Flight prices and booking far in advance....

[RainbowsMist]

If you purchase tickets now for flights next March/07 and the fares go up from now til then, can they make you pay the difference when it's time to go??

I don't think they can, but I just want to make sure before we book 10 months in advance.

And should we book this far in advance? We're afraid they will go up with the price of fuel so we want to grab the seats now while the prices aren't too bad.

Thanks!

 

[Disney Crazy Debbie]

Eleven months out from your flight dates seems a bit excessive but I would start checking the prices by going to travelocity, expedia, etc. and also checking specific airlines. According to what I have read, etc., the best times to book are 6 months in advance and again 2 months in advance. That's why I would monitor the price for a few months and once you begin to see a trend and a good price comes up then I'd book. Once the ticket is paid for it is done, there should be no additional cost.

I made my ressies for WDW in May '05 for August '06 and in September '05 I began checking flight cost out of DC. The tickets were running over $200 for RT so about a month ago Ted had a RT for approximately the time I wanted for $187 so I booked. Right now I have everything paid for except meals and incidentals and of course souviners.

 

[tkldisney]

No, once your ticketed your set. However depending on which airline, if you purchase now and the price drops they will give you credit for the difference to apply to another tkt within year of orginal purchase date.
I always purchase my tkts far in advance if I know for sure we are going. With the price of fuel these days you never know whats happening. The tkts I purchased in Oct. were 226.00, today they are 895.00. They were actually 1117.00 couple of days ago.

 

[PURTYPAT1]

I always, book 330 days in advance, & I always, get the best price, ball park $200.00 round trip non stop.

Please note, I usually only travel on the busiest times, Jersey week(nov) Presidents Week(Feb) & now Thanksgiving Week.

Honestly, after I booked my trip, I have never seen any of my flights go down.

For me, if I wait, it is like playing the Russian Rullet game

My advice, is if you see a great price, "grab it"

When you travel next year, will it be Spring Break? When will you be traveling from where, & what are the prices you receiving?

Good luck

Patricia

 

[tbrenk]

Pat..I am in NJ as well. We are going Easter Week next year. I was going to book my flight as soon as they open.

Do you always book round trip or do (2) one way fares?

Which airlines out of Newark do you usually find the best deal? We like to go Continental.

 

[PURTYPAT1]

Pat..I am in NJ as well. We are going Easter Week next year. I was going to book my flight as soon as they open.

Do you always book round trip or do (2) one way fares?

Which airlines out of Newark do you usually find the best deal? We like to go Continental.

Hi tbrenk,

Where is Jersey are you???

I live in Northern Jersey, Teaneck, within minutes of the George Washington Bridge. Depending on traffic, LGA airport is closer to me (25 mins), than Newark(40 mins) I am able to choose, the flights that I want, depending on which ever has the best fares.

I booked 18 of us on "one way" fares,with CO out of Newark for Thanksgiving. It was hard, but I got the round trip one way fares for total of, a little under $200.00 with CO.(5 fo us will be coming home LGA & Delta) I booked one ways, to get this fare & I will explain to you how I did it.

Yes, if you are traveling Easter Week next year, start checking NOW with CO one way. I was able to grab our fare with CO 295 days before. For some reason, CO was not showing up, on any of the travel websites, but at CO direct website, it let me book the flight early. Start shoping now. Book one ways fares, early in the morning is good with CO showed the best fares.

I actually went on the website at 12:30 midnight, & grab the fares of 79.00 for the flight home, CO the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Please note, that a few hours after I got that fare, it went up to 199.00, & it is now, 300.00. I still can't believe I was able to get that fare. All but, 5 are coming home with CO. 5 of us, are coming home with Delta, non stop to NY LGA. I also got that fare at 79.00 also. All of our roundtrip flights were $200.00

So, if you can understand, what I wrote above, in a nut shell, my advice is for holiday fares, buy oneways tickets, shop now, shop early, & book oneways.If you can't find CO, shop LGA.

Some others, wait for Jetblue, since they fly out of EWR, I am dying to fly with them, but I am not paient enough to wait for them. I am afraid I will not get the low fares that I find, while shopping early.

Also, note, that I have gotten low fares, this year for Jersey week, I got a round trip direct flight for $125.00. I think that tit is a great fare, but again, it's not a holiday.

Hope this helps

Patricia

let us know, how you make out with your fares

 

[tbrenk]

Hi Pat, I live in Bloomingdale NJ and work in Fair Lawn, so I am not far from you at all. I have been checking Contiental and right now they are only booking outgoing flights up to 3/21/07.

I guess I am nerovus about booking the one ways. I keep thinking that I will get a great rate going and then get hit coming back and wind up paying more than I would have to start with. Make sense? Just me being paranoid.

We are going with our neighbors..there are 11 of us total. Have you ever worked with group rates on any airlines? Any savings?

 

[RainbowsMist]

We're not that familiar with what is "normal" for American air fares or what exactly is a good price...but anything has to be better than what we can fly for out of our airport.

We're in Nova Scotia and flights from Halifax to Orlando are anywhere from 3500-4100 CAD round trip for our family of 5. However, by driving to Boston and getting a Delta flight the price is 1409 CAD so when I saw that price I naturally thought "GRAB THAT"

I'd much rather drive 45 minutes to our local airport that 10+ hours to Boston..but it's a no brainer. My only thought was "will they go down even more"?

Thanks for the replies.

