When is airfare at it's cheapest?

[2BusyPlanning]

Is it right at the 6 month mark? Before that?
I can never remember. Can someone shed some light?

TIA!

 

[simzac]

Sorry, but with the price of oil right now, nothing that has happened in the past has any bearing on what will happen today or in the future. Just watch the airlines websites, and buy the best ticket you can based on schedule and price. Good luck.

 

[MousekaMaddi]

4 years ago..................

 

[tooh8ful]

Truly, I am just happy when I find airfare that doesn't make me go

 

[seashoreCM]

When is Disney stock at its cheapest?

Disney hints: http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

When you survey fares on line for any given airline you are likely to find a range of everyday prices. Wait for a time when some are offered well below the average level, namely wait for a sale of some kind or other.

I'm told that flights arriving in Orlando in the evening and flights leaving Orlando in the morning tend to be cheaper.

Check back daily. Sometimes there may be a fare sale but the limited seats at that price go fast.

(11 months in advance) On your mark! Get set! Click!

If you absolutely positively must travel on a peak date but can plan way way in advance, the fare is usually cheapest at IPO.

 

[2BusyPlanning]

Thanks, everyone! I do check daily (at different times), but I have forgotten the "tricks of the trade". But, I guess those are out the window now!

Thanks!

 

[dlbbwu]

All I can say about the rates is that they are CRAZY...I kept looking for flights from Nashville to Orlando and was only checking Southwest....well LO and BEHOLD, I just happend on one...4 of us for June 24 - June 28 for a total of, are you ready?, $650.00, which includes all taxes! Well i didn't even wait to ask the wife, just booked it and prayed she would not divorce me. When she heard the price, she was jumping for joy...Orlando here we come!

 

[goofy4tink]

I think the days of 'good' fares are behind us now. If I can get a fare of under $300 now, between Logan and MCO, I'll be happy. Gone are the $180 fares, sad to say.

 

[PatsGirl]

I'd have to agree. Was a time that I refused to pay more than $180 BOS-MCO NS but I searched and scoured for months for our last trip and our upcoming trip and the best I've been able to do is $225 and that's NOT nonstop

 

[beccasmom]

I believe all bets are off now, although I will agree that evening flights into Orlando are cheapest (relative term) right now based on what we booked and the prices at other times. It used to be the opposite and we always tried to get to WDW on the earliest flight. My parameter would always be to book a flight when it hit a good fare under $200.00 round trip. Well, we are paying $243 each on our June trip and feel lucky to have gotten that. With the airlines continuing to consolidate, I worry about lack of competition, which only means higher prices. With the exception of SWA, I think that is inevitable.

 

[Brian Noble]

I'm told that flights arriving in Orlando in the evening and flights leaving Orlando in the morning tend to be cheaper.

And that makes sense: most people would rather have those days in the park, but a late arrival/early departure costs two park days.

To answer the OP's question: no one really knows for sure. The instant anyone figures it out, the airlines will be sure to change.

Anecdotally, it seems that airfare right now is significantly higher than in the past year. I take the same trip every year: weekend direct flights in late February/early March, DTW/FNT to MCO. In past years, I would not expect to pay more than $250 for direct flights except in dire circumstances, and $200-$225 is generally possible. For 2009, I was thrilled to get a fare less than $300, and most are significantly higher than that----starting at about $370. up to near $600.

 

[ntsammy5]

Airfare is ALWAYS cheapest the day after I book a flight! It never fails!

 

[Sherrkel]

I'd have to agree. Was a time that I refused to pay more than $180 BOS-MCO NS but I searched and scoured for months for our last trip and our upcoming trip and the best I've been able to do is $225 and that's NOT nonstop

How about $249 RT non-stop BOS to MCO? That's what we booked for Feb 09. It's Delta and people are a little scared of their merger with NWA right now, but knowing how busy travel is mid-to-end February, I think we'll be ok with no cancellation, unless is snows, snows, snows, did I say SNOWS again a lot next winter!

 

[vossjemi]

Yep, I've seen it go nowhere but up lately. We are doing dcl mexican riviera cruise in august. Booked ns flight mci-lax one way there on 8/2 for $109pp...that same flight is now $164pp. Return schedule wasn't open yet when we booked flight there. When it did come open, ns flight for 8/10 return was $109. I hesitated. Mistake. I hoped I'd get a ding or lower fare for the flight there and use those credits to book return flight so I wouldn't have credits to deal with. Well, now that return flight is $281pp!!!: The cheapest return flight is $164 that day but its an early morning flight and we wouldn't be off cruise ship in time. So, when the mother's day sale fares came out this week, I booked return on tuesday 8/12 for $94pp. I wasn't really planning on a couple days after the cruise at disneyland, but am now. Overall, its going to cost us about $1000 more when you add hotel, meals, transport, tickets, etc. than if I had just booked the $109 when it came out. But, if I paid the higher SWA price to go back on 8/10 now, I'd pay about $600-700 more, so we figured we might as well just do a couple days at Disneyland since we don't know when/if we'll ever be back to LA!

But, now that I have a $94 return, I will keep an eye out for cheaper fares (if any come) and switch back to sunday if I get a deal. But, somehow, I think with one way fares that day now running $221-281, I kind of doubt it will ever get back to the $109 it started at.

 

[starwood]

I found a good program called yapta. You can download it and put the flights in you want to watch. It will then e-mail you when the fares drop or increase.

 

[RMulieri]

4 years ago..................

 

[Miffy]

Just a couple of other resources you may not be aware of:

1) www.sidestep.com, which will search a tremendous number of resources and post the ticket prices inclusive of all taxes and fees.

2) www.farecast.com, which also checks on ticket prices from many sources, but the most interesting and helpful thing is that they show you a graph of what the fare's been over the past 60 days or so (I forget the exact number) and make a prediction of whether the fare's going to go up, down, or remain the same.