How far in advance to book flights?

[visitingapril09]

We are heading to WDW next March 2011. It is spring break here.........how far in advance would you book flights???

 

[Ted in Halifax]

My choice of timing always depends on Prie ... if i see the price I want I buy it early

 

[GrtWtNorth]

Prices do vary. Generally, I find cheapest prices 6-2 months in advance.

However, if you want to use points to fly for "free", you should book ASAP.

 

[dis_guy]

My choice of timing always depends on Prie ... if i see the price I want I buy it early

I agree, especially for a busy time like Christmas and Spring Break season.

For our last trip, I booked in Feb for our Dec 21 flights. I just happened to get a good price on United flights booked through aircanada.com. I kept checking and never did see a better price at any time leading up to our vacation.

My DW and I are going in mid-Nov and since it's not a peak travel time, I may just wait until Aug-Sept for some better deals. Right now there are some great prices for May-June, so I'm hoping this trend will continue through to the fall.

Regardless, check often and be ready to snap up any deals that *you* are comfortable with and think represent good value to you.

 

[Melmac]

I always book when a price comes up that I am comfortable paying for the times I want. Once I get an idea of when we want to go, my DH (who is the official price-watcher of flights) will watch them daily. When they come down enough for him to think it is a good deal (read: he is super-cheap), we book. We have already booked for our trip in October because we got RT non-stop Delta flights from Detroit for $130! However, for our trip last September, we waited until August as this is when the prices dropped. However, we have gotten burned by waiting too late - the best times were gone and we ended up paying more for crappy times. I think this may be the case when booking at popular vacation times, i.e. Christmas or March Break. I don't think there is a formula - just keep an eye out on the flights and book when you are okay with the price!

 

[tgropp]

I agree that if you travel during Christmas or March Break that early is better. We usually travel to WDW during the Christmas season and I ALWAYS find the best deals before the end of March....same with a car rental. As soon as the seats/cars start selling, the price goes up. Consider flying out of the states at that time of year. The savings are unreal. We got tickets flying out of Detroit in the morning on the 19'th of Dec and returning from Fort Lauderdale on the 30'th for $323.00 canadian.

 

[DeniseinNS]

I started watching flights last September for our trip that we just took in March. The cheapest prices were at the end of November and they went up again after that.

 

[tgropp]

I agree that if you travel during Christmas or March Break that early is better. We usually travel to WDW during the Christmas season and I ALWAYS find the best deals before the end of March....same with a car rental. As soon as the seats/cars start selling, the price goes up. Consider flying out of the states at that time of year. The savings are unreal. We got tickets flying out of Detroit in the morning on the 19'th of Dec and returning from Fort Lauderdale on the 30'th for $323.00 canadian.

Actually I just checked the same flights that I booked woth Delta and the fares have risen from $323.00 to over $400.00 in less than 6 weeks

 

[Cdn Gal]

We're booking now for March Break- but this time we're going to Texas. I'm really curious about the Texan 'culture.'

 

[disneymath]

Not sure who you usually fly with, but my best advice is to start checking as soon as you can and check back often - and don't feel you need to by "return flights" all at the same time.

I started pricing our upcoming August flights back in November. Air Canada had them at about $220 (each way, before all the crazy taxes and fees). By fluke one day I checked again and the RETURN leg of our flight was listed at $89 (with a party of 8, that is big time savings, so I bought that leg right then and there). The outgoing leg didn't seem to be coming donw and then WestJet had it for $169 (plus all their taxes) ... so we jumped on that. (In retrospect, we should have held out longer as the WestJet flight was on sale for $72 just a few weeks later.

So, in a nutshell, it's a gamble. Start early to increase your chances of finding a deal. If the prices seem to start climbing, you may want to buy them.

 

[braddillman]

My family of 5 has already booked flights for Feb 2011. We got 4 tix from aeroplan, paid for 5th. You can book them 355 days in advance, but they only release seats 1 at a time, so we had to wait a couple of weeks.

But I want to tell you, it's such a treat to have the flights booked and KNOW that you're going, and when. I have a little countdown timer on my computer, too.

The general principle I've seen on booking early is to understand cancellation and change fees. Then, if a better deal comes along reserve that and cancel the old one, or pay to have the old deal changed to the new one. It doesn't work so well for flights, better for rental cars and hotels.

 

[aristocat65]

There's really no sure bet, but I have also noticed good fares about 5 months out, and they seem to edge up at the 4 month mark. They can then go down for seat sales at the 3-2 month mark. Crazyh.

Someone here said don't think you have to buy return fares, and that is good advice. Alaska Airlines now will credit you back the difference if your flight goes down, so you could book your outgoing leg and if the prices go down you can apply the credits to the purchase of your return leg. (Hope that makes sense) I am really glad they do this now as it takes some of the stress out of getting the best fare.

Good Luck!

 

[noelk]

There's really no sure bet, but I have also noticed good fares about 5 months out, and they seem to edge up at the 4 month mark. They can then go down for seat sales at the 3-2 month mark. Crazyh.

Someone here said don't think you have to buy return fares, and that is good advice. Alaska Airlines now will credit you back the difference if your flight goes down, so you could book your outgoing leg and if the prices go down you can apply the credits to the purchase of your return leg. (Hope that makes sense) I am really glad they do this now as it takes some of the stress out of getting the best fare.

Good Luck!

Yup...our most recent trip to Florida in March 2010 was bought as two one-way trips. WestJet was cheaper going down...Air Canada was cheaper for the return.

 

[papertraveller]

I have started watching the Buffalo fares very closely. My general guideline is based on the regular fares that AC and WJA charge for that run - with taxes all-in, it's around $700 per person. If I can get our family of three to Orlando for that total, I buy.

 

[LuvMyEAR]

I read on one travel advice site or another that you may get almost optimal prices, along with best flight and seat selection about 11 months before your travel. Being the compulsive planner that I am, I start watching for airfare the moement we agree on vacation dates. I did find the 11 month timeframe to work for us. Booked our Nov flights in Jan, and with the exception of the ocassional fabulous "last minute, limited seat sale" our ticket prices were very reasonable. As we were co-ordinating 6 travellers, involving 4 working adults, last minute plans just don't work for us! DH has to book his vacation dates in November for the following year.

 

[BELLEDOZER]

I would continue to check the airlines that you want to fly with website on a regular basis for seat sales. I ended up getting return flights from YVR to LAX for $79.00CDN each way for my October trip to DL. I saved over $300CDN by waiting for a seat sale (in fact I wasn't going to travel on my solo trip till next year but the flights were so cheap that I sweet talked DH into it).