Book now for October flights?

[lvdis]

Planning a trip to Anaheim in October and I've found flights out of our small local airport for $295 per person with 1 stop (1 1/2 layover) with United. At this point it is the best deal around. I've checked all surrounding airports.

My question is; should I buy now, and have only a 10 minute drive to the airport, or wait and see what Southwest has to offer for nonstop flights when they release those dates in March? It would mean driving 2 hours to the major airport to use Southwest. I'm not sure if the price would be better or not, but the nonstop option is nice.

Opinions? Thanks!

 

[chicagodisneyguy]

What airport are you departing from? Also, are you looking at flying into LAX or SNA? While I never book this far out unless using miles, if flying into SNA that is probably not a terrible price. If you need to cancel for any reason, would you be comfortable having a voucher?

 

[lvdis]

Flying into SNA. If we wait to see options on Southwest flights we would be flying out of STL.

 

[_19disnA]

Lots of older threads on this topic. Also there isn't anyone who can predict how long it will take the airline industry to get back to normal since no one can say when covid will be behind us. Airlines typically sell the best connections, lowest priced and/or non-stop seats first, then the fare jumps to the next higher category. Airlines offer discounts to help fill airplanes. If flights are filled selling regular priced seats, they may never offer a discount between certain cities they service.

Only you can determine if you would be happy paying a higher price or traveling at a less then optimal time of the day in the event you can't find lower fares later in the year.

 

[chicagodisneyguy]

I would try plugging your departure city into Google flights. You can see the the cheapest price for everyday of the year. You can then kinda gauge what is the bottom of the market. If it's anywhere near $295 I'd probably buy them. If prices closer to today are a lot lower I would guess your flights will decrease in price.

I personally wouldn't drive two hours just to get the non-stop unless you have SW points. United hubs shouldn't have too many weather issues in October.

I would set up a Google flight alert for your dates. It's an amazing free tool that will send you an email if your flights move (up or down).

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I'd wait until the day Southwest fares are released (March 3), and then book on that day even if you're back to the airline you're considering now. At that point you're still 7 months ahead of the flight, the odds that your price will have gone up dramatically in that time are slim.

 

[kydisneyfans]

Dates and whether schools have fall break in your area will make that call easier. Columbus Day(whatever it's called now) weekend is heavy travel to theme parks. I never buy a flight before SW releases for the time period though.

 

[lvdis]

Thanks to everyone who has responded!

Maybe a better question to ask is; "how have Southwest prices been when they are first released? Looking at all the dates that are available from them right now, it wouldn't save us much to go that route, especially when you figure in the drive and parking costs. Curious if SW fares are still at their lowest on release date. It seems like that how it was in years past.

 

[Darcy03231]

Overall, Southwest has no longer been the least expensive flight option for us anymore. We used to fly them almost exclusively, but in recent years have found that Delta, American and JetBlue are usually less expensive, offer more non-stop flights, and have better flight times.

I'm all about convenience so if the local convenient airport had a price I could live with I'd book and not look back.

 

[sam_gordon]

I would try plugging your departure city into Google flights. You can see the the cheapest price for everyday of the year.

How do you do that? I've seen google chart a specific flight, but I only get that starting when I request it.

 

[gharter]

It really depends on the size of the airport and the number of flights available at that airport. In our case, unless we want to drive 1-4 hours, we have 1 flight out in the morning. Generally flight prices are cheapest, the earliest we book. If we lived near a major airport, waiting for a sale certainly makes sense.

 

[Sunnywho]

On Southwest we found that Long Beach was the cheapest airport in the area.