When to book for March airfare?

[treloarf]

We are hopin to go to Fla. in mid-March. When will good airfares come out for that time period?

 

[taxi_man696]

The sooner you book, the lower the fairs. Starting looking yesterday.

 

[dansyr]

Keep checking until you find a fare that is in your price range. If we get one around $200 for the times we want, we usually book it. I think we booked around Oct. or Nov. for our March trip last year.

 

[poohbear2]

We just bought our tickets for April after much debating. The tickets were 205 each and after a few days they went back up to 250. I figure I will just keep track and if they go down I can always request vouchers. Since we are defintely going in April, I didn't want to take any chances. We go every year anyway, so the vouchers would come in handy.

 

[Cara]

I booked my March airfare today. I have been looking at rates since April, and they have just not gone down much at all. They finally went down about $40-$50 to $220, so I bought. Still not a great rate, but butter than it had been. I am not one who likes to wait till the last minute. It just makes me happy to know my tickets have been purchased!

Cara

 

[essmom]

SOUTHWEST HAS THE BEST RATE FROM HERE-$77 EACH WAY MAKING IT $154. WE ARE ALSO GOING IN MARCH SO I'M WAITING ON SOUTHWEST SCHEDULE FOR MARCH. DELTA HAS A RATE OF $189 BUT THE LAYOVERS ARE LONG. SOUTHWEST HAS A DIRECT THAT WE'LL TAKE!!

 

[Padre Disney]

How come SWA has not opened up past March 6th? I thought they went 6 months out? We might have group of 10 if the price is right. If not, 7 of us are jumping in the truck for a very long drive.

 

[essmom]

Just called Southwest and they wouldn't tell me when they'll extend dates any further but I believe it's usually only 4 months out.

 

[puffkin]

I am not sure about what airport you fly from, but we usually use Philly, so our choice is pretty limited to USAir. I suggest booking as soon as you get a price you can live with. My safe price is $200.

For our July 2003 trip, we decided to go in February. I wanted and waited and ended up booking when prices dropped to $225 in early April. I kept checking, but they didn't drop any lower.

For our December 2003 trip, I booked at the end of April when the price dropped to $204. It has steadily increased since then, and is around $400 right now.

For our June 2004 honeymoon, I booked in August as soon as they released the rates for those dates. We are taking a cruise, so we had to take one of the first flights out, which limited our choices. I got the tickets for $201. I keep checking, but they are hovering around $206 right now.

I don't think that the airlines are following their historical pricing schemes right now. Because of codesharing, if a flight doesn't book up, they cancel it and move the people to another flight instead of lowering airfares to fill the plane. So, I would book as soon as you can. We are pretty picky about the times (ie leave very early, return very late) so as soon as it gets close to $200, I grab it. I figure it isn't going to go much lower than that anyways, and at least I don't have to stress out about it anymore. Good luck!

 

[Luckymommyx2]

We have a SWA credit from our last flight that we are planning on using to book our flight to Tampa in mid-March. I was debating on whether or not to jump on the fares as soon as they come out or wait for the SWA codes a few months down the road. Since it is a popular spring break time I guess I'll have to book as soon as they come out.

Puffkin...we used to fly US Air out of Philly all the time but the $495 SWA compare to the $800+ US Air fare for our August/Sept trip was too good to pass up. (That was for 2 adults and 2 children!) You may want to check them out because depending on how many are in your party it may be worth the drive! Just an FYI!

 

[treloarf]

Delta is around $225 for mid-March, but why is Usair $500 +?
We have some vouchers & want to fly USair - I'm wondering if the prices will come down?>>bbbb

 

[sue Z]

south west is now booking to April 2nd and we got $79 each way for march 17th-31st

 

[essmom]

Booked Delta yesterday $212 roundtrip non stop from B'ham, Al. Sw did not have their $77 flight available the week of March 20-26.

 

[mayday]

We booked our fares from Denver almost 2 months ago for March. Found a fare of $197, when they had been running $100 higher, and are back up there now. Since that is considered peak season, I would not wait much longer.