How soon to book airfare?

[CAlvarez]

How soon before trip is it suggested to book airfare? For the lowest rates

 

[TwiddleDeeTwiddleDum]

Someone recently posted a link to an article about this topic, I'm sorry I don't recall the specifics but I do recall the overview was varied opinions. How's that for being helpful

Kidding aside, there is a school of thought that feels the best deals occur closer to your planned departure, again, I'm sorry I don't remember but I'm thinking it was around 8-3 weeks prior to leaving. That was when they felt the airlines would offer the best deals to get the flights filled &/or TA's would offer discounted deals.

On the flip side, if said flights are filled and you wait too long, then due to basic supply & demand, you're going to see the fewer available seats rise in price.

Bottom line there's really no magical way to know. I can say from my personal experience, I start checking fares when I'm in the planning stages to get an idea of what it would cost if I booked today. Then I keep an eye on it for a couple days or even weeks to see if it moves up or down. Iwill check prices on both TA's and direct from the airlines, and before booking I'll even check with Disney to see if they can do even better.

Once I finalize my dates, when I see a flight that fits into what I feel is fair &/or on a flight or airline I want, then I book. I generally prefer to book direct with the airline because I feel I have more control over my reservation.

The hard part is once you take the plunge, if you book a non-transferable or changable fare, and the price drops, you feel like but if the price increase, then it's

Good luck

 

[sam_gordon]

Yup. There is no "magic" time. Someone posted an article that said "six weeks" is the magic time. When that came out, I did some checking on a generic flight from my home airport to MCO...

Just for grins, I decided to test this... six weeks out from today is 3/14.
RT from my home airport (LEX) to MCO with a return 1 week later:

Depart 2/22 (3 weeks)
Airtran: $197
Delta: $219
United: $286
Continental: $396

Depart 3/14 (6 weeks)
Airtran: $199
Delta: $219
United: $265
Continental: $265

Depart 3/21 (7 weeks)
Airtran: $197
Delta: $253
United: $254
Continental: $310

Depart 4/11 (10 weeks)
Airtran: $207
Delta: $219
United: $253
Continental: $278

Depart 5/16 (15 weeks)
Airtran: $197
Delta: $219
United: $261
Continental: $261

So the prices at 15 weeks out are slightly better than 6 weeks out. The prices at 3, 7, and 10 weeks are better for some and worse for others.

All prices are using Travelocity (because they'll give me a summary of multiple airlines). You might get better prices by going direct to the airline.

The bottom line is there is NO magic time. Our last flight (June of 2011) I booked ~320 days out. Prices NEVER got as low as they did when I booked.

As has been mentioned, keep an eye on prices, book when you're comfortable, and know it's a gamble. You can book today and prices drop like a rock tomorrow. You can NOT book today and prices skyrocket tomorrow (and don't come down). If you're going to be upset if prices go down after you book, don't look again (unless you're booking SW or JetBlue(?) where you can get credit).

 

[kandb]

I think if the prices seem good, you should just book the flights. Don't think's there's a definete time when is the best, it probably has a lot to do if it is a popular time to travel as well. Jetblue just released their flights yesterday to orlando and I got $116 each way from New york. They might go down but I booked right away since I thought the price was decent. Good luck

 

[dis_guy]

I think if the prices seem good, you should just book the flights. Good luck

I think this is the best advice, especially if you have to travel during peak times like Christmas break.

Last year we made the decision to go to Disney for Christmas late in February. By early March, prices were already going up a little each time I checked so I decided to buy our tickets then.

Those prices just kept going up right up until each flight was full. We added my sister in November and literally paid twice what we paid in March!

We're not going back this Christmas, but I've watched prices anyway and they hit their lowest value about 2-3 weeks after the fares came out (UAL/CON) and guess what? They've been going up slowly but steadily since then.

So, if you see something the seems OK to you, book it and forget about it. Yeah you'll check anyway, but at least you'll have your seats secured!

Happy planning!