When Do You Book Air Travel?

[momtosam]

How far out from a trip do you start looking into booking airfare? Is there an optimal time frame or do you just rely on luck?

 

[Nancy F]

I'm waiting for Airtran to post their flights for Dec. I make sure I get the flight I want that way. I like to take the 7:00 AM flight from Philly so I have a full day in DW when we arrive. I'll be up the morning before to upgrade to business right at the 24hr mark. Coming home is harder cause we take a late flight out (again to take advantage of our last day) so we are usually at dinner or on our way out the night before. But I bought a laptop to travel with so we can do the on line upgrade while in DW. Had my brother do it for me one year and wound up almost sitting in 27F. I was going to kill him for messing up my seating. LOL. Lucky for him I was able to upgrade at the airport. We go twice a year and stay Fri. to Weds. so every minute counts. LOL
Nancy

 

[momtosam]

I'm waiting for Airtran to post their flights for Dec. I make sure I get the flight I want that way. I like to take the 7:00 AM flight from Philly so I have a full day in DW when we arrive. I'll be up the morning before to upgrade to business right at the 24hr mark. Coming home is harder cause we take a late flight out (again to take advantage of our last day) so we are usually at dinner or on our way out the night before. But I bought a laptop to travel with so we can do the on line upgrade while in DW. Had my brother do it for me one year and wound up almost sitting in 27F. I was going to kill him for messing up my seating. LOL. Lucky for him I was able to upgrade at the airport. We go twice a year and stay Fri. to Weds. so every minute counts. LOL
Nancy

Tell me more about the business upgrade. Cost??

 

[beansmom]

we purchased our air this morning for our october trip because we wanted to be able to get the same flight with friends and to sit across from each other. We got about as good a deal as we ever get so we're happy.

 

[DMickey28]

We are going in December and going to start looking for airfare in about two months. Mostly that's $$ related though. I don't want to start looking now and be stuck with great flights that I really can't quite afford yet!

 

[Nancy F]

Tell me more about the business upgrade. Cost??

Off hand I'd say it was $50.00 to $60.00. Can't remember. But I think it's well worth it. We had one trip that we couldn't upgrade at the desk because they had cancelled one of the morning flights. Now I always do it on line 24 hours before. I hate to sit in the back. And the seats are bigger in business.
Nancy

 

[Sinderelly]

I am waiting (patiently) on Southwest to release fares for November.

 

[PiperPizzaz]

I usually fly Southwest or Airtran and SWA seems to be right at 2 mos out but, not any less and Airtrain maybe around 2 1/2-3 months out. That is just my experience. I have often had credits when I booked too early and then found it cheaper.

 

[susieQzee]

I booked through CheapAir.com way back in October for our upcoming June trip (8 months in advance). It seemed like so long to wait, at that time, but I'm so glad I booked then. Similar flights/times are now going for almost $300 more (total, 2 RT tickets). Call me warped and sick, but I get a thrill seeing similar flights costing a bunch more money. That's an extra $300 to spend during the vacation, in my mind!

 

[Maleficent&Goons]

WOW I feel way behind! We are going in July and we have yet to purchase air tickets.

 

[Jen_in_NH]

Usually, I pick a price I'd be happy with, and start looking for it. As soon as I find a flight with the right times and price, I book it. That hardest part is to stop looking afterwards

 

[cassie58]

I am waiting (patiently) on Southwest to release fares for November.

me too! Hoping to go around T-day, but looking to see what prices will be like from SW - still considering autotrain as well(did it one-way this summer for $400w/our car -great deal!). Is March 23rd correct for the date they are supposed to open? I know on our last Nov. trip, I had to wait until the end of June-aah! I'm glad they're posting further out now.

cassie58
11/08-ASMo & Timeshare
8/09-CSR

 

[PinkRhombus]

We needed to get two with frequent flier points...so I had to get those while those seats were available. But wanted to make sure we got the other two tickets on the same flights.

We leave June 2nd.

FF tickets were bought at the end of January.
Other tickets were bought about two weeks later.


Prices have gone up a tad. But if they go down, you can always call and get a voucher.

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

I check every day from the time the flights are posted. When I first started looking 330 days out, the best I could do was $750 for 4 tickets. I purchased our tickets for Sept 25-30 last week at $71 and $67 for a total of $636. You just have to watch for webfares.

ETA: and check multiple sites!

Also, if you book over the phone, some airlines charge you a fee to book through a person. Different sites have different fees, so watch out for that too. I looked at some fares on Southwest and Orbitz... same price, Orbitz cost more.