Flights sales? and when to book?

[mxkris]

We're going May 2017 for our honeymoon and I rarely fly. Interested in ways your watch for deals. Are their certain sites that can alert you, and if so, which are best? Also, how far in advance should we get tickets? If there a time frame where they're cheaper?!

TIA!!

 

[GeneralTso]

Sign up for flight alerts on Kayak. It's very helpful. Join the loyalty program at your favorite airline, they email fare sales all the time.

 

[NovemberPapa3]

You'll be fine in May, that's considered low season. You may see alot of Japanese tourists because of Golden Week but other than that it won't be that bad. Anything in April or later is generally slow season, so basically you're safe visiting in summer because of the drop in prices.

Source: Me (and to a lesser extent my baby brother who works for Hawaiian Airlines). Born and raised in Hawaii but now living in California

 

[cmph]

My travel agent (and other travel sources I read) have been baffled about air fares lately. Fuel costs went down, but air fares didn't join them! We booked ours more than 6 months out, which is NOT our norm. However, we wanted a nonstop from Phoenix to Honolulu on American (not recommending American, it's just that we have long-standing FF accounts and will use the mileage in the future), and the particular flight out that I wanted only had 5 seats remaining at the cheapest fare. I have a family of 4. So that was that! If you aren't as picky as I was in needing a particular airline and really wanting a certain flight, and you only have 2 people... you have lots of time to keep an eye on airfares and get familiar with what they normally cost.

 

[nkereina]

We booked last November for our trip this September. We booked with a national travel agent who I assume I'm not allowed to mention here, and they were able to offer a fare slightly below the published ones I had seen online. We booked with Delta. I just recently checked our flights to see what the fares are currently and they have gone up quite significantly!

 

[cedricandsophie]

We are at Aulani now. Four of us flew from Chicsgo nonstop to Honolulu on United for about 800 each. I bought six months ago. We have been here four years in a row and this is abut the average fare we have paid. Last year was a little lower. The year before was higher. I would suggst Yu sign up for alerts on the online travel sites. But personally I wuld nevr buy a ticket from them. I always buy from the Airline directly since you always have more control if you have to deal directly with the airline if there is a problem than if you have to go thru an online travel agency. We always fly United but that's because I have premium status, get fre bags for everyone, get TSA Precheck, etc.

 

[NovemberPapa3]

We booked last November for our trip this September. We booked with a national travel agent who I assume I'm not allowed to mention here, and they were able to offer a fare slightly below the published ones I had seen online. We booked with Delta. I just recently checked our flights to see what the fares are currently and they have gone up quite significantly!

Legacy carriers like Delta/United etc are always going to be a bit jumpy in price.