Airplane Tickets

[cavem915]

How soon should I buy flight tickets for 4? Our 3 night cruise is at the end April 2018. Is there a better month, day of the week, to purchase tickets? I would like to get them before the holidays. Thank you.

 

[MUN]

I fly Southwest a lot and I like to purchase tickets as soon as their window opens for my travel dates.

MUN

 

[FigmentSpark]

April 2017 would have been a perfect time.

I believe Southwest will be adding more dates past March 7th on July 27, if the rumours are correct. Jet Blue added their March dates last week. Not sure how far into the future they went though.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

I also fly SW as often as possible and purchase as soon as their dates open.

 

[reimero]

If you fly Southwest, early can be good. If you fly any other airline, I strongly suggest waiting. There is no "perfect" time, but prices tend to move more once you're within 3 months. A lot of people suggest buying at 21 days. Personally, Southwest notwithstanding, I'd recommend not buying prior to your PIF date. Why not?
1. Airline tickets are usually nonrefundable, and carry hefty change fees. Plans can and do change, and a lot can happen between now and next April. If something happens and you can't take the cruise, you're still on the hook for those plane tickets.
2. Airline prices fluctuate more the closer you get to departure. I would definitely not want to cut it closer than 14 days, but if you're looking to save money, purchasing inside of 3 months out will give you a better chance at a deal.
3. Many airlines offer "fare sales" and other discounts periodically. You'll want to be free to jump on those, especially since they often require travel within 3 months of the sale.

But do remember that once you've purchased your airplane tickets, unless you've paid a premium for refundable tickets, you're on the hook for those tickets. Even a one-day change can incur substantial penalties.

 

[reimero]

April 2017 would have been a perfect time.

I believe Southwest will be adding more dates past March 7th on July 27, if the rumours are correct. Jet Blue added their March dates last week. Not sure how far into the future they went though.

I'm not sure how Southwest and JetBlue do their scheduling, but most other carriers schedule 330 days out.

 

[MUN]

If you fly Southwest, early can be good. If you fly any other airline, I strongly suggest waiting. There is no "perfect" time, but prices tend to move more once you're within 3 months. A lot of people suggest buying at 21 days. Personally, Southwest notwithstanding, I'd recommend not buying prior to your PIF date. Why not?
1. Airline tickets are usually nonrefundable, and carry hefty change fees. Plans can and do change, and a lot can happen between now and next April. If something happens and you can't take the cruise, you're still on the hook for those plane tickets.
2. Airline prices fluctuate more the closer you get to departure. I would definitely not want to cut it closer than 14 days, but if you're looking to save money, purchasing inside of 3 months out will give you a better chance at a deal.
3. Many airlines offer "fare sales" and other discounts periodically. You'll want to be free to jump on those, especially since they often require travel within 3 months of the sale.

But do remember that once you've purchased your airplane tickets, unless you've paid a premium for refundable tickets, you're on the hook for those tickets. Even a one-day change can incur substantial penalties.

Your advice would have cost us a ton of extra money for our cruise out of Copenhagen in June. We purchased our tickets the day they were available and watched the prices soar (on our carrier and others) as the trip got closer.

 

[LYSE]

When I actually pay for flights I like using Kayak's advice (tells if if prices are likely to go up or down)

For award flights I book as soon as what I'm looking for comes up.

 

[RedStars]

Are you flying near a holiday or spring break time? If not, you have more flexibility.
I would check them out as soon as they list. Then go from there. Jet blue typical doesn't go down in price so I buy them when they open up.

 

[reimero]

Your advice would have cost us a ton of extra money for our cruise out of Copenhagen in June. We purchased our tickets the day they were available and watched the prices soar (on our carrier and others) as the trip got closer.

It was a different trip to Europe, but I had exactly the opposite experience: tickets dropped from $1250 to $800 to $520.

 

[cavem915]

We're flying from BWI to MCO and our two best options are American or Delta. I'll just keep checking. The price did go down today about $40.00 each from last week. Thank you all for the suggestions.

 

[Budzooka]

I usually fly Southwest and book as soon as it comes out. I then keep an eye on it and exchange fares for a credit that expires in 12 months if it decreases in price. It usually only goes up, but will go down occasionally.

