Anyone booking December airfare yet?

[abeyst]

I've been watching airfare for the last 2 months out of Detroit, and I only see it climbing. Should I have booked 2 months ago when it was $197 r/t, or is holding out for a fare war a good idea?

When do the December prices usually drop?

 

[mkymouse4ever]

I booked for thanksgiving > dec 7th. Out of chicago. It had started to go up but still way cheaper than last year when I started checking in the summer. Glad I did too, it is now higher.

Its always a gamble when to book, but I think RT from O'hare @ around $200.00 is about right. And I was happy with that.

Good luck, mky

 

[ronirp]

I already booked my 12/23 to 1/1 trip. I looked for about a week and was able to find tickets for about 280 per person (Omaha-Orlando) which was about the best I could see. When I searched the airline (United) I could see that the planes from Chicago to Orlando were fairly full, so I did not want to wait. I figured that if the prices drop, I can try to get the money back in a voucher, and if not, I have the tickets that I want. Given the time frame (12/22 is a Sat., christmas time) I did not want to wait.

 

[Corwin12]

Southwest (the only NS flight from here) hasn't released flights for December yet.

 

[Charleyann]

I booked from Dec 18th - Jan. 4th for 208.00 return from Bangor, Maine! It is now a lot higher. Glad I booked in February when I did. A couple of days later and it was up higher!

Charleyann

 

[rhiannonwales]

It really seems to vary from airport to airport... i booked about 2 weeks ago for 12/11 -12/18 out of Newark NJ at 168.00 r/t. I thought it was a great deal at the time since it had be 275.00 just a few days before.Well i log back in and that same flight is now 118.00! I cant get the credit back either as the fare class changed, so to fix it would cost me 30.00 per person. Its really luk of the draw i think.

 

[loveysbydesign]

We're planning to wait for SW but I am very impatient and am thinking of booking with USA3000 since I got a code for $10.00 off each way per person.

 

[ronirp]

I thought about SW as well, and since their Ded. prices are not out yet, I checked the prices for June (thinking that both times are busy). The majority of the prices were similar to what I found with United. I think only one category was lower. Given that we are flying in the busiest time, I do not see that changing. So I went ahead and booked.

 

[n2mm]

United if offering rt nonstop out of Dulles for October-December for $169.

 

[karliebug]

I am still waiting on SW or Airtran, or Jet Blue to release Dec. dates.

 

[lisaj68]

I had been watching Cleveland or Akron to MCO for a few week and then, all the sudden, the fares went from $262 to $351 I went to bed with a pit in my stomach!!! And what makes matters worse is DH told me to purchase the tickets days ago, so I only had myself to blame.= (I hate when that happens! )

Today, the fares went down to $262 again, so I went ahead and purchased 4 of them.

And that's it! No more checking prices for me!

Lisa

 

[abeyst]

I went ahead and bought the tickets yesterday. They had the flight times I wanted on the days I wanted them, and I was "OK" with $197 r/t, so I booked them. Out of Detroit on Northwest, December 7-12.

Chances are good that prices will drop now that I already bought the tickets, but I didn't want to have to deal with the chore of checking prices everyday. In the past we could normally find cheaper rates, but it was with late evening flights to MCO and early morning flights back home. Other than my 2 kids I'm taking my sister, parents and grandparents (for a total of 8 of us) - it was important for me to have all 8 tickets at the flight times we wanted. Now I can focus 100% of my attention on the next step - dining reservations for 8 people!!

I guess it all comes down to finding the price you're comfortable with and how flexible you are with flight times and dates. Good luck to all of you - I hope you get fabulous flight times and fares!!!

 

[shoes99]

I never book this early for Dec, but I did now. I got 2 tickets on Continental out of Newark NJ for $147.30 each including tax.

 

[danny1649]

Booked NWA for December trip DW and I, RT around $400.00 total.May not be best deal but I get on and two hours later were in Orlando.

 

[tiki23]

I'm starting to get nervous...

I hadn't planned to book December airfare until June or July, now I'm thinking that I had better start looking seriously.

 

[karliebug]

SW typically release about 105 days out, which means it will be August before they release Dec. flights. I called Airtran last week and they told me that the end of this month or early April they will release December dates.

 

[horner5]

I have been religiously checking airfare since January and today I found Grand Rapids, MI nonstop to Orlando at $230 per person(which is great for Grand Rapids) for Dec 19-27. We have 5 in our family and my husband talked to the Northwest rep and she said most of the cheaper flights are already sold out from Grand Rapids (although I never saw anything cheaper than this). She also said they might add flights later. We decided to book it since we don't think we'll do any better than that (other than Chicago or maybe Detroit) and Grand Rapids is only 40 minutes away from our house. We've got the tickets, but we have 9 months to go yet!

 

[ransom]

We booked ours on United as soon as it was available. Good thing we did, too, as our return flight is now nearly booked up!

 

[tiki23]

I'm really, really getting nervous now!

Lat year I booked in March for November, and got a really good price. So far this year, I'm seeing nothing out of Seattle that looks like a deal.

I so do not want to pay double what we paid last year!

 

[GEB@okw]

I picked up a group of 10 tickets out of Flint, non stop to MCO both directions on Dec 30 and return on Jan 4 at $207.40 a person.