Airline Price Increase

[Dis Ohana]

On our last trip we were bumped off our flight, in compensation we were given free ticket vouchers towards a flight anywhere that Continental flies. This is the only reason we decided to plan this trip to Orlando, otherwise it's just too expensive for us to fly that far. For the past two weeks I've been planning a wonderful vacation, I looked up flights and the vouchers would have covered all but $400 of airfare for the 4 of us. I booked the hotels I wanted, we were all set to go. Last night I went to book the flights, and the price had doubled! I still can't believe it. I'm in too deep now, I've been reading these boards for weeks now and I'm so excited.

So my question to you seasoned travelers is this: I'm booking for a December flight, do the prices generally go up as it gets closer, or does it go down? I'm not sure if I should just go ahead with this or will they change the price again?

 

[dopeyfanatic]

I've been asking similar questions, and you're going to get half the people saying to wait, and half are going to tell you to book now. It really depends on what you feel comfortable paying. And if you do book, don't go back ever again and look at it in case it did go down, so you don't feel bad. However if you were given vouchers, why are they not covering the flight? Were they only for a certain amount of money and not an actual flight?

 

[Dis Ohana]

The vouchers had a dollar value, it would typically cover the cost of a flight from Honolulu to LAX - which is where we received it. Since we had the vouchers, and since we've never been any further than the west coast, I thought it would be the ideal opportunity go there. I've never really looked into flying to Orlando until now. It still seems to be a good price, much less than I had thought it would be.

 

[Geoff_M]

I'll give you my general observations on the matter. From my experience with December travel here's what I've seen:
1) Schedules are released 300+ days in advance by the airlines with some cheap fares that are quickly snapped up.
2) For several months the fares available are fairly high.
3) During the early Summer, as people start to generally plan Holiday travel the airlines will start to lower fares. Some of this is often a parity reaction to other airlines like SW finally releasing their flights for December.
4) Once the planes start to fill-up, cheaper fare start to get harder to find on "attractive" flights (non-stop and/or popular times of day).

When we last flew in December, we bought in late June or early July. Afterwards, the fare did come down about $30 for a period of time.

However, all if this totally discounts any major swings in fuel costs (either up or down) or other business factors.

 

[Darcy03231]

A lot depends on when in December you'll be traveling. If you're going during Christmas week, airfare tends to be high then no matter when you book. If you're going earlier in the month I would keep checking. Last time I booked for December I booked in late August/early September and got a great rate.

 

[kkmauch]

I booked flights for a December vacation at the last minute...I booked them in November and I was able to find a great deal. Of course, it meant a lay-over in Chicago on the way home, but I was willing to sit for an hour and a half to save the extra money. As it turned out, my mom and I ended up running to catch our flight out of Chicago as we left MCO late.

You cannot predict the future, no one on these boards can. If it's an amount you are comfortable paying and everything about the flights works with your schedule and preferences, book them. Could they go down, of course. But, you'll feel much more at ease once you have the flights all booked.

 

[Dis Ohana]

Good advice all around. I think I'll just book so I can stop thinking about it, then not look back. If I hadn't seen the super low fare offered just a few days ago I'd actually be very happy with this price. I'm just kicking myself for not booking it sooner!