How soon do you...?

[Once.Upon.A.Time]

Book your airfare (if flying)? Do you book it once you are planning your vacation or do you wait out prices or book a certain amount of time in advance?

Thank you!

 

[fly girl]

Start by looking at Google flights. They have an indicator telling you if fares are lower, average, or higher than normal.

I am particular to one airline, so once I see where it lies on fare gauge, I will watch by logging on to their website daily. Yes, I look daily … sometimes more than once a day. I have found great rates from the beginning of planning, and others I waited it out for weeks/months to get the good deal.

 

[scrappinginontario]

We always fly with Southwest the day they release fares for our trip. It ensures we have flights and since there is no charge for changes, we can secure lower prices if/when they come up and then apply those credits to a future flight.

 

[_19disnA]

If flying around a holiday that involves lots of others traveling (i.e. Thanksgiving/Christmas/etc.) there is a big advantage to booking as soon as you have finalized your travel plans. Best flights (non-stop, desireable travel times, lowest price) book up first and there is no incentive for airlines to offer discounts when all of the seats will already be filled.

There are lots of older threads where people have various opinions about purchasing tickets for other travel times. What city your fly from as well as where you are going makes a difference. If you travel from a large hub airport serviced by many airlines, they typically have more competition particularly if traveling to a popular vacation destination. If you fly out of a small regional airport, you may only have one (or a few) airlines to choose from. With any of these, when the lowest priced tickets for a given flight are sold, the fare jumps to the next higher category.

If you want a non-stop flight at a certain time of day, waiting/hoping for a sale that never happens could mean you have to do some trade-offs to select from the remaining options.

 

[disny_luvr]

We fly SW, so I usually book it shortly after they release their fares. I seldom book it on the day they release them because I’m usually working (I teach so no time to check throughout the day), plus I like to check with my DH to get his opinion, too. It usually takes me a few days to figure things out and then I book. Prices do tend to drop at some point, but we don’t mind getting a credit and/or points back because we know we’ll just use them for our next trip.

 

[Once.Upon.A.Time]

Thanks for the replies everyone. It’s interesting to see everyone’s take on it. If prices drop with Delta can you apply for an ecredit?

 

[beccasmom]

We wait a little bit of time before we book, but not last minute for sure. For our August (next Friday) trip and our November trip, we booked DVC in February and bought airfare in April. We fly American almost exclusively now because SWA now has very few non-stop flights from PHL and American offers quite a few.

 

[Donald Duck Family]

We just booked our airfare this morning for our trip next June. I really only did it this far out because I was using my Marriott rewards points to pay for the flight. Our budget was counting on getting the airfare for free through my rewards so we wanted to make sure we didn't miss out if availability for redemptions is limited. We also knew that we want non-stop, the airline (United), and time of day (early morning to MCO and late afternoon from MCO). We already knew the flights that met our criteria so waiting didn't seem to be in our best interest.

While there is a chance that the times will change over the next 10 months, hopefully the changes won't be too significant.

 

[sam_gordon]

Thanks for the replies everyone. It’s interesting to see everyone’s take on it. If prices drop with Delta can you apply for an ecredit?

Yes. Delta has gone to "no change fees" for flights, so if prices drop, you should be able to either get a credit or refund (not sure which).

I start stalking airfare as part of the planning. We're taking a family trip next July, and started planning back in February. Of course tickets for next year weren't available (and still aren't), but I set up a Google Flight tracker for this July so I can get an idea of pricing. Prices ranged from $199 two months before the trip to $418. I don't know that I have the guts to wait until two months before the trip, especially since there's eight of us.

Once flights are available to track for next year, I'll set up tracking on those. But now I know if I see a price that's ~$225 RT each, while it might go lower, it's a decent price.

 

[EACarlson]

Thanks for the replies everyone. It’s interesting to see everyone’s take on it. If prices drop with Delta can you apply for an ecredit?

Yes, I have a friend that is booked MCO-MSP for October, his flight started at $500, it is now down to $230. He has $270 in ecredits to use in the next few months. Downside to ecredits with Delta is that they have to be used within one year of the first booking. He booked this in April, he has to use those credits until April.

SW credits do not expire so with them or with any points booking, I book as soon as I know I'm going to go. My trip down to meet my friend in October started at 28,000 points on SW, I got it down to 16,000. Those 12,000 went right back into my account to use for my January trip, possibly.

 

[easyas123]

We just booked air for a trip at the end of January last night - for the past few months we thought we'd be driving (from MD) due to work obligations on the way down in NC. That changed - we looked at saw SW had flights for $217 ea. non stop and hello - that's a decent price - especially when considering we usually overnight somewhere on the way down and way home. So we booked.

 

[jimmymc]

I book Delta as soon as the trip is booked. They offer credits if the price drops, and I have decent status with them.

 

[RedHead0186]

As soon as I know I'm traveling, or as soon as flights open up (on Southwest). As PP said, since you can change your flight on SW and get a credit back with no fee, it's a no brainer.

I don't fly other airlines often, but I would still probably book the flights as soon as I know I'm traveling. I'm a planner and would want to get those squared away once I've got my trip planned.

 

[Once.Upon.A.Time]

Thanks for the replies everyone!

 

[pindecisive]

We just booked our airfare this morning for our trip next June. I really only did it this far out because I was using my Marriott rewards points to pay for the flight. Our budget was counting on getting the airfare for free through my rewards so we wanted to make sure we didn't miss out if availability for redemptions is limited. We also knew that we want non-stop, the airline (United), and time of day (early morning to MCO and late afternoon from MCO). We already knew the flights that met our criteria so waiting didn't seem to be in our best interest.

While there is a chance that the times will change over the next 10 months, hopefully the changes won't be too significant.

Same same.

We don't pay for our domestic flights or our Swan Reserve hotel at WDW, so we book everything at the same time as early as possible (ie, as soon as we have the points/miles).

If you're looking at next year, apply for the United or Southwest card and the Marriott card. It really does make a difference if your only costs are the Disney tickets, Uber, and food.

I generally prefer to do DL for the day to avoid paying out of pocket for our hotel since we like to stay onsite for EE on multiple day trips. I've considered just using points for a maingate hotel but I hate everything about the walk down Harbor. Maybe the experience is better than I recall and the Courtyard at the main entrance is amazing, but at this point we're 'stay for a night onsite' or 'fly in at 9am and fly out at 5pm' people.

I have someone's core memory in my brain - my 6th grade teacher, whose mother woke her and her sister up and surprised them with a trip to Disney, bags already packed, get in the car we're going. It was one of her most precious memories.

DH and I are all about banking points, so someday I hope to do that for my kid. Hey, you had a really bad day yesterday? I booked it at 5am, we're going to Disney, let's go!