When to purchase airfare

[Disneydenise]

I am planning a trip to WDW from Philly and am trying to decide when to purchase the airfare. I know it use to be months in advance but the prices seem to change up and down every day with no real pattern. I have checked a month in advance from an arbitrary date. Does anyone have a better idea.

 

[Ava]

Honestly, I would still purchase months in advance. (I'm already looking at flights for May 2011.) With the prices changing all the time & carriers reducing the # of flights, I wouldn't want to be scrambling to find a flight one month out & end up either paying more than I want to pay or settling for flight times I don't like. I would come up with a price that you can live with, & when you find flight times you like for that price or less, book it.

 

[sydney dog]

I have read that wednesday after 3pm are when the lowest prices of the week are posted. Something about Fares coming out Monday or Tuesday and by Wed all the airlines put out new fares to try to math or beat the other airlines. I just got Spirit for 2 round trip for $380.00. This includes the price of choosoing your seat and the cost for check in luggage. I have heard good and bad about spirit but my aunt swears by them. Plus I would rather go out of AC than Philly.

 

[njsweetP]

I usually purchase my airfare as soon as it's published for the dates I want to travel. For example I purchased next years tickets (June) 3 weeks ago when they came out. I've been doing this for the past 3 years. For some reason those are the cheapest fares, they just go up from there. This is flying out of Newark.

 

[Disneydenise]

Thanks guys and girls. I think that I am going to have to live with the $900 fares for 3 people. USAir has the best times. I really would rather fly Jet Blue out of Newark but our time constraints are getting in the way and it is an hour from our home. I am sort of done with Spirit. The seats are too squished together. I like AC airport but it is an hour away. I wish that the fares were just a little lower but I want to either plan this trip or wait until next year. This will probably be our last time in Orlando for several years and October is a nice time to go so I guess I will bite the bullet by Wednesday. Thanks for your help.

 

[marmalade]

We always book as soon as we can. For some reason it seems if you fly out of Buffalo NY the fares always seem to increase and never decrease. Plus I like knowing that our flights are out of the way and I don't have to worry if the fares go up.

 

[Kitzka]

i tend to follow my flights on yapta. i plug in the flight i want and the times and airline. I also set a 'notify me' price. Yapta will email me when my flight has hit my price and then i can decide to book or not.

Lara

 

[wmharley]

I'm familiar with the locations I usually go to, and I have a limit on what I want to spend. So I start looking, and when it comes to about what I want to spend and the low fares I know they offer, then I go for it.

Like JB.. there were fares for $99 each way or $119 each way, and I know they routinely go down to $59 or $89 a leg, so rather than get a $99, I will wait for the lower ones.

 

[jsmith]

In reality the cheapest fares are on Tuesday or Wednesday 60 to 45 days before the date you want to travel-however if scheduling is important to you-you may want to purchase sooner. These lower fares are in the window well after the vacation traveler has booked theirs-operating on the theory that fares are cheapest when first published-not true since airlines base pricing on trending for travel at a certain time-so the fare you buy 330 days in advance is based on how full the flight was this year-and before the business or spur of the moment traveler-who will pay more-books theirs. You can also sometimes get very good deals purchasing close to the travel date-i paid 143/pp round trip denver to tampa purchased 10 days in advance a while back and 98 pp/roundtrip denver to billings purchased on friday for travel on Satuerday when my MIL was ill last spring. ( Those were the fare available on orbitz not some specail or consolidator site) Unforunately going to WDW you cant ride them out like that-prety much need to purchase ahead.

 

[Disneydenise]

I think I am going to fly Thur. to Thur. I am under $200 and on my FFF account I will add to my miles. I just didn't want to travel mid week but I guess I can just adjust my work schedule and deal. Thanks for all the help. I use to be much better when I had less money I have gotten out of practice. I will be better prepared for my next trip.

 

[quentina]

Thanks guys and girls. I think that I am going to have to live with the $900 fares for 3 people. USAir has the best times. I really would rather fly Jet Blue out of Newark but our time constraints are getting in the way and it is an hour from our home. I am sort of done with Spirit. The seats are too squished together. I like AC airport but it is an hour away. I wish that the fares were just a little lower but I want to either plan this trip or wait until next year. This will probably be our last time in Orlando for several years and October is a nice time to go so I guess I will bite the bullet by Wednesday. Thanks for your help.

Did you check Airtran and Southwest? We love Airtran. We are going next month to Orlando and we paid $59 each way. This is also out of Phila.

 

[DisneyFansInLINY]

We booked our airfare before we booked anything else. The rate was $79 per person from NY to Orlando on Jetblue for the end of January 2011. Last year we paid $129 one way per person for similiar dates and coming home the flight was $220 per person! And we also booked months in advance last time too but we missed the sale and the price just kept going up. (This wasn't that big of an issue for us as I purchase people's airline gift cards and credits from ebay and craigslist at a discounted price to make my own airfare sale. If prices are high, check this out and also check out plasticjungle as they sell discounted gift cards.) Buy anyway, you should book asap to get the lowest rate, especially if there is an airfare sale. As you never know when another sale is going to happen and airfare tends to go up not down. Sales usually take place on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. If one airline posts a sale on Tuesday, by Wednesday the competing airlines are offering similiar prices. But always take into consideration the price of checked bags and other airline fees when choosing your airline as what may seem like a good deal at first might turn out to be more money as compared to other airlines that do not charge those fees. And if you book your flight now and the price goes down, call the airlines and they usually will issue you a credit of the price difference. Also, airfare prices tend to be cheaper when flying weekdays as opposed to weekends. For example, if you are able to fly a Tuesday to a Tuesday, you are most likely to get the lowest price available.