Book flight asap or wait til Mon/Tues? Travel Dec 18th

[paisleybell]

We're going to US 12/18 and are needing one way flights down..
Unfortunately we cannot fly out until after 6p, which makes it more costly than if we could fly out earlier in the day..

So, there is a $415/person flight from Delta that I can book now. So thats $880 including two checked bags for two people!! For one way.

So, if I wait until this coming Mon/Tues, anyone think there's any chance of the price having gone down a little?

I'm sure we should have booked this all a while ago, but the trip itself was just turning into a plan a few days ago..

For a few different reasons, our return flight is already booked separately (2 of us are flying out, then 1 of us flying out, and all three flying back together.)

Thanks for any advice amazing disboarders!

 

[rwdavis2]

There's no way to tell. It's all supply and demand and rates change multiple times a day.

 

[paisleybell]

Hmm.. I figured as much, but I didn't know if since we're flying out Dec 18th, if it's just to close to christmas for us to find lower fares 6-7 weeks out..

Unfortunately, I am 15k miles short for a United flight for the two of us.. I can buy the 15k miles for $525 though.. So maybe I'll consider that route.

 

[rwdavis2]

Hmm.. I figured as much, but I didn't know if since we're flying out Dec 18th, if it's just to close to christmas for us to find lower fares 6-7 weeks out..

Unfortunately, I am 15k miles short for a United flight for the two of us.. I can buy the 15k miles for $525 though.. So maybe I'll consider that route.

The problem with using miles is that there's no guarantee that any mileage seats are left.

 

[dancemonkey]

Christmas. I wouldn't wait.

 

[goofy4tink]

I know some have had luck booking at the 7 week mark. But I've had little success. I book as soon as I can. Then I watch the fares to see what they do. Sure sometimes they come down in price, but most of the time they go up...a lot.

 

[paisleybell]

The problem with using miles is that there's no guarantee that any mileage seats are left.

Luckily, the united card is somewhat good to people, as long as there are regular seats left on the plane, I'm allowed to use my miles.

 

[paisleybell]

Christmas. I wouldn't wait.

That is what I'm thinking... but $1200+ roundtrip for two people just hurts...

 

[fairy oma]

I would not wait, We have flown to VA at Christmas time and we have very rarely seen a reduction in fares to such a degree that it saved us more than $25-35 per ticket...we have always felt that peace of mind was worth the money. You should also consider that a huge majority of schools, at least in the midwest will be out of school for Christmas break at the same time so flights are iffy.

 

[dis_guy]

Tough one. If I was going on a legacy carrier (Delta, United, etc) I'd have booked long before now. If you can live with the price, grab it. December is not far away and the 18 is certainly close enough to Christmas to be in demand.

 

[greenclan67]

I am flying buf to TPA on the 18 for $117 on southwest.

 

[kydisneyfans]

You didn't state where you were flying from. I have been searching rates for that weekend for a trip elsewhere and prices have been all over the board. The legacy carriers went up over the past few weeks, but SW has dropped to the lowest price I've seen yet. As a rule, I never book a non refundable flight on the weekend, I wait until Tuesday.

 

[paisleybell]

You didn't state where you were flying from. I have been searching rates for that weekend for a trip elsewhere and prices have been all over the board. The legacy carriers went up over the past few weeks, but SW has dropped to the lowest price I've seen yet. As a rule, I never book a non refundable flight on the weekend, I wait until Tuesday.

We're flying CVG. No southwest here..
We could go up to DAY but southwest didn't have any flights after 6p.
Their regular legacy carrier flights weren't priced much, if any, less. Certainly not enough to make the hassle worth it though. So, ultimately, CVG it is.

 

[paisleybell]

Well apparently united flights went waaay down for during the day! buuuut anything after 5-6 is still way up there.. bummer.

 

[mrscoobs]

I know its a drive up but Columbus (CMH) has a nonstop flight at 10pm getting in at 1220am for $207 per person on Southwest

 

[paisleybell]

Just wanted to say, officially, fares did not go down yesterday or today! They didn't really go up either, but they definitely didn't go down.

On Saturday, some of the United flights went waaaaay down, I could have booked one way tickets for two of us for like $283 I think? But it was a 3p something flight and I wasn't able to get leaving work early okay'd until Monday.. Booo

I'm going to keep watching a little bit, I think. Right now, I could book a 5p flight for $654 including one checked bag each. I'd love to get it closer to $400... :-/

It seems the earliest I'll be able to book is 3pm from cvg or 4pm from day.