Airfare going UPPPP......

[patches-4]

Checked the website last night about 12:00 and again this morning about 9:30 and they had gone up. I was one of those waiting for the prices to go back down, guess my luck didn't hold out. So I guess I'll book the higher price because I think they will go up more before they come down and we leave the end of June. Oh Well

 

[4nana]

patches-4..
Yes I've been noticing the same thing. To get the schedule,etc. you want, I would not hesitate if I need them for June. We need our group for Dec., but I've heard from several directions to wait until after July 4 for lower prices. Hopefully we'll both get lucky

 

[Tay N Evie's Mom]

One tip I read a while back about airfare is to wait until 12am Wednesday morning-the airlines reload all the unsold seats at that time and usually start any new deals at that time. I stayed up once and waited and I ended up saving $20 a ticket. I'd wait until about 10 minutes after midnight in order for the new prices to hit the computers. I kept reloading my itinerary on Orbitz until it changed. Hope it works for you. Southwest always does thier new deals on Tues-Thurs and Spirit Air does their cyber specials on Fri-Sun. You may want to check the airlines specific websites to see when they offer their weekly cyber specials.

Don't give up yet. We're cruising May 11 and I was checking the airfare daily for 3 months and was about to give up on any good prices and book-that's when Southwest introduced their Friends Fly Free offer. It saved us $200. Patience is the key (pixie dust too-LOL).

 

[tksbaskets]

Never being one to hedge my bets I booked our tickets for Christmas yesterday for 241 round trip each (Detroit to Orlando) I didn't want to take a chance of paying twice that. That will probably make the rates go down for the rest of you you can thank me later!

Months to go now, not years!

 

[Dave_from_Marietta]

...because airlines usually raise their fares after business hours on Friday. They hope that the other airlines will match the fare increase over the weekend. If the other airlines don't match the fare increase, the first airline quietly rescinds the fare increase before the start of normal business hours on Monday. But if you bought the higher fare over the weekend, you're stuck with it.

 

[pgesler]

I live in Ohio

Columbus to Orlando (SouthWest Air) roundtrip w/tax for 4 is $568.00 which is up ~ $25.00 but.......

Detroit to Orlando (NorthWest) complete w/tax non-stop is $136.50 each. To me thats great.


I'm checking for early June 2002.

Too bad I'm not cruising till 6/2003.

I went to the airline web sites to get the quotes.

 

[AnnMorin]

We are cruising Dec.7th, flying in on the 6th. My husband said we should not look until six months ahead, last year we got a good deal for the same time frame in July. Which days are best to look for delta or southwest? This is all so confusing-however thanks to you experts I am saving a bundle- bringing the two bottles of wine this time- savings of 90.00, bringing the 2 twelve packs of soda savings of about 30.00 by the time I'm done picking up your hints our airfare will be paid for in savings!!! Ann

 

[patches-4]

Being one that only flies 1-2 times a year I have a question, if you book you flights, say with Delta, and the price does come down will they issue you a credit voucher or something for the difference? I'm going to Atlanta middle of July so could use it on that flight. Thanks

 

[Rootee]

I have had some experience with buying airline tickets due to my daughter going to college halfway across the country and also my husband doing substantial travel for business.

I have found that you can get a great deal of information on what is a good fare by signing up for a free "fare watcher" on travelocity.com. You enter in your departure airport and your arrival airport. They will tell you what is the current best deal. Then they will send you an automatic e-mail whenever that fare goes up or down by $25. The fare does go up AND down frequently - oftentimes by a substantial amount.

After you do this for some weeks, you will begin to know what is a real bargain or not a real bargain. When you see a good price you can jump on it right then. Occasionally there is a "glitch" that releases incredible fares into the system for just a few hours. My family was able to spend Christmas with my daughter for $117 each round trip (Hartford to Minneapolis!! Over Christmas!!). I saw that pop up in an e-mail notice from Travelocity and I moved on it immediately. About 3 hours later I got a notice that it was back to the $300+ range. But we were already ticketed and paid for, so we paid the lower price.

For our cruise in August, I will start seriously watching the fares around the 2nd week of June, although I already have fare-watch for Orlando going on all the time. Unless something spectacular crops up, I will not buy tickets before then I feel if you purchase too far in advance you will be paying a premium. It's sort of like a poker game - know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em! Hold until you see a great fare, then jump!

I have also saved literally thousands by using Hotwire.com. As an example: We flew from Hartford to Orange County (Disneyland) last summer for $177/ea roundtrip!! The only thing to consider with Hotwire is that you will not know the time of either flight until you purchase. However, if you are in a situation that you can arrive at least the day before the cruise and are staying at least another day in Florida after the cruise, the savings can be substantial.

Also, don't forget to check the individual airlines' websites, especially Southwest's. Sometimes there are savings on these that even Travelocity and Hotwire can't beat.

Hope this helps someone

Ruth

 

[patches-4]

Dave, If your airline is one of the cheapest prices will it continue to go up then to match the price from the others? Would I be better off going on and booking the slightly higher price or what and take my chances of it going down? With everything going on with the gas prices will they continue to be on the rise?

 

[catts5]

Patches 4... I bought airfare last year from Delta. Some time later they had a lower price and I got a voucher for the difference. You can only use vouchers for direct phone ressies with Delta. You can not use them for the internet prices. Internet prices are always lower. Any way, for our cruise this Sept., I ended up buying from Orbitz (us air) for much cheaper than what Delta was offering even with the vouchers. I bought tickets on line for $177 per person coming from Seattle. I bought mine on a Sunday evening. So, I have four credit vouchers from Delta that will be thrown away. THey are only good for a year from date of purchase and are non transferable. Good Luck getting your airfare!!