When To Buy Airfare

[jhaig]

With gas prices that are going to be out of hand soon, will the airlines continue to raise prices or would they drop prices to encourage people to travel? We plan on flying in late August and prices right now are double what we paid last year? Historically prices have dropped in mid-late March, but will that hold true this year? Should we get our tickets now before it really gets too high?

 

[deslynnpatterson]

With gas prices that are going to be out of hand soon, will the airlines continue to raise prices or would they drop prices to encourage people to travel? We plan on flying in late August and prices right now are double what we paid last year? Historically prices have dropped in mid-late March, but will that hold true this year? Should we get our tickets now before it really gets too high?

I heard the best day of the week to buy airfare is Wed 12am-1am-- they drop prices then.. I am going to check it out this coming week. I am going through the same thing for a flight for sept. We thing we are going to wait it out a little! Last year we got airline tickets feb 1st for Sept for 64 dollars each way! I don't see that happening this year

 

[cdrn1]

My tix for May were $1450 last week on Tues. I booked them Wednesday at $1250. Today I got a fare sale email and they were $1415. I do think they are cheapest on Wednesdays. Of course a month ago they were $1050 but we couldn't commit at that time. Early is good. (Five tickets Indy to Orlando.)

 

[jhaig]

Is this Wednesday thing true for all airlines in general or just certain ones?

 

[deslynnpatterson]

Is this Wednesday thing true for all airlines in general or just certain ones?

I believe its for all airlines...

 

[maggiew]

There have been articles in the paper and spots on the news about the cost of airfare going up due to rising fuel costs. It is only going to get worse!

Maggie

 

[briar_rose_59]

I just booked flights the other day because I decided that I needed a quick getaway for a couple days. Had the dates I wanted figured out but had to change them about 3 times because airfare kept jumping all over the place. Ended up having to book one way tickets on 2 different airlines to get the best price with times that worked for me. Just checked on the flights earlier today and one has already gone up $5. Not much, but considering it was less than 12 hours later, it's still a bit of a jump.

 

[SnowWhite33]

I would book when you find a fare you are comfortable with. I wish we would have booked earlier, but it took us a while to get our plans together.

We booked our return flight on Tues-caught it at $133 PP, the next day it was up to $149.

Had to wait to book the flight to Orlando until today and the price was down from $133 to $130.

Both flights were cheaper last week by about $5 each way.

We paid more this year than we have in a quite a while, $853 total for 3 of us.

At least it was on SW and we will have no luggage fees and both flights are Non-stop.

Best part is on our first day we get there at 8:25AM, so not wasting any of our WDW time

 

[AnninIowa]

I am having the same problem. Looking at flights for October - right now about $1300 for the 2 of us! It is always expensive here as we only have small regional airports, but still hoping to get under $1000.

 

[mickey2010]

Just booked my airfare with Disney and saved 305.00. I had to book with airtran to get the times I wanted but still saved alot of money. Round trip from Indianapolis to Orlando $159.00 per person in Sept.

 

[tigger51276]

With gas prices that are going to be out of hand soon, will the airlines continue to raise prices or would they drop prices to encourage people to travel? We plan on flying in late August and prices right now are double what we paid last year? Historically prices have dropped in mid-late March, but will that hold true this year? Should we get our tickets now before it really gets too high?

If you are able to fly Southwest, check them out. They had a major sale on airfare 2 weeks ago and we got roundtrip tics from Manchester, NH to Orlando for $155. I couldn't believe the price, it was $67 each way!!! Plus you get 2 checked bags free....

 

[kacaju]

I booked airfare out of Newark NJ back in Jan for $200 per person for our trip in late Aug. Right now our exact flights are $251. A few weeks ago they were so much higher.
I booked with a price I felt comfortable with.

 

[jhaig]

It just seems like less people would be inclined to travel with higher gas prices and the airlines would want people to travel so they would drop prices. I never took economics so I may not know what I'm talking about.

Last year we paid $170 round trip from Elmira NY to Orlando. This year right now it's $394 and has gone up nearly $75 in the last week. But also it's US Air and their prices are usually all over the place anyway.

It's a gamble to wait, but historically prices have come down for our August flights in March. I guess we'll see.

 

[DisneyRunner2009]

I've heard Tuesday was a good day to buy airline tickets. I was playing around with Disney's website and found I could get tickets on AirTran for just under $200, with taxes and fees, when I booked through them. Using the AirTran website each way was $119. Now the fare has gone up $10 each leg. Under $200 was a fare I was comfortable with and the thought of prices going up is why I booked. I also use www.farecast.com, now part of Bing, as a guide as to buy or wait. The flight Milwaukee to Orlando mid-August.

 

[KBoopaloo]

I bought tickets on Tuesday for mid-April on JetBlue from Boston and our same flights have gone up by $159 per person since then. We are flying school vacation week so the flight prices are insane anyway but I was definitely glad I purchased when I did.

Gas at my local station has gone up by 12 cents per gallon since Tuesday as well so I would imagine airfares will be staying high for a bit.

 

[MsDisney23]

I booked yesterday with Southwest, for Sept. Philly to Orlando round trip taxes included $221.00 Southwest allows 2 luggage free. Our news is reporting that it is only going to go up. Sticker shock is what they are calling it.

 

[ProudMomTo3Boys]

I booked last night for August and those same flights this morning were $200 more. This is for 4 people, so $50 each. There weren't that many seats left on my flights either.

 

[csmommy]

Check this website out. http://www.yapta.com/

A few Dis people pointed it out to me b/c I did not know when to purchase either. I booked my tickets, registered them here b/c I booked with Jetblue & have "some" piece of mind that if the prices drop I cab recoup something. Right now the prices for the exact same flight are $251 higher then what I paid.

 

[klacey1]

I am also worried about this I am kicking myself for not buying when the prices where approximately $200 from NYC. Delta jumped literally $50 per ticket! My fault for listening to the "experts" who said to wait until 3 months before your trip!

 

[Nik's Mom]

I wouldn't wait to book airfare if you have a trip coming up. Fares are really starting to climb. We are going to California in the summer. We checked fares last Saturday, but couldn't decide on which flight to book. I checked again on Wednesday, and the fares were are the same price. We went to book today, and they had all gone up.

I ended up booking through Frontier because it was the cheapest price. $1501 for 4 tickets to Los Angeles. That's like Christmas prices!