When do you make YOUR airline ressies?

[TZMOM]

My DS (12) & I will be leaving 5/18 - 5/24/02 from Philly. I used to live in Clearwater & vaguely remember my round-trip flight home was always around $200-$225. There were a few USAir flights I have been looking at that were priced at $343 for both of us for the above timeframe. I didn't want to make ressies yet, since it's so early, didn't receive my "George" check, etc., but now the price on the same flights I was looking at has jumped to $463 for one timeframe & $543 for the other times I had in mind. Does anyone think the price will come back down? I was planning on purchasing the tickets in either March or April - do you all think there will be airfare changes between now & then? Thanks for your help!!!

 

[Beverly Lynn]

lets see for my sep ressie I did book it back in may when it was 168 and then in jun it dropped to 136 so I got the voucher. for my feb trip I will wait until jan to purchase the tkt since I know it will go down to 98-129 and for my april trip I will wait until feb to buy it.

 

[Luv2Roam]

We are going Jan 5 - 12. just rec'd a farewatcher notice with good rates from multiple airlines. But the last return date is a day short for us.
I am just now starting to keep my eyes open.
My biggest concern is which airport we catch our connecting flight. I always rule out O Hare in January. And Dallas/FW is now crossed off my list.

 

[n2mm]

I start watching seriously around 6-8 weeks before my trip. I agree with Beverly, for my February trip I'll start watching in January. As in the past couple of years, there are usually very good deals popping up for the 6 weeks of the new year (usually ending before President's Weekend). I just got my tickets for my October trip about 1 week ago (so 8 weeks before). I got an excellent rate of $131 from Washington DC round trip. You should always watch for a deal. And I find this site a wonderful source of information!

 

[travelcoupons]

Jan '00 trip - FF miles (redeemed in Dec. '99)
July '00 trip - purchased in April '00 ($157 RT from MSP)
Feb '01 trip - FF miles (redeemed in Oct '00)
Jun '01 trip - purchased in March '01 ($117 RT from MSP)
Feb '02 trip - purchased in July '01 ($138 RT from MSP)
July '02 trip - waiting....

 

[CaliforniaDreaming]

We usually book once we know our exact dates. We usually get okay fares.

 

[cindala]

We just booked our flights last week for our very end of June/beginning July trip. Got $167 RT, NS. This is the weekend before July 4th, (and are blackout dates on some airlines) so we always book early. We have very specific dates and times to fly, and can't be flexible.

I am pretty sure that my flights won't go down in price. They never have in the several years I've flown the route. So for us, booking early works.

 

[katefromny]

We booked first of August for our end of April 2002 trip...there are 5 of us flying down to meet 4 more in Philly and then flying on together to MCO. In our case, I got lucky with the Philly tickets and got them at $125/pp round trip, during a freak sale they had for a few hours in July. For the 5 Rochester tickets, I just bit the bullet and booked the flights at 198 round trip/pp--we wanted to be sure we'd be able to meet our group in Philly, and early departure to MCO, late departure from there on the return was very important to us--more important than saving the extra$$ should the prices go down.

 

[DJT]

We will probably be flying Delta Express in May. When should I start checking on ticket prices? Thanks for all the information I've received from your posts.