Airfare..buy now or wait?

[beezerdave]

I thought I would tap into the great collective mind of this board to help with the above question. We are going to WDW May 7- 12 2006. I have researched fares and found them higher than what we usually have paid. As a result I am torn between buying now in an effort to avert paying a higher price a few months from now or waiting and hoping the fare will lower in the next few months. Any thoughts?

 

[WDWJWEB1]

beezerdave

I would wait a little longer.
Where are you flying from? I just saw flights from Ohio or Penn, to MCO for $49.00 each way, thats cheap, I can't afford to stay home.. O.K. maybe I'm just looking for another excuse "not" to stay home. Let us know what you and yours decide.

jim

 

[CaliforniaDreaming]

We are going the week after you. Right now from our airport (Pittsburgh) airfare is $207 round-trip (United, codeshared with US Airways). I still think the prices will go down. We'll probably wait until January, and then when the airfares are under $200 we'll get tickets. Lately I've been seeing a lot of Southwest Dings for $39 each way, I sure hope we can get one!

 

[beezerdave]

We are flying from Philadelphia. Where did you find the $49 trip? I should also add that I prefer non-stop trips.

 

[n2mm]

We fly out of Wash. DC and would never buy our May tickets this early unless it was an unbelievable deal. We haven't bought our December or February tickets yet. I haven't even thought of our late April/early May tickets. Now saying this, we usually fly with just the two of us. If you have a large party, then there are other factors to consider. For my September trip, we had a group of 9 and bought our ticket about 6 weeks before going because we were getting worried. Our tickets were $130 rt, and you would know that they dropped to $109 the next week....it's always a gamble. (Of course, with FLYI going away soon, the prices will go up again at Dulles--with United being our only non-stop carrier.)

 

[beezerdave]

Yes, it is just two of us. I've been scanning prices and flights for the last few weeks and I've noticed a disturbing trend in the amount of flights as well as the price. Where there were flights out later in the morning for under $300 and the same flights are $374. It seemed there are fewer flights as well. I did hear on the radio that Delta had cancelled flights because of the price of gas but is going to be adding some back on in the near future. I guess I will hold out until the beginning of the year and cross my fingers.

 

[bicker]

Eventually, the airlines will have to get their collective act together and reduce capacity so that they can set fares somewhere close to where most airlines will actually make some profit. It's not clear whether that will happen this year, next year, or beyond, but I'm pretty sure it will eventually occur. Is it worth hedging your bets just in case it happens soon? I don't know. I think it is. The chances of me having reacted quickly enough to a lower fare than what I booked, assuming such a fare was actually going to be offered, is so incredibly low that I book the first fare that strikes me as reasonable.

 

[ioneblair]

we are flying out of Philadelphia also and I booked my going flight with a Ding fare just a couple of weeks ago (going in Jan) and still am waiting for a Ding for the return flight....five of us going and I paid $269.75 inclusive.....SW has a posted fare of $79 one way MCO-PHL still I'm holding out for another Ding for that flight which I'm pretty sure will come because I've seen Dings for this but not opened up till my dates yet.....only thing is you've got to catch the Ding so my daughter and I stay tuned.....and May isn't opened up yet.....and you've got to have some flexibility in your flight times.....I've seen enough non-stops to suit though....

 

[erikthewise]

Wait. Critical time for airfare sales seems to be about 4 months out. I'd say take the first good sale price you see after Jan 1. Unless you are a gambler, don't try for the lowest price, just a good price.

No guarantees though. Different airlines and different routes may have different behavior. There's no substitute for experience, and vigilance. If possible, check every day after Jan 1, and at least every week until then.

 

[beezerdave]

we are flying out of Philadelphia also and I booked my going flight with a Ding fare just a couple of weeks ago (going in Jan) and still am waiting for a Ding for the return flight....five of us going and I paid $269.75 inclusive.....SW has a posted fare of $79 one way MCO-PHL still I'm holding out for another Ding for that flight which I'm pretty sure will come because I've seen Dings for this but not opened up till my dates yet.....only thing is you've got to catch the Ding so my daughter and I stay tuned.....and May isn't opened up yet.....and you've got to have some flexibility in your flight times.....I've seen enough non-stops to suit though....

What is a Ding?

 

[bicker]

Ding is a promotion from Southwest... they have you install some software on your computer and it channels specific offers to you.

 

[dzneelvr]

We go in June and I buy airfare in January and don't look back. Now is a bit early. Never had any trouble getting 4 seats yet.

 

[byoung]

beezerdave check out Southwest you will not be disapointed.We fly from Philly a lot usually end up paying $49 or less.

 

[Laurajean1014]

We fly out of BDL, NEW or NYC. My DH and I set a standard. No way pay over $200.

However, we are going Easter Week and the airfare is around $600 per person. So, we decided to book USA3000 out of Newark for $209, instead of playing the SWA game.

Last year, I checked three times a day for SWA airfare. I missed the best flights by about an hour. They were available for about 1 hour and 10 minutes.....

It's worth the $9 not to do that again.

Hope this helps you.

 

[ioneblair]

just go to Southwest and you'll see the Ding download link under the Travel Tools.....it was worth it for me and I know everyone that gets a Ding fare does a

I've seen various Dings open to November 18th, December 3rd, January 9th and February 3rd so far.....if you decide to do Ding May probably won't be open for booking until sometime in February.....but check on it starting Dec-Jan (though I think that this will be too early).....when Southwest opens their bookings dates to May def the Dings will come for those flights....

even if you miss the Ding on SW you can usually get a reg discount flight PHL-MCO-PHL for about $79 each way.....without really trying.....

 

[beezerdave]

Thanks all! I will definately look into SW and the Ding-erator.