When is the best time to buy Air tickets?

[wintotty]

Hi there!

I'm planning to go to WDW somewhere late Sept to early Nov. I prefer late Oct, but air tickets are priced higher than I like. I see some people say it is not good to buy air tickets too early, but it really depends on where you are going as well. Am I too early to buy air tickets now in general? Should I wait 1-2 months or more or does price only go up from now on? I'm flying from Detroit, using Delta.........it doesn't help that we don't have Southwest or Jetblue.................

 

[strat68]

There's no way to tell. It's like trying to pick a lottery number. There's no secret to buying airfare although some claim to have it. Airlines adjust pricing on an almost continuous basis based on demand. All done by computers. The only real advice is that it's going to cost more over major holidays. We buy tickets when we OK with the price. Even then, if we really want to go price is almost irrelevant. Just the cost of doing business.

 

[policycobb]

In the same boat, going for fall break in October. Not sure if I should purchase now. Taking my nieces so I need four tickets this year instead of two. Don't know what to do.

 

[alliecat523]

Flying on weekends are most expensive. Mid week is cheapest. Just keep watching and when you see a fare that's reasonable, grab it. Also, clear your cookies every once in awhile. When you revisit the site multiple times, it shows you higher prices tickets.

 

[PatMcDuck]

PHL to MCO is $102 right now, in October (mid week) on Southwest. So I booked us, that is fair, and I will watch for it to drop lower. SW is great because you get the $$ back in a credit if it drops.

I booked a $99 flight for May 2 days ago, EWR to MCO, on Jet Blue. You just have to keep looking and sign up for sale emails, and even like the airlines on Facebook for sale notices.

 

[Lori74]

southwest and jetblue fly out of dtw

 

[OKW Lover]

Go to www.kayak.com and set up a price watch for the dates you want to fly. Monitor that for a while until you get a feel for what a good price is. Once you see something good, buy then. There's no real rhyme nor reason as to when airline prices will be the best.

 

[sam_gordon]

This is a simple answer...

Buy your plane tickets when the cost is acceptable (ie: you're willing to pay it) to you, AND DON'T LOOK BACK (unless you're flying SW which allows for flight credit if the price drops). If you've paid $300 for a ticket and it drops to $200, but you don't know it drops, you have nothing to be upset about.

 

[ChasingLeslie]

southwest and jetblue fly out of dtw

They fly out, but NOT direct flights.

 

[NotUrsula]

According to a new report that was just issued yesterday, the sweet spot for domestic flights that do NOT involve special event or holiday travel is 54 days out. IME that's probably spot-on.

 

[Lori74]

They fly out, but NOT direct flights.

I did not know that was what the op was looking for

 

[sam_gordon]

According to a new report that was just issued yesterday, the sweet spot for domestic flights that do NOT involve special event or holiday travel is 54 days out. IME that's probably spot-on.

Got a link?

 

[MillauFr]

According to a new report that was just issued yesterday, the sweet spot for domestic flights that do NOT involve special event or holiday travel is 54 days out. IME that's probably spot-on.

That might be the average best time to buy but there is so much variability to make the recommendation absolutely worthless.

 

[sam_gordon]

That might be the average best time to buy but there is so much variability to make the recommendation absolutely worthless.

I was just going to say the same thing. I bet you somewhere in that report is the word "average", meaning there's a good chance it will apply to your specific days and flights, but there's also a chance it won't. Personally, if I'm planning a family vacation where I already know the hotel, dates, have arranged for time off work, etc, I wouldn't want to wait until less than two months before vacation starts to book my airfare.

Just for fun, I used Google flights to look at airfare for a week long trip leaving 54 days from now (making it April 21), my home airport to MCO. The round trip is $312.
April 22-29 (55 days out): $240.
April 20-27 (53 days out): $237.
March 29-April 1 (30 days out): $237
October 26-Nov 1 (245 days out): $237

Prices range all over the place in between. But I can look over the next 330 days and see $237 is the lowest price offered. In which case, I can book when the price gets that low because it probably won't get lower.

 

[DebbieB]

According to a new report that was just issued yesterday, the sweet spot for domestic flights that do NOT involve special event or holiday travel is 54 days out. IME that's probably spot-on.

That might be true in general but I think people on vacation book sooner. I fly Southwest and always check my flights to look for a credit but it never seems to go down, only up. I have flights for May, about 70 days out and my flights have gone from about 16,000 points to 24,500.

 

[JWigs]

We used to travel a lot before children. Now we have to factor in daycare and work schedules more than we did before.

We booked our flight to MCO back in Sept for March travel and even though it was kinda far out, I knew which timeline and airline I wanted. The price has gone down slightly but the direct routes have disappeared and with a child I am less tolerant of layovers.

I think it all depends on what you're ok paying for. It also depends where you're going. We are going to Aulani in Sept and Hawaii is never "on sale". So we booked when we were ok with the price and it's only gone up since.

 

[Disneyhappy]

I just saw a clip on the news about an app called Hopper which provides flight fare predictions. Not sure of it's accuracy.

 

[OKW Lover]

I just saw a clip on the news about an app called Hopper which provides flight fare predictions. Not sure of it's accuracy.

The problem with these types of programs is that they rely on past performance to forecast the future. Ask anybody in the stock market and they will tell you that this is a poor method to use to decide future prices.

 

[bumbershoot]

AND DON'T LOOK BACK (unless you're flying SW which allows for flight credit if the price drops)

Or ALASKA Air! People always forget Alaska.

And since Delta partners with them, it behooves a person to check to see if the "Delta" flight they are looking at is actually an Alaska flight, and then compare it to what Alaska is charging for that flight. Because if it's the same, book with Alaska, because they give that guarantee (and it's way easier to do than SW's already relatively simple process).

 

[2DisPrincesses]

I just booked for October on Delta from Dwt to Mco for $719 (4 round-trip tickets). Pretty happy with that.