how far in advance to book flight?

[melindaandrob]

How far in advance do you book your flights? Wait too long and you may not get a flight, book too early and you pay more?!

 

[DebbieB]

It's all a gamble! Once you are positive about your dates, start watching for fares. If you see one that is reasonable and the flights you want, I would take it and get it over with. We are going next month and I saw the flights we wanted last fall for $205. I thought they would go down, we paid $168 in December. So I waited. Those flights skyrocketed to $750! I checked it everyday and it bounced between $750 and $310. I was kicking myself for not booking it last fall. Then one night in February, it dropped to $183 (have no idea why). I grabbed it! I may have saved $22 x 2, but it wasn't worth the aggravation of checking it everyday.

 

[blossombrd]

I have the same question - should I book now or wait. I'm going in December. I have been watching for a couple weeks and fares have been inching up for about a week. The cheapest right now is AirTran Airways if I book directly through the airline on-line. In fact, its cheaper than going through expedia or besftfares. I called bestfares today and a $188 Delta fare actually costs $263.50 with all the fees. And a $178 AirTran fare costs $273. I guess different airlines have different fees. (lots of fees since 9/11).

So I went to the AirTran site and found a round trip fare without taxes and fees for $165. With taxes and fees, it will be $206. I'm thinking I should book it tonight. I'm debating whether to get a non-stop flight for $20 more - last week it was the same price as one stop. I would have to leave Disney about 1:00 instead of 4:00

Am I making a good choice going with AirTran? Really wanted to go with Delta. Anyone have any problems with AirTran?

 

[zulaya]

BOOK NOW! All the airlines are increasing fares, if they haven't already. Airtran has mixed reviews. Some love it, some hate it. I can't fly it direct so I avoid it. Do a search on this board and you'll come up with some info...I do think that there was one person on here who used to work for them and said she'd never fly them. I think they are your typical no-frills airline.

Delta...I hear that Delta is late...alot! If you have any connections or really lke to be on time, you might want to avoid them. Maybe check the flights you want and check and see how on time they are before booking.