Airline prices, best strategy?

[Lago]

My next trip is Sept 2016 with 7 people. Airline prices do go up and down sometimes after the airlines releases their schedules. Do you get the first available tickets after they are released or do you wait and hope you can catch a price drop? Does anyone have any insider knowledge or special strategies to get the best possible fares?

 

[Cyrano]

This is not Theme Park Planning so I have moved it to the best apparent fit ... Transportation board.
Alternatively the main Community or Budget boards might have posters who can offer a view

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

When the tickets are first release. This morning SWA release their next set of flight dates for my trip and I got tickets for $250 r/t one hour later the same flights were and still are $600 r/t. Oh and with SWA if the price changes you can change your ticket for free and get a refund in the form of a travel voucher good for one year after you purchased the original ticket.


OP if you had 8 people traveling you can get group discount tickets. You just have to call the airline to purchase them. We got a 20% with SWA two summers ago when we traveled with 8 people

 

[rwdavis2]

There are no insider strategies. Prices are set and vary by demand. The more people want to fly somewhere the higher the price goes.

 

[magicaldisney]

Some say that Tuesdays are the best days to check for prices to drop. I've not found that, but I'll try anything!

 

[dis_guy]

Here's what I do:

1. Find out what a good fare for your trip is. Use a fare app or see if the airline's site has a fare calendar.

2. Typically for the legacy (United et al) airlines, the fare will come down to this level (or near it) a few weeks after coming onto the schedule. After that there is no pattern.

3. Check often and at odd times of the day if you can. I once got killer fares at 1 AM.

4. When you see a fare you can live with buy it.

5. Stop looking at fares for your trip. Good advice but I do don't follow it.

6. Forget everything everyone has ever told you about getting good fares. The game changes so fast, you just never know what prices will do. For example, it's expensive to fly to WDW over Christmas. Used to be true for our flights but right now very low prices can be found from our airport on United, in fact the lowest I've ever seen for Christmas week.

Good luck!

 

[MammerJammer]

Also:

Although Tuesdays are good for sales, the best day(s) to consistently get good prices are on weekends, moreso on Sunday than on a Saturday. CEOs come in on Mondays and hike prices up, but by Tuesday afternoon, they're looking at trying to fill seats as corporate travellers most likely already booked on Monday. The weekends also don't get much corporate action because no one is in the office booking travel.


So, if you want to book Tuesday, aim for the afternoon. Also, booking at least 2 months in advance gets you the best price for domestic.

Worst days to buy travel, Mondays, Fridays and Thursdays.


Best days Sundays, Saturdays and then Tuesday afternoons.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

....
Best days Sundays, Saturdays and then Tuesday afternoons.

I disagree. Sunday is usually an expensive travel day.

OP, you won't be able to buy airfare for September 2016 until the end of October 2015 (for legacy airlines, longer for "discount" airlines). Use this time to watch fares for this September, so you have a comparison point.

 

[mggeary]

How big a group do you need to qualify for group sales discounts on SW and JB? We are a party of 7 and never thought of this angle.

 

[wdwrich]

I disagree. Sunday is usually an expensive travel day.

They aren't referring to the travel day. Rather they are talking about ticket purchase day. A recent published study found weekends to offer the best prices for purchasing tickets.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

You need 8 people to get a group discount at SWA

How big a group do you need to qualify for group sales discounts on SW and JB? We are a party of 7 and never thought of this angle.

 

[MammerJammer]

They aren't referring to the travel day. Rather they are talking about ticket purchase day. A recent published study found weekends to offer the best prices for purchasing tickets.

Thank you! That's what I meant. Day you purchase tickets--not days you're flying.