 

[Oregongram]

I booked flights with Delta a couple days ago for a June 1, 2018 double dip on Dream. Not may airline choices where I live. Small airport for props and small jets. Delta price had best departure and arrival time and cost significantly less. I got a good price compared to last year. Is it the lowest? Maybe not, but now I can check Book Flights off my to-do list. I used Hopper app to watch prices.

 

[bumbershoot]

Your advice would have cost us a ton of extra money for our cruise out of Copenhagen in June. We purchased our tickets the day they were available and watched the prices soar (on our carrier and others) as the trip got closer.

It could have easily gone the other way.

Dh travels at the last minute often, and has gotten some amazing deals even to Australia by buying inside of 2 weeks. Whereas most people buy very early for that.

 

[MUN]

It could have easily gone the other way.

Dh travels at the last minute often, and has gotten some amazing deals even to Australia by buying inside of 2 weeks. Whereas most people buy very early for that.

I don't think waiting to the last minute to book 5 tickets to Copenhagen is a very good plan.

 

[olookasquirrel]

I usually fly Southwest and book as soon as it comes out. I then keep an eye on it and exchange fares for a credit that expires in 12 months if it decreases in price. It usually only goes up, but will go down occasionally.

If you pay with Southwest points, you get the points refunded as well, not just a credit. I waited until SW had a points sale that came to about what I would pay cash (so $1 worth of points got me ~$1 worth of flights -it takes some math, but SW is great about cash and points being consistent, so that helps). This was especially great as we were a big group, so I was able to cancel a couple people who couldn't go last minute and lost $10 instead of their whole tickets, get refunded the points when flights went down, and was even able to switch airports to change who was flying when!

I had to fly American due to schedules a few weeks ago and I hated it. I know some people don't like the cattle call seating, but I liked American's "pay us an extra $50 or risk not sitting next to your toddler" seating style even less!!

We're flying from BWI to MCO and our two best options are American or Delta. I'll just keep checking. The price did go down today about $40.00 each from last week. Thank you all for the suggestions.

BWI is a SW hub - I double checked but they definitely have many non-stops to MCO every day. I know schedules are fickle but SW doesn't show up on any flight search engines, you have to go to their website. Wanted to mention just in case, some people don't know about that!

 

[dalidoodle]

It used to be that statistically they'd say 57 days before your flight was the best day. The big carriers Delta, American etc. typically finalize flight schedules about 60 days out. There's nothing more frustrating than finding the perfect flight 6 months in advance and then 60 days before flight getting the dreaded rescheduling email that almost always has worse flights that what you hoped for. Definitely best to wait until at least PIF date.

 

[tlprice]

If you're flying around Christmas I'd book early. I booked my cruise for December in May and most of Southwest's cheapest tickets for my trip were already sold out for my days. I just booked with Frontier as soon as they opened up (I know a lot of people hate Frontier) and it was much cheaper than what was left on Southwest (even including paying for luggage) and I fly out of Colorado Springs and don't have to worry about driving to Denver in possible snow storms in December. I booked my flights to San Juan, Puerto Rico the day they opened up. I would now pay almost $1000 more per ticket if I'd waited. Now I'm looking for trips to Europe. They are just opening up and are really expensive. I might have to wait on those.

 

[hanscarlet]

We waited until South West booking window opened last year and the flights we needed were sold out almost immediately with not a lot of affordable choices left.... so instead we just booked AA and probably would have saved about $150-$200 if we had not waited.... this year we're booking AA now for our May 2018 cruise and not waiting until SW window in the fall

 

[bumbershoot]

I don't think waiting to the last minute to book 5 tickets to Copenhagen is a very good plan.

Mun, you are overreading into what reimero and I are saying. There is NO magic bullet for flights. There is NO absolute. You do what you do, and you hope for the best.

If you've booked a flight with SW or Alaska, feel free to check back for drops b/c they give you credit with no fee.

If you've booked a flight with another carrier, just know that a drop in price will only be granted with a fairly high fee.

So if you book early, don't check back (most of the time). If you are booking late, maybe it'll work, maybe it won't.

reimero's advice wasn't advice; it was experience. As is DH's. Your experience is opposite theirs. They are all experiences, and not necessarily advice. I mean, if I took your experience as "advice" it would have COST extra money for DH's work when going to Australia (a few times now), and likely would have cost us money following him on a work trip to Ireland and England booking about a month out