How early do you book your flight???

[littlestix]

I'm planning a trip in Oct. for myself, DS, and DM. I thought I'd check some airfares. I can get 3 roundtrip tickets from Indianapolis to Orlando for $530.00.
Seems like a great price but is it too early to book?? I haven't even decided if I want to do room only ( and look for a code) or book a package & get the dinning. Do you think the price will stay about the same?? I don't know much about airfare.

Thanks

 

[mhingher]

Buying airfare can be like gambling! Last year we started looking at flihgts for our late June trip in January...all of a sudden they were over $300 (out of Newark, NJ). We ended up flying out of Philly, it was $100 cheaper/pp. If you're buying online, I suggest you check at "odd" times... for our past 2 vacations, I ended up book at work in mid-afternoon, and when I got home the prices were high again. Example- Going to Key West at the end of September... prices were around $330... one day I checked at work around 2pm, and I got them for $250... I checked again when I got home and they were back up to $330! Similar thing happened when I was looking to book our March trip. I ended up saving about $80 pp by checking line mid-day. Don't forget to also check the airline websites, in addition to Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, etc. GOod luck!

 

[zippehsmom]

I usually buy whenever the price is right. For this trip in August I heard about Spirit having a sale (right here on the DIS transportation board), and they had our dates and times for $130. So, we jumped on this deal, and this was way back in October.

Now I'm on the hunt for airfare for December. I'll buy at $200 or less (at least that's what I'm hoping for).

zippehsmom

 

[lennyrox]

I am flying southwest air in May and got nonstop tickets for the five us for 683.00 total which is 136.00/person. I am not sure if fall prices are more. If you go to southwest's website they have different fares and we got the promotional fare of $59.00 each way. Even if we can't make our trip they would not refund our money but said they would apply it towards a future flight. After I checked on-line I called and spoke with someone in person who was really helpful. I hope this helps

 

[littlestix]

Just wanted to say thanks to those that have replied. I'm gonna check out the web site for southwest.

 

[littlestix]

Well, I'm back. Southwest is only taking reservation through June. Since our trip is in Oct. I can't fimd out how much the tickets are.

 

[ncbyrne]

We always book our flight as soon as we have our dates locked in. Once we are sure we have the flights we want, then we book the hotel. Oftentimes we book at the earliest date allowed - 330 days out for most airlines.

 

[jeankeri]

I usually book close to when the flights first come out because I prefer to travel mid-morning (9-10). Our last trip we had a 6am flight which had us leaving the house at 4am. Never again. I have already booked for our November trip, and our tickets are actually the same as our 2003 trip, and we are flying out at 10am.

 

[zippehsmom]

Well after reading this, I decided to check Spirit again for our December trip, and the rate has just dropped to $171 roundtrip. So, now I have airfare for our December trip 12/17-12/24.

zippehsmom