Christmas Flight Advice?

[BabsBunny]

Hi all.

We booked AKV for 12/22 to 12/27/13. There are four of us. Does anyone have any advice whether it's better to book early for holiday trips? We have only flown once during the holidays and that was a package trip to London through Virgin.

We fly out of Syracuse which is notoriously expensive--especially during school breaks. We always fly JetBlue, because it's the only direct, and we are members of their FF program. But, they won't release our dates for possibly another four months, and I'm guessing they will start at least $300 each way.

Right now I can get United (one stop) with really decent times for $405 pp. (I could get $340 if we wanted to leave MCO at 8:00 am, but no thanks to that. lol.) That's not a bad price for SYR/MCO. But I'm hesitant to book so early.

I'd like to avoid driving to another city. I just don't want the added stress of that. And I'd like to avoid driving down, because it's such a long trip.

Any advice? TIA.

 

[Jestocost]

Hi all.

We booked AKV for 12/22 to 12/27/13. There are four of us. Does anyone have any advice whether it's better to book early for holiday trips? We have only flown once during the holidays and that was a package trip to London through Virgin.

We fly out of Syracuse which is notoriously expensive--especially during school breaks. We always fly JetBlue, because it's the only direct, and we are members of their FF program. But, they won't release our dates for possibly another four months, and I'm guessing they will start at least $300 each way.

Right now I can get United (one stop) with really decent times for $405 pp. (I could get $340 if we wanted to leave MCO at 8:00 am, but no thanks to that. lol.) That's not a bad price for SYR/MCO. But I'm hesitant to book so early.

I'd like to avoid driving to another city. I just don't want the added stress of that. And I'd like to avoid driving down, because it's such a long trip.

Any advice? TIA.

For holiday travel I would book as soon as you can, Fares are rarely--if ever--discounted and flights can fill up quickly.

That said, with United there's a good chance that if you book this far out that there will be one or more schedule changes between now and next Christmas. That could be a few minutes one way or another for any given leg, it could be a more significant time change (that might make your connections no longer viable) or they could drop entire flights. Yes, you should be able to get a full refund if there's a significant change, but then you're back to square one.

 

[rwdavis2]

For holiday travel I would book as soon as you can, Fares are rarely--if ever--discounted and flights can fill up quickly.

That said, with United there's a good chance that if you book this far out that there will be one or more schedule changes between now and next Christmas. That could be a few minutes one way or another for any given leg, it could be a more significant time change (that might make your connections no longer viable) or they could drop entire flights. Yes, you should be able to get a full refund if there's a significant change, but then you're back to square one.

This has been our experienced with United as well. We had about 2-3 schedule changes on our June trip last year. Nothing major but you have to pay attention and check the ressies every so often.

 

[Greysword]

I have a couple thoughts to share.

First, when I am ready to buy airfare, I wait for a price that is decent (personal opinion) at a time that is good for our family (also personal opinion), then when the convergence comes together, I'll book it. If that convergence is here for you now, then you are in a sweet spot.

Second, your travel dates are quite some time in the future, thus you still have time. Bing travel has a neat indicator on the website as to when the best time to buy flights would be (wait, buy now, too late), but it doesn't even begin tracking until six months out. I think the prices on the legacy carriers will likely hold for a while (few months) as we draw closer to the holidays. As such, you likely don't need to worry (price wise) at this early time.

In the end if you see a good price at a decent schedule on an airline you can live with, then get the check in the"to-do" column. Otherwise, I don't think you'll be harmed by waiting a couple months (closer to the six month mark).

Caveat: legacy airlines have a pretty hefty change fee ($150), and many tickets are non-refundable.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

We travelled this past Christmas on similar dates to yours. We flew out on December 23 and home on December 30.

We priced Syracuse, Buffalo and Toronto. We normally fly from Syracuse but prices were higher over the holiday season than Buffalo. Toronto, as usual, was stupidly expensive. So we saved ourselves some cash and flew from Buffalo instead (cost difference was $400 for the three of us).

We paid $150 pp via Airtran from BUF-MCO, and $205 pp from MCO-BUF via Jetblue (so $355 pp total). Both flights were non-stop. Flights were purchased in early July.

For our upcoming August trip (as well as last August, and January 2012), Syracuse has been cheaper for us than Buffalo. Don't know why Christmas was so much higher.

We are big fans of Jetblue, and non-stop flights are a must for us (as we aren't very good flyers), so that limits our options quite a bit. Far as our Jetblue fares have gone, we have never had one go down after purchasing (and trust me, we have watched like hawks). Our Airtran was purchased originally at $170 and went down $20 pp to $150 (for which we were issued a credit) but the Jetblue fares? They rose steadily and consistently to our travel date.

 

[BabsBunny]

Thanks for your responses.

Gina, we love JB as well. We have their AmEx, personal and business, so we can usually get a free flight once or twice a year. A couple years ago we booked roundtrip for the four of us over February break. Prices actually did go down an we ended up with a $700+ credit. I love that direct, and I"m tempted to wait for them to release our dates. I especially love the direct in winter. We can get a foot of snow in Syracuse, and you know your direct will still get out. If our connection cities get an inch or two, you are talking about a major travel connundrum.

We've driven the 2.5 hours to BUF to save a few bucks, but it's so nice to drive 15 minutes to the airport. lol.

 

[dsneprincess]

We also love JetBlue's nonstop out of Syracuse. We have used it the past 3 President's Day weeks for darn close to the SW Buffalo fares or AT Rochester fares. Not this year. Don't want to be a downer, but they started out at twice the price & have risen steadily. We will be making a trek, but we pay one way or another for nonstop. We also take into consideration that Syracuse, Buffalo & Rochester will be flying through most anything & that we know we can make it home by car once we land somewhere. Good luck finding the fare you want! I wish we had because we will miss our tvs!