 

[NotUrsula]

As long as you're willing to drive from N.S., you could fly on Southwest from Manchester, NH. Not only is it closer than Boston, but the parking is cheaper.

Of course, on SWA you can't buy 11 months out. SWA only finalizes their schedule 3-4 months in advance, and they don't sell any tickets for those flights until the schedule is set.

 

[mamacatnv]

Once purchased the price is locked in. Sometime if the rates drop dramatically, you can pay the change fee and re-do them, some will refund and some will provide credit for future trips. It really depends on the airline.

I bought my tix for 12/06 in February thru Delta and they have done nothing but continue to rise in price. Even all the travel sites have gone way over what I paid in Feb.

There is always the chance they will go down, or SWA will come out with a better rate in Aug/Sept. but I was not willing to wait that long. We flew SWA last year for about $275 Rt ea, this year I got $310 RT with fewer stops and assigned seats.

 

[janets]

Also, note, that I have gotten low fares, this year for Jersey week, I got a round trip direct flight for $125.00. I think that tit is a great fare, but again, it's not a holiday.

Patricia,


We are also in NJ (western Morris County) and I've flown out of LGA and JFK often. DH prefers to go EWR but if the price is much more, I'd rather switch airports.

That said, how in the heck did you get $125/rt for Jersey week for this year? I've been looking for a while and the prices have been so high. You must have purchased almost a full year in advance. We were not sure if we were going until we were able to book our DVC accomodations (which was in December) and I haven't seen anyone but Continental have those dates open yet. I'm hoping for JetBlue out of EWR but I guess whoever has the lower fare will get my business, since I need 4 tickets. I was reading your tactics of buying and didn't know you could buy 1 way on Continental. Do you do that then wait for the other date to open up or do you find it cheaper to buy separate tickets?

Where will you be staying that week? We will be at Villas at WL as of now, but are waitlisted for Boardwalk.

 

[PURTYPAT1]

Patricia,


We are also in NJ (western Morris County) and I've flown out of LGA and JFK often. DH prefers to go EWR but if the price is much more, I'd rather switch airports.

That said, how in the heck did you get $125/rt for Jersey week for this year? I've been looking for a while and the prices have been so high. You must have purchased almost a full year in advance. We were not sure if we were going until we were able to book our DVC accomodations (which was in December) and I haven't seen anyone but Continental have those dates open yet. I'm hoping for JetBlue out of EWR but I guess whoever has the lower fare will get my business, since I need 4 tickets. I was reading your tactics of buying and didn't know you could buy 1 way on Continental. Do you do that then wait for the other date to open up or do you find it cheaper to buy separate tickets?

Where will you be staying that week? We will be at Villas at WL as of now, but are waitlisted for Boardwalk.

how in the heck did you get $125/rt for Jersey week for this year? I've been looking for a while and the prices have been so high. You must have purchased almost a full year in advance.

HI JANETS,

FOR MY JERSEY WEEK FARE, I GOT THE RATE 330 DAYS IN ADVANCE WHICH IS ONE YEAR & ONE MONTH. I SEARCHED & I WAITED FOR THE DAY TO OPEN. EVERYONE WAS CHRISTMAS SHOPPING WHILE, I WAS AIRLINE SHOPPING. LOL

I was reading your tactics of buying and didn't know you could buy 1 way on Continental.

FOR SOME STRANGE, REASON, YOU CAN PURCHASE ON CONTINENTAL'S WEB SITE, BEFORE THE 330 DAY. (I THINK IT WAS 5 DAYS BEFORE, ON THERE WEBSITE) LOOK AT THERE WEBSITE, FOR ONE-WAY FARES. YOU MUST DO THIS AFTER MIDNIGHT, OR EARLY IN THE, AM. I HAVE WATCHED THERE FARES GO UP, AS IT GETS LATER IN THE DAY.

Where will you be staying that week? We will be at Villas at WL as of now, but are waitlisted for Boardwalk

WE ARE STAYING IN THE CYPRESS POINT GRANDE VILLAS. I AM VERY EXCITED & HOPE MY DD LIKES ALL THE ACTIVES THAT ARE OFFERED.

Janets, all above, are tips, that I have learned from these boards.
I was scared the first time, I booked one way fares. More nervous about the home coming, than the out coming. The Disneyboards, were correct, & I have been booking one ways, for all my holiday fares. I must admit, I was scared, when I had to do it for 18 people.

I am very curious, to see how much Jetblue out of EWR will be charging for Nov. 2006

Let me know how you make out.

Good Luck

Patricia

 

[westjones]

We just bought our tickets for next year's spring break because the prices during that time seem to be crazy. We use to travel in September (now we have to work around school schedules), and during September it was better to wait it out for a sale or good deal. This past March the prices were high and seemed to keep getting higher! I knew someone who ended up paying $350 round trip on a connecting flight going from a Wed. to a Wed. because that was the best she could get 10 weeks out. This made it difficult because she had to take her child out of school early in order to make the trip, but everything else was much higher.

We had $200 voucher from NWA to use, so we went ahead and booked for spring break at a price of $273 (so we paid $73 per ticket after the voucher). It may go down, but we decided we could live with that price and be happy, and didn't want to chance the prices going up as high as they did this year.

This will be the last time we do this. We are going on the Disney Cruise, but going on the cruise really locks you into time frames. After this year, we are going to just go to WDW where we can adjust our days that we stay to the airfares (if Friday is cheaper than Saturday we leave early, if Sunday is cheaper we will go a day later, etc.).

DJ