airfare prices

[momandkids]

how often does the airfare prices change? I don't know if i should take the lowest price now or wait. We leave Aug 21. I missed a really good deal and could kick myself. If they change weekly or every two weeks or so i might wait. I am coming from philly.

 

[CathrynRose]

What I do is this - once it's at a price I am comfortable with (Which for me is under $200 / RT from Chicago) I book it.

You don't ever know what could happen. And for me, I'd me MORE upset if I DIDN'T book and it went UP.

 

[CathrynRose]

OH - and you leave on my birthday!

 

[NancyIL]

I've watched airfares go up and down during one day on American.

 

[dominicsplace]

We are also going in Aug and have been watching flights for Jet Blue for the past month or so. They were pretty stable up to about a couple weeks ago and now seems to change almost daily. Our flight from Newark to Orlando has been as low as $119.00 and as high as $224! Fortunately with Jet Blue if your fare gets lowered they will give you a credit to your account for the difference which can be used up to one year from the credit date.

There is a good website www.yapta.com which lets you track prices of flights and will ping you an email if the price changes. You might want to check it out.

 

[princessbride6205]

Airlines like to keep you guessing, but I've picked up some general rules as I've booked travel at my job for 4 years. You want to book a minimum of 3 weeks out. At each week mark, they tend to raise the prices. Also, take a look at the seat map on the flights you want. If it's starting to fill up, better to book now. What many people don't realize is that there are a number of classes of tickets, not just coach and first class. In coach/economy, there are a number of classes - each with its own price. In most cases, once the lower price classes fill up, ticket price will rise. Of course at any time they can do a fare sale, but if I were you I would book at about 4 weeks out.
I like to use kayak.com to compare flight prices.

 

[Mom3girls]

how often does the airfare prices change? I don't know if i should take the lowest price now or wait. We leave Aug 21. I missed a really good deal and could kick myself. If they change weekly or every two weeks or so i might wait. I am coming from philly.

There is a promotion for $25 Airtran savings per person/per way. CXheck out the thread on the 2nd page of the budget board. Here's a link to the coupon:

http://airtran.com/sunshine/

 

[shopn24seven]

I think SW prices change DAILY. I would go back every day and check them out.

 

[mrstomrice]

I am in the same boat for flying from Philly. I have used kayak.com to search for prices. It does not include SW though. We got some great prices for Airtran last week by flying out of Atlantic City, especially after using the $25 off coupon, but you have to remember that you have to pay per bag and pay of you want to choose your seats ahead of time. We are planning to drive, but if a great deal comes out, we'll fly.

 

[momandkids]

OMG! Thanks everyone. Thanks for the advice to check everyday. I checked southwest today and got tickets for 59.00 one way from Baltimore to Orlando. Total cost for 4 of us 550.00

YIPEE

For the poster whose birthday is the day i leave, i hope you have a good birthday.

 

[KAMKIM]

I was told prices can change up to 3 times a day, and very often do...we were watching airfare from Buffalo to Orlando for the first week in August, in March it was $200 pp roundtrip, we waited, then it got down to $119 pp roundtrip, we waited....over night it went to $375!!!! 3 days later we booked Southwest for $140 pp roundtrip...

I was following bing travel - google it - it tells you if you should buy now or wait and what the history of those tickets has been...keeping watching we booked 4 wks before our trip so you might want to book within the next week or so if you see a good deal.

 

[Disneyfan1977]

how often does the airfare prices change? I don't know if i should take the lowest price now or wait. We leave Aug 21. I missed a really good deal and could kick myself. If they change weekly or every two weeks or so i might wait. I am coming from philly.

I waited and waited for philly to come down too and it just didn't go down low enough for our budget. I ended up booking Baltimore to Orlando for 480.00 total for our family of 4. It ended up being 49.00 per person per way on southwest and airtran.

How far are you from baltimore? We are in delaware and baltimore is a about 90 minutes from my house....

 

[clutter]

OMG! Thanks everyone. Thanks for the advice to check everyday. I checked southwest today and got tickets for 59.00 one way from Baltimore to Orlando. Total cost for 4 of us 550.00

YIPEE

For the poster whose birthday is the day i leave, i hope you have a good birthday.

Oh, good! There was a ding for $60 last night, but I didn't see your post until today.

For us, it's not worth the little bit of savings since we live 10 mins from Dulles, but we LEAVE THE SAME DAY!!! Can't wait!

 

[mikkishelles]

From my own personal experience, I have found that booking and flying out on Tuesday or Wednesdays, I get the lowest fares. I just booked five tickets to fly out on a Wednesday in September. Monday, the price was $230 {tax included} per seat. Yesterday, it was $170 {teax included} per seat. I have done this every time I book my flight-book Tuesday or Wednesday and schedule my flights to leave Tuesdays or Wednesays.

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

We are also going in Aug and have been watching flights for Jet Blue for the past month or so. They were pretty stable up to about a couple weeks ago and now seems to change almost daily. Our flight from Newark to Orlando has been as low as $119.00 and as high as $224! Fortunately with Jet Blue if your fare gets lowered they will give you a credit to your account for the difference which can be used up to one year from the credit date.

There is a good website www.yapta.com which lets you track prices of flights and will ping you an email if the price changes. You might want to check it out.

You have to pay $100 per person to do this now on JetBlue. So unless you fare goes down by $100, it's not worth it.

 

[Mom3girls]

I am in the same boat for flying from Philly. I have used kayak.com to search for prices. It does not include SW though. We got some great prices for Airtran last week by flying out of Atlantic City, especially after using the $25 off coupon, but you have to remember that you have to pay per bag and pay of you want to choose your seats ahead of time. We are planning to drive, but if a great deal comes out, we'll fly.

Did you know that you can use multiple coupons. 4 coupons for 4 people flying one way and 4 more coupons for 4 people flying on the return flight. You can also go back in and use a coupon for your seat selections. So you no longer will have to pay to choose your own seats!

 

[piglet33]

Fortunately with Jet Blue if your fare gets lowered they will give you a credit to your account for the difference which can be used up to one year from the credit date.

There is a good website www.yapta.com which lets you track prices of flights and will ping you an email if the price changes. You might want to check it out.

I LOVE JetBlue and Yapta. I had my JetBlue flights monitored by Yapta and wound up getting a $150 credit when they went down. I am now looking at going down to WDW for MNSSHP in October so I can use my credit and am monitoring flights that I haven't booked yet.

 

[piglet33]

You have to pay $100 per person to do this now on JetBlue. So unless you fare goes down by $100, it's not worth it.

No you don't. I just did this and got a $150 credit and didn't have to pay anything.

 

[piglet33]

OMG! Thanks everyone. Thanks for the advice to check everyday. I checked southwest today and got tickets for 59.00 one way from Baltimore to Orlando. Total cost for 4 of us 550.00

YIPEE

For the poster whose birthday is the day i leave, i hope you have a good birthday.

Congrats! Have a great time.

 

[panfan]

I too just did better on AirTran using the coupon. I booked this morning (very last minute) from Philly to MCO. Aug15-21. 5 people traveling and a total of $250 off Did much better this time with AirTran than Southwest and the flight times are better for us also!

Good Luck