I also am subscribed to travelocity. This gives me a good idea of what the normal fare is and what a "good" fare is.
We always travel during the first week in August and the past two years, I have found that about a month before we travel (early July) the rates have gone down substantially. But it only lasts for a few hours, so you have to be diligent and check every day, very early in the morning. Often, by the time the travelocity's e-mail got to me, the fares had already changed back to the higher amount. But when I see a low fare on one discount website, I check all the others. (Lowestfare.com, expedia, orbitz, qixo, etc.). Often the fares are within a few dollars of each other, but some sites may have better times and connections.
From where I live, the normal discounted fare (one you can get on a regular basis) is usually around $200.00 give or take $20.00.
Last year, we flew into Tampa for $89.00 RT (we were getting a rental car anyway), found on Lowestfare.com and this past August, we flew into MCO for $138.00 RT from Travelocity. I have found that both of these times, the flights were cheaper than what was listed on hotwire. But I had been looking at the fares daily, and knew that this was the lowest they had been in months and so grabbed them.
Since you have a while before your trip, check the websites daily and get an idea of what the flights are usually running. You will begin to see a pattern. Last year, in our area, it seemed that some of the airlines always discounted the lowest early on Thursday mornings. This year, it was all over the board, but usually mid to late week. But, by checking often, you should begin to get a good feel for what will be a really low price and whether you should grab it or gamble that it will go down lower later.
Hope this helps,
