving so much $$ by flying out of buffalo is going to change my mind I'm sure!! Right now Westjet is at $500 per person from TO

 

[NikP]

trying to plan out our trip for next year for Halloween.... Just wondering how you handel your flight arrangements ... Should I book Southwest when it becomes available and then hope to get a DING OR do I wait it out ?? and If I wait, how long do I wait.
As far as WestJet and Airtransat how far in advanced to they come out with specials ?? very rare or worth the wait to fly out of Toronto?
Last December we flew out of Buffalo on Air Tran for $79.00 each way ... since it was our first trip I didn't want to have to gamble with our flight Also we don't travel a lot so a credit on Southwest is not ideal.
thanks for your help

I am in the same boat. I was wondering this too. Hopefully our well travelled DISERs can answer.

 

[canron]

we fly south west 3 times a year from buffalo we usualy book it 3 months ahaed with the internet specails on the southwest web sight .we uaualy pay 130 to 150 round trip for the past 5 years we got it for $21 each way in feb of last year
you have to look 2 to 3 times aday it changes all the time

 

[dsneygirl]

Do you mean this Oct or Oct 2007? Like Canron posted SW usually only opens their schedule a few months ahead of time. We have flown them 3 or 4 times in the last year and never had a problem getting the time and flight we wanted. Most we paid for Orlando was I think $49 each way (maybe $59) went to Vegas in March for $79 each way.

 

[tone.def]

Last December we flew out of Buffalo on Air Tran for $79.00 each way ... since it was our first trip I didn't want to have to gamble with our flight Also we don't travel a lot so a credit on Southwest is not ideal.
thanks for your help

$79 each way is still fairly decent. I was thinking about going this year over Thanksgiving and Southwest hasn't opened up their schedule that far yet. I'm actually kind of scared that the prices are going to rise because of the cost of oil, but we'll see.

I'd gladly pay $79 on Air Tran to be sure to have a seat rather than wait for a DING that my or may not come. I was fortunate last year to get one for my travel dates.

What I'm doing - waiting for Southwest's schedule to open up and then decide. I'll have to figure out which flights work best for my schedule.

 

[starseed]

This is the same question I have.

My Fiance and I will be travelling to WDW in January 07 from Toronto. We do not have a car and we will be going for our wedding, so I am thinking we should just suck it up and fly out of Pearson this time.

Can anyone enlighten me on when it would be best for us to book? I know it is about $500 per person right now. Is it likely to get better?

Thanks in advance!

 

[riu girl]

I am definately not a SWA expert but I have been watching DING fares and for the last while, MCO-BUF DING fares have only been available for mid-week travel. IMHO, if planning on travelling on weekends, maybe DING won't be an option for a lot of us anymore.

 

[Princess4Eeyore]

Hi

I downloaded Ding but I guess the dates for Sep are not up yet? Anyway, we are driving down but my family joining us need 2 roundtrip tickets - leaving on a Suturday or sunday - is it difficlut to get deals on the weekends? What is an average price for Sep?

Thanks and have a great weekend

 

[LuckyJC]

I am spending both Xmas and New Years in florida. Flying into MCO on Dec. 23 and out of MIA Jan. 8

Due to this high demand time, and with a family that get easily car sick, I didn't want to risk waiting for a sale and couldn't drive to Buffalo. I posted this question on flyertalk, most of them dont' think holiday fare will have a sale, however, prices do go up and down.

I watched for a week, finally one day, AA's fare went down. So now I have yyz - MCO on Westjet and MIA - YYZ on AA. Total comes to $450 CAD per person.

For Jan. 7, I believe the fare should go down by a lot. If it is Thanksgiving or October, I would wait for a sale.

Alternatively, I did find good deal too on aavacations, under US fly and drive, it is a good deal if you also need to rent a car, the air fare goes down in price. You can rent the car for the minimum of 2 days, not for the entire trip.