When to book flights??

[pigletto]

We are going to WDW in September this year. I am wondering in your experience when you find is the best time to book a flight.
We will be traveling out of Buffalo. Southwest still hasn't realeased our dates as of yet. On Jetblue I can find flights for the 4 of us for apprx. 1000.00.
Do flights generally get cheaper or should I be looking to book right now? All opinions appreciated

 

[Questforthemouse]

We are going to WDW in September this year. I am wondering in your experience when you find is the best time to book a flight.
We will be traveling out of Buffalo. Southwest still hasn't realeased our dates as of yet. On Jetblue I can find flights for the 4 of us for apprx. 1000.00.
Do flights generally get cheaper or should I be looking to book right now? All opinions appreciated

Jet Blue won't get any cheaper. Southwest has been around $99 one way for the longest time but I've noticed they've recently dropped some June/July flights to $72. If I were in your shoes I'd wait for Southwest to open up for September (website says they'll open up September on April 18th). I don't think you'll do any worse than the current Jet Blue pricing you've found and you'll have many more non-stop options from Southwest. If you can fly during the weekdays you'll get some good pricing.

 

[pigletto]

Thanks for your reply
As it stands now I will wait for the Southwest flights to open up.
One point I am still confused on is whether prices tend to increase as the flight date gets closer or decrease?
I could see it increasing during peak times.. I was just wondering if there is any point to waiting until july or August to book a late September flight or if that was too risky?

 

[Care]

We are going to WDW in September this year. I am wondering in your experience when you find is the best time to book a flight.
We will be traveling out of Buffalo. Southwest still hasn't realeased our dates as of yet. On Jetblue I can find flights for the 4 of us for apprx. 1000.00.
Do flights generally get cheaper or should I be looking to book right now? All opinions appreciated

Pigletto... When you fly from Buffalo, do you drive and park at the airport? Or do you stay overnight before your flight and park at the hotel? I'm trying to weigh costs for 2 adults to fly out from Buffalo vs. Toronto since we don't own a car and would need to rent a vehicle, or find another way to get to Buffalo with our bags. Thanks for your advice!

 

[pigletto]

We are quite close to Buffalo where we are.
About 20 minutes to cross the border and 45 total to get to the airport.
That being said.. flight wise it is much much cheaper to fly out of Buffalo. Even parking the car for the week at about 100 dollars doesn't come anywhere close to being as expensive as flying out of Toronto. I priced flight out of Toronto at over a thousand dollars more than out of Buffalo

 

[Questforthemouse]

Thanks for your reply
As it stands now I will wait for the Southwest flights to open up.
One point I am still confused on is whether prices tend to increase as the flight date gets closer or decrease?
I could see it increasing during peak times.. I was just wondering if there is any point to waiting until july or August to book a late September flight or if that was too risky?

My experience with Southwest has been that the initial price is the lowest. Admittedly, if a flight isn't selling well they may open up a lower fare. Southwest also offers "Ding". You can download it from their website and from time to time they'll offer cheap flights but you need to be very flexible with your dates. If Southwest opens up for September next week and they have flights for $99 or less one way I'd book 'em and smile! With the price of fuel going up I don't think you're going to see $49/$59/$69 flights anymore. The nice thing about Southwest is that they don't charge you to make changes and will hold the balance in your account for one year from booking if you find cheaper flights closer to the date of flying.

We're flying out of Buffalo (to WDW) this July. In February I saw flights with Jet Blue for $89 each way and grabbed them immediately. Last July I only paid $69 each way with Southwest but I thought $89 is really cheap compared to flying out of Pearson and fuel prices will have an impact this summer. It's now two months later and I haven't seen flights for less at this point. I was happy when I booked them and I'll remaing happy even if prices drop. Sure beats paying $1150 for two people out of Pearson.

Unless JetBlue and AirTran have seat sales the prices you see with them right now will only get higher as September nears.

Hope all this helps...

 

[wee-haggis]

I agree with Questforthemouse.
We booked our flights with Jetblue 2 months ago for August.
To buy tickets today for the same flights on Jetblue is $620 more for the 4 of us !
It seems that Jetblue and Air Tran go up.....but if you are prepared to take a bit of a gamble ...wait for SWA who may come out with Dings.

 

[mc'smommy]

My last few trips to Florida from Buffalo have been with Air Tran and not a fare over $ 150 return...And the odd ding fare in there for $ 39 / $ 49 each way....

I too am looking for flights from Buffalo to Florida for the last week of August, hopefully something cheap will come along....


Have you looked into this special? Not sure what oyurdates of travel are but try this

http://www.flysunwing.com/2000seatsat50.asp