Flight in Dec

[bakalorber]

Should I buy the tickets now or wait and see if they go down. Flying Southwest from BWI (balt) on 12-12 till 12-16.
I have ding but is has only "dung" sept dates so far?
I know about the whole credit it they go down but just wanted to put less on my card at once.

 

[Cherokeezebra]

Have the same problems for some clients of mine trying to get there the first week of December. They will probably be limited to American (maybe AirTrans) and the prices are outrageously high since April. I'm encouraging them to wait until after Labor Day to see what happens with prices, but I'm nervous for them at this point.

 

[toniosmom]

We fly JetBlue out of Newark and I bought the tickets the day they opened their schedule. I have found that for JetBlue, their prices only go up lately. Sometimes they have last-minute deals, but availability is limited. I wouldn't count on it for a vacation I have already booked.....maybe a last minute trip at best.

 

[Cee]

I'm going the first week in Nov. and I just went ahead and booked my flight with US Air for $222 round trip. It's a non-stop flight and I was also concerned that if I waited, it would only go up. I usually pay less than $200 but I those days may be gone. *sigh*

 

[ChiSoxKeith]

I dunno, I would book now and not worry.

I have yet to receive a chicago to orlando ding.

I booked my first week december flights on soutwhest for about $225 a person roundtrip and counted myself lucky I guess.

 

[dbs1228]

I always waited for SW fares (and found they go and down on a weekly basis so if you do book them check them quite often!) This year on a fluke I checked Delta for Dec 10 - 15 Hartford Ct - Orlando direct non-stop and got 159.00 R/t including taxes, I jumped on that one! Doubt SW will come close to that! I learned to check all airlines for every trip.

 

[Alexander]

I booked our tickets back in April and May (booked down and then booked coming back seperate). We are going over the holidays (Dec.17 to Dec.31) and the prices have skyrocketed since I booked ours. Our flight down (ROC to MCO) on AirTran was $74/person, a few weeks after I booked it, it was $283/person and hasn't come down. The best flights I could find home were JAX to ROC ($79/person) so I booked them because I was afraid of those also going really high. Flights out of MCO were never lower than almost $200/person which is why I looked to JAX.

 

[kbeam]

I check the fares everyday (we're going 12/18-12/26), and they are incredibly high. I'm still holding out. Last year, we booked in October for 12/23-12/26 and got a great rate. Also, farewatcher.com says that rates usually start looking better 3-4 months before the travel dates.

 

[Robo-Daddy 3000]

When I see a fare that I am happy with, I like to jump on it and book it right then and there. I don't like to wait and hope that fares will decrease.

 

[HebeJebe]

I'm also looking to book early December out of BWI and haven't bought yet either. I've found AirTran to be cheaper than Southwest lately when it used to be the reverse.

 

[kbeam]

I'm hoping this guy is right:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38308877/ns/travel-travel_tips/

 

[woohooo]

It looks like you can get tickets for your dates through Southwest for $184. This is the price in the "Wanna get away" column. There are departing and return flights for only $92 each way.
I bought tickets right away when they opened the December flights on Southwest about a month ago. I was able to get $150 roundtrip from Columbus to Orlando for a trip in Dec from 15th-20th. I think that's a pretty decent price.

 

[taylor3297]

When the December flights came out for Southwest back in June, I went ahead and booked our flights. Our flight going down was $109 when I booked and that same flight is now $128. The return flight is the same as of now.

 

[ChiSoxKeith]

When December opened up on SWA, my flight to and fro were $112 each way.

The same flights are now $133 and $150. So I've saved myself $58 per ticket (x3) for a total savings of $174 so far.

There are still some flights on my dates of travel at $112 each way still, but I would lose a day in the parks with the return flight and would have to fly the early AM red eye on the way there........neither of which I really want to do.

 

[ToddyLu]

I booked our tickets with SW out of New Orleans this past Fri night. Our trip is 11/30-12/10. I got them for $106 each way direct to MCO. One flight jusmped to $115 so when I saw the $106 again I got them. We also use the Early bird. Seems like last year they were around $95 each way. 3, round trip tickets for $700 ( not including early bird...not bad). There were no direct flights or cheaper rates within a 150 mile radius form New Orleans to Pensacola, FL for us, and I have been checking almost daily for 2 months.

 

[Cherokeezebra]

American is still $325-400 early December from DFW. With the exception of AirTrans one VERY early flight out and one late flight back, American has the only non-stops (preferred when traveling with babies). Still crossing fingers.

 

[arthur06]

Im looking for MSP to Orlando for Dec 4th to 11th... The best I have found is Delta and that is over 300 RT! I'm not good with that, since there are 7 of us!

 

[M&C]

I check the fares everyday (we're going 12/18-12/26), and they are incredibly high. I'm still holding out. Last year, we booked in October for 12/23-12/26 and got a great rate. Also, farewatcher.com says that rates usually start looking better 3-4 months before the travel dates.

We're looking around the same dates as you kbeam. We're thinking 12/18 or 19 and back 12/28-30. I checked today and the lowest I can find for 4 is $1670 from SAN. I'm getting worried. I tried getting into farewatcher.com but couldn't. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[kbeam]

We're looking around the same dates as you kbeam. We're thinking 12/18 or 19 and back 12/28-30. I checked today and the lowest I can find for 4 is $1670 from SAN. I'm getting worried. I tried getting into farewatcher.com but couldn't. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

I'm holding out until August, September. Farecompare.com (not Farewatcher!!!...SORRY!!!) says that fares typically go down 3-4 months before the travel dates. And last year, we got a great rate for the same week, bought in October. I'm not jumping the gun just yet. Here is the info taken from farecompare.com:

Don’t Shop Too Early or Too Late

Did you know that you can actually shop too early for airline tickets?

It turns out airlines don’t start releasing cheaper seats until 3-4 months before departure for domestic travel and conversely 4-5 months before international travel. Our When-to-Buy SM airline ticket guide, walks you through the details.

Good luck!

 

[Tink_lover900]

We just bought our tics thru Airtran last week on wed. We will be flying out on Dec 12 and flying back Dec 17th. We have been watching the flights and they finally came back down quite a bit. Was $102.00 per person one way and we got it for $80.00 per person one way. And the next day our flight was sold out at that rate!! Glad we got it when we did!! I also saw where Southwest had lowered theirs to the same rate as Airtran, they was at $102 also and went down to $80.00. Good luck!!