Should I book now or wait?

[CMouser]

Just looked at the fares for our trip in May from pitt to orl and the wanna get away fares are $157 one way. Not sure if I should book today or do those fares
typically come down in price closer to the trip? Its a non stop flight at a good time. Thanks !

 

[rwdavis2]

If you book now you can always re-book later if they come down in price. You will get a credit to use later. In Sept. I booked r/t from BWI to MCO for about $310 and re-booked it yesterday for $245 a person.

 

[Disworldluv]

I would book now and file my airline plans with www.yapta.com. If the price drops, you will be notified of the change. You can then call the airline and ask for a credit of the difference. You will have one year to use your credit towards future airfare with the same airline. I did this with JetBlue.

 

[sam_gordon]

Just looked at the fares for our trip in May from pitt to orl and the wanna get away fares are $157 one way. Not sure if I should book today or do those fares
typically come down in price closer to the trip? Its a non stop flight at a good time. Thanks !

No one can say with any kind of certainty what air prices will do. You do have the advantage of booking with SW so that if prices do drop, you can get a credit for that drop.

However, that credit needs to be used within one year of the original booking (if you book now and the price drops in February, you need to use the credit by November 10, 2015), AND each ticketed passenger gets the credit. So if you have five tickets and the price drops by $50, each person gets $50, there's no "one lump sum" of $250 to use.

 

[farrahgirl]

book it now

 

[Missyrose]

I would book now and file my airline plans with www.yapta.com. If the price drops, you will be notified of the change. You can then call the airline and ask for a credit of the difference. You will have one year to use your credit towards future airfare with the same airline. I did this with JetBlue.

I don't think you can track Southwest fares with Yapta.com.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Based on your line that "wanna get away fares are $157 one way," I assume you're focusing on Southwest Airlines.

If you wait, the ticket price might be lower, might be higher, or might be the same.

If you buy now and you subsequently see a lower price on Southwest, you can get a Southwest credit (not a credit card credit). The credit is good for one year from when you purchased your original ticket. If you can use the credit, it's a wonderful deal because it essentially eliminates the risk that you might be paying too much if you buy now.

With the legacy carriers (United, Delta, American, US Airways), there's a $200 change fee per ticket. Even if the price goes down substantially, you usually cannot get a credit. (If the price of each ticket drops by $210, you only get a $10 credit per ticket.) If you plan to fly on a legacy carrier, it's sometimes it's worth taking the risk and waiting see if the price goes down. But that can also mean paying even more than the current price.

In general, airline tickets are going up in price as demand increases but capacity is being kept down. Also, there are fewer competitors. Soon, AirTran will be no more, except as a footnote in the history of Southwest Airlines. And the US Airways name will disappear as US Airways absorbs itself into American Airlines, which US Airways acquired.

 

[goobylal]

I don't think you can track Southwest fares with Yapta.com.

No you cannot. Just tried.

 

[DebbieB]

Just looked at the fares for our trip in May from pitt to orl and the wanna get away fares are $157 one way. Not sure if I should book today or do those fares typically come down in price closer to the trip? Its a non stop flight at a good time. Thanks !

That's about average. I live in PIT and paid $316 roundtrip for my trip last month. I watched my flights and it never came down, just went up. I booked in June. Originally the Saturday flight to Orlando I wanted didn't have any wanna get away but they showed up a couple of weeks later.