How far ahead do you purchase your plane tix?

[momshark]

We are planning another trip for Thanksgiving and I'm wondering how far ahead I should buy my tickets. Are they less expensive the longer out you buy them? Or do the prices drop as you get closer to the date?

 

[hegs65]

We purchased our tickets in early Feb for our Nov/Dec trip. It has been my experience that the closer you get, the more expensive they get-plus, you have a better choice of departure/return times. We like to go earlt and come back late. Now having said that, I purchased my tickets directly thru Delta because I had a credit. You may get a better deal at travelocity or Orbitz etc. I check the prices every couple of weeks and the prices have not changed at all.

 

[momshark]

Thanks! I think I'll buy this week just to be safe.

 

[mrslur]

We bought ours in early April for the first week in Dec. Our fares have already gone up over $50 each. You may want to hold out for SWA dates to be released like so many others are doing.

 

[Msslaydbug]

We are looking now for our December trip this year ! This trip was a spur of the moment and we bought our tickets for this May trip in Febuary.

 

[bscs]

We are only going in Feb 2006 and have already purched are tickets. The prices have already gone up since we bought them. The main thing is get a flight with times and the amount of stops you can live with. In the past we have gone without paying attention to the number stops only focoused on price and it was horrible rushing through airports over and over. We bought ours through a travel agent he was the same price as on the net. But with him we felt safer and if we run into problems we have someone to call. It's worth going to see one after doing your homework. Good Luck

 

[Puffy2]

It used to be that the deals didn't come out until about 3 months prior. Now for some reason, at least Airtran, has released flight schedules through about the end of the year AND I've seen good sale fares already for that time period, although not advertised sale fares.

What I did was check dates for the dates I wanted in Nov. - then I compared those fares being offered to what is being offered now, two months from now, three months, etc.... That way, you will know a good fare when you see it. For instance, Atlanta to Orlando was $119 each way, it dropped just this week to $79 each way and because airfares have increased, I think that's about as low as it will go (it used to be I could get it for 69$ or even 59$)

Hope that helps.

 

[mom22boys]

We have our reservations at AKL for November, but I haven't quite been able to bring myself to purchase the plane tickets yet! I keep wondering will prices go down?!? I have tried the other posters suggestion with Airtran and have also found flights at $79 one way. I thought that price sounded pretty good, but had heard of their flights dropping to $59 and sometimes even $49. I am thinking about just purchasing the tickets now so that we get the times and flights (non-stop is the only way to go for us!) that we want.

Happy planning!

 

[smilingmouse]

I just bought tickets for my Sept. trip to WDW and my Nov. trip to DL three days ago....

Hope this helps

 

[Michelina]

There's a thread on the Transportation Board right now talking about flights for November:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=752169

Hope that helps

 

[mongobites]

I buy my ticket about 3 or 4 months before I leave.

 

[homedad]

we bought our airfare for our October trip in January, I have checked the carrier(spirit) and prices are up almost $60 a ticket and some of the non-stop options are gone. Good luck!

 

[bytheblood]

As soon as they became available. It was the best thing I could have done! $178 each. I have seen them dance from $230, $250, $300, $500, back to $250, $350, $400 and now they are around $580. Crazy. DFW to MCO - round-trip, non-stop aboard AA.

 

[golfgal]

In my experience, flights are less expensive about a month before you go. When we started planning out trip in Dec for this May, flights were about $270+ (but the flights for Jan were about $150 to as low as $104 RT). We just bought our tickets last week for $160 RT from Minneapolis to MCO. If you look at travel stats, the least expensive tickets are at about 21 days out to about 14 days out. The most expensive are from about 14 days to day of travel.

 

[Tissa]

We are going in June and I bought our tickets in November. The prices have only gone up since then. I just don't want to play the hold out for better prices game. Sometimes you win but sometimes you loose.

 

[OKW Lover]

We are planning another trip for Thanksgiving and I'm wondering how far ahead I should buy my tickets. Are they less expensive the longer out you buy them? Or do the prices drop as you get closer to the date?

I buy anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months ahead.

In answer to your last two questions - yes they do both.

Now to make this all useful to you:
Start watching prices right now so you get an idea of what they normally run. Continue to watch prices until you spot one that is in the right range. Buy then.

 

[nluvwithmickey]

We bought our tickets for our July-Aug trip in late January...

We paid 180.00 round trip from Burlington, Vermont with Jetblue. To us it's a real bargain considering how much we paid for our previous trips. I'm too ashamed to even give you the amount....

 

[disney's daughter]

I already have ours for our February 2006 trip....It's a matter of "budgeting"...getting things paid up front for the trip as much as possible...AND..the tickets have gone up since I purchased them.

 

[All Aboard]

What golfgal mentions is often correct, but it's not always the case. Our upcoming trip from MIA to LAX is a good example. I started pricing it in late January, getting fares in the neighborhood of $270. When it dipped down to $230 in February, I bought. Now, about three weeks out, our flight is selling for $360. Out of curiousity, I've periodically checked and have not seen the $230 fare since.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

I started planning in January as soon as we got home from WDW. At that time flights from DFW-MCO on American, non-stop for the times and dates we wanted were $632 total for the three of us.

Our dates have now changed three times, so it's a darn good thing I didn't buy the tickets already!

But I have learned that the longer you wait, the low-fare seats for the flights sell out and you end up getting flights with earlier and earlier departure times out of MCO. A flight that went at 9:44 AM was being offered at a lower fare, but it has now jumped in price and the lower fare is going at 8:15 AM. Leaving the resort at 5 AM isn't fun. Been there, done that.

DH swears he will find out tomorrow FOR SURE what dates he can take vacation, then we are booking. The same tickets we were looking at in January for $632 are now up to $722 (the most recent jump was last week - on Monday they were $692, by Friday they were $722).

I have signed up for e-mail notices from Travelocity. They have some fares from DFW-MCO for $163 but you have to complete travel by early June and you have to fly on Tuesday or Wednesday. I'm not willing to gamble that there will be lower fares later, and we can't travel mid-week, so for me it is worth it to go ahead and buy as soon as we have our dates in stone.

Beware if you think you may change dates. American has a $100 per ticket change fee, AND you have to pay the difference in the fares if they have gone up. Good luck!!