When to book airfare?

[Momof2]

To all of you going on ABD trips this summer to European destinations - when did you or will you book your air? On your own or through ABD? We're flying Boston to Rome in June - price per ticket now seem to be about $1400. Wonder if we should hold out and hope for a sale or just buy now. I'd welcome any opinions or advice. Thanks.

 

[rkdahl]

I fly a lot and my experience for trips like this is, shop around and get the best price possible using multiple web sites, then when you find a reasonable price book it. The small amount you can save waiting is useless if there are no more seats left.

Flights run very full these days. The routes to Europe in the Summer are typically very full with 'tourists' plus the usual business travelers. The chances a sale make come along are small, and if it does, you can always ask for a credit or refund on your fare if that happens.

The worse case scenario is you wait for a sale, seats fill up, you get forced to travel on days you don't want or worse yet no seats at all, then have to cancel your trip!!

So....hope that helps! Have a great trip!

 

[DionysiusP]

My experience is book as early as possible ...
And, If you have "air miles", use them accordingly.

Since I am making a trip to Ireland in August, I got familiar with Aer Lingus. Just for curiosity, I put in Boston-Rome RT ~ $1124 for a webfare
I just used a random week - Here's the information ...

WebFare from $1124 Roundtrip avg/person

Depart Boston (BOS) 6:35 pm
Connect in Dublin (DUB)
Arrive Rome (FCO) 11:10 am +1 day
Thu 12-Jun Duration: 10hr 40mn Aer Lingus 136 / 402

Enjoy!!!

 

[InstImpres]

Once you find "what you want" I would suggest calling ABD (if you are not using FF miles). Give them the exact info and if they match the price, book with them. If there are changes or cancellations, they will work with you.

 

[wdwsos]

Once you find "what you want" I would suggest calling ABD (if you are not using FF miles). Give them the exact info and if they match the price, book with them. If there are changes or cancellations, they will work with you.

I have to second this. This is my third AbD trip and I also fly out of Boston -- I always look for the best deal and then call AbD to have them book it. I've also booked over 20 families this past year and AbD has always been within $10/ticket.

Still don't know if my boys are adding Barcelona to the beginning of the Flavors of France trip, but I booked my ticket and my husband's and it was around $1300/pp for June/July. Ouch. I want to get the boys' tickets soon or we'll be flying home on different flights!

Dotti

 

[Pakey]

I did all of my research on my own and then called ABD and booked thru them, they were the same price as what I'd found on my own. I live in central CA and have a hard time finding flights out of here without going first to SFO or LAX so I was thrilled with being able to get to France by going through Dallas. I was also happy with the price as it was about the same as what we paid to go to Italy last year so I booked right away.

 

[eva]

We bought ours a couple of weeks ago for our September 14th Viva Italia trip. I had been watching the prices for a few weeks and they just were not changing. We decided to buy because we really wanted to fly out of Peoria, IL and there just weren't many good flights to choose from. Delta was the only one that allowed us to fly from Peoria with only one lay over. So I kept watching the price and the available seats on the flight. A couple weeks ago the flight seemed to be about 30% sold and I wanted to makes sure we had good seats. So I bought. Glad I did. I just checked the same flight and the price has gone up $45 per person and the flights are about 50% full now. I will keep checking the price every so often. If the price goes down quite a bit, it is usually worthwhile to ask for a refund. We booked our flight ourselves. But we used DVC points for the trip and had to insure the trip through DVC's company. They wouldn't cover our flights. So we had to take out separate insurance on the flights anyway. I did that right through Delta when I made the reservations.

 

[dingoballs]

I agree that you should book as soon as possible. With the likelihood that fuel costs will continue to rise, I don't expect air fares will drop too much this year...

 

[Momof2]

Thanks everyone. ABD was just able to confirm our extra hotel night at the start of our trip, so now I can just go ahead and book the air. I'll check it all on my own first, then see if ABD can do the booking. Thanks again.

 

[glassslipper2004]

I just booked tickets to Rome and back from Venice in August, from JFK. We live in Boston but my mom, who is going with us, lives on Long Island, and we got nonstop flights for a little over $1300 per person. Already about 2/3 of the seats were taken on the flights we chose, including all of the window/aisle ones (assuming we want to sit together).

 

[jackienut]

Thanks everyone. ABD was just able to confirm our extra hotel night at the start of our trip, so now I can just go ahead and book the air. I'll check it all on my own first, then see if ABD can do the booking. Thanks again.

Hi Momof2,
My DH and I are doing Viva Italia 6/19-6/27 with a pre and post night. ABD booked our airfare for us in Aug 07 after we had found the lowest prices @ that time. We just gave them the flight details. ABD doesn't really care if you do the legwork and then have them book it for you. BTW are you doing Viva Italia in June and if so, which trip?

 

[Momof2]

Well its all booked. We went with Alitalia because it offers the shortest flights - non-stop on the way there. Actually the best price too - just over $1400. Thanks to everyone for your help. La Costa Bella - HERE WE COME!!!!

 

[dingoballs]

Well its all booked. We went with Alitalia because it offers the shortest flights - non-stop on the way there. Actually the best price too - just over $1400. Thanks to everyone for your help. La Costa Bella - HERE WE COME!!!!

That's great! Now you'll have one less thing to worry about...

 

[disneytraveler]

I booked my airfare yesterday for Austria and Prague.