When should you purchase airline tickets

[MSUmom]

My family is going to Aulani August 28 - September 4. There are 6 adults traveling. Should I get them now or wait? Any suggestions would be welcome.

Thank you.

 

[longboard55]

Its a slow period , I would wait till after July 4

 

[cruisingmom1977]

Where are you traveling from? We live in NJ and I watched ticket prices for a full year. I discovered that they didn't really fluctuate much unless it was a busy time. We booked in September for our upcoming Spring Break trip and were already priced out of the direct flight to Honolulu from Newark. :-( Our ticket prices have increased by close to $500 a person since we booked. Other times seem to be pretty steady price wise.

 

[Tracy Pratt]

My family is going to Aulani August 28 - September 4. There are 6 adults traveling. Should I get them now or wait? Any suggestions would be welcome.

Thank you.[/QUOTE
I booked our tickets at the beginning of February for our early May trip. I thought about waiting until very close in hopes of a good price, but there are 10 of us so I thought that was risky. The prices have gone up by about 75$ since then so I'm glad I bought when I did. I am happy with the price I paid.

 

[kdonnel]

Like @cruisingmom1977 found for NJ/NY, I have found that tickets to Hawaii from Atlanta don't really change much. The price you see now is the price it will be 3 months from now for that same time period. I guess there is the chance of a sale but I didn't see one this year. We have paid between $1000 and $1200 to fly from Atlanta to Hawaii every time for the same first week of April timeframe. Granted if we went in the winter we could go cheaper, $800 ish, but the kids don't have the time off.

If you have specific routing or seating requirements, I say buy a flight when you are happy with the price. If you are more adventurous, you could wait until 2-3 months before departure.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

We purchased about 4 months out.

 

[Elima2015]

I would get them as early as possible - I get anxious when I don't have flights nailed down - especially traveling as a larger party. We also place some importance on itinerary and aircraft over price, so once I find something that looks like it will work, I tend to only watch the rates for a bit before booking. We fly pretty often and I don't feel like I see prices drop signficantly (some airlines will do a price guarantee) after I have booked. If your dates, airports, seating arrangements are flexible then you have more wiggle room to wait.

 

[wanderlust7]

I think it really depends where you're flying from. We fly from the San Francisco area and 8 trips to the various islands over the years, have always gotten flights $400 or under, about 1-4 months before - never school holidays though. I know what price to aim for and just keep watching. One time I pulled the trigger a tad early and the price dropped, so I ended up with Alaska Airlines credit. But we didn't fly with them within a year and those went to waste.

Our upcoming trip during spring break was a whole different ball game. I had to extend the trip, leaving on a Wednesday and returning on a Monday with a connection in HNL, which I turned into a stopover. It still came out to be $600! Luckily, I was able to use AA miles for 3 of the outbound flights.

End of August should not be too busy since most schools are back in session. I would look to see if there are a lot of flight options from your area and try to get an idea of what's a good price.

 

[nkereina]

We were there in late September 2016 and we bought our tickets in November 2015. About 10 months in advance, a few weeks after Delta's schedule was released for our travel dates. Our flight prices stayed pretty steady whenever I checked them, and spiked a bit when we got closer (within 3 months). I'd book whenever you find a fare you're comfortable with and don't look back.

 

[MSUmom]

Thank you for all your responses. We are flying from Detroit and I have been watching and they really haven't changed. I am anxious about the flights so I think I will go ahead and get them now. I appreciate all your input.

 

[Moniqu17]

If you are flying from Detroit and you can swing the drive, look at flights from Toronto. They are about half the price. That's what a lot of my coworkers have been doing. It also works on flights to Europe. I have found flights from 450 to mid 600s depending on time etc to hawaii. I think we are going to do this next time we go.

 

[Moniqu17]

Sorry just saw your dates... it says 520 with 1 stop on delta from Toronto. It's about 3.5 hour drive so it depends on your budget. For that price, we feel that we can go more often and it is worth the drive. Also, Toronto has those stay, park, fly deals similar to Detroit if you need to spend the night etc.

 

[poohj80]

Just purchased our tickets for an end of May trip. Have been watching flights for awhile and they stayed pretty constant with a few fluctuations along the way. I knew which flights I wanted and got discouraged when they went up while all others remained the same. I didn't panic, kept watching, and a couple weeks later bought them when they dropped. I have always been skeptical of tips on when to buy airline tix but while watching these flights, when the price did go down it was always on a Tuesday. They stayed down a couple of days and then popped back up.

 

[sunryzez]

My flights have gone up and up. I finally booked my flights back in end of December for my June trip this year. Flights were cheaper when I was looking before. Luckily I found one great deal on Expedia and grabbed it. I would just suggest when you see a price you like grab it. The flight I am on now is literally more than double what I paid for it a few months ago and it was about 100 less than even what I paid when I started looking...

 

[MSUmom]

I too had been watching the prices for a while and I was watching on Tuesdays! I could have found less expensive tickets but they would have required 24 hours traveling time. Also I did check Toronto prices but my family and decided it was worth flying 20 minutes from our house and not driving 4 hours one way to catch the flight. Thank you all for your tips.

 

[CaliAdventurer]

Thank you for all your responses. We are flying from Detroit and I have been watching and they really haven't changed. I am anxious about the flights so I think I will go ahead and get them now. I appreciate all your input.

Alaska just announced adding some virgin planes to their direct service to Detroit to and from Seattle. Maybe they are having a sale? Then go straight to HNL from here (Seattle). That is a perfect break up IMHO.

Also, I really believe that once you search for a flight once or twice, they know that your ISP is looking and I never seem to see a better price beyond the first search. It wouldn't hurt to make your decision and then search from a different ISP than before. Can't hurt. I've used direct, kayak, hopper, momondo, etc and it seems to be that the sites remember. GL!