When to book flights

Our cruise isn't until June, 2019, but our party is getting anxious on flights. There will be 6-7 of us flying into Vancouver. What would you guys say is the average time frame on booking flights? One year out? Six months out? 54 days? ;p Thanks!

Well, one year out is usually impossible, as most airlines don't have their schedules open 360 days out. You're usually looking at around 330 as a max. Also note that, the further out you book, the more likely you'll run in to schedule changes one or more times between when you book and when you fly.

Beyond that, there's just no answer. Some will say there's a magic formula or time period, but trust me...there isn't. I travel for a living, I look at plane tickets all. the. time. Sometimes your cheapest fare is six months out, sometimes it's six weeks out, sometimes it's six days out. I have a colleague who recently flew KEF-ORD (last weekend) and booked one day ahead, and paid less than her travel companion who booked three months ahead.

If you look around this board, you will find dozens of threads with the exact same question...when is the best time to buy.

I agree with above, there is no magic time. You need to start researching, looking at the route options, and timing of flights. As you do this, you will start to get an idea for prices. When you find a price that is perhaps the low end of the price range, you buy and don't look back.

I would be careful buying for 6 or 7. Trying to get 7 seats may bump you into a higher fare. Try to see what fare you get for 2, or 3, or whatever smaller number you can divide into.

Agree with the above posts. We are flying from Minneapolis to Miami in January. I just booked our seats a week ago. I waited to see if the prices would come down after the discount lines came out with their pricing, but they didn't. And a week later they went up. Then instability with the oil prices in the news, and I caved. I just looked and the tickets went up a little again.

Best of luck~

The best time to buy is before the flight departs.

The best time to buy is before the flight departs.

The real art is to know when it's cheap. And the real mental discipline is in understanding and accepting the difference between "cheap" and "cheapest ever possible". You have a reasonable chance of scoring the former with some work, effort and diligence; scoring the latter is a lottery which you cannot hope let alone expect to win.

If you want to get good-priced tickets at decent times, you will need to purchase them as far advance as possible. For my upcoming trip, I'm able to fly out of Sacramento at the beginning at 8:10 AM local time, and my return flight from Miami departs at 1:30 PM. Those tickets were purchased back slightly after I booked by cruise in March.... total cost $324. Sure, I can find low-priced tickets.... at bad flight times.

If you want to get good-priced tickets at decent times' date=' you will need to purchase them as far advance as possible.[/quote']This is bad advice, when put as a generality like this - as we have pointed out on the other thread to which you have posted. You can pay too much by booking too early.

You can use Google flight to track the flight you want. It will send you email everytime price changes. Once in a while it comes down low then you buy. I bought my two last plane tickets that way.

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If you want to get good-priced tickets at decent times' date=' you will need to purchase them as far advance as possible.[/quote']

 

Nah, this just isn't true. Just like most things in air travel, sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't... Like I mentioned earlier, I have a colleague who very recently flew back from Europe and purchased one day out and paid less than the person she was traveling with who booked several months out. However, it could have very easily gone the other way and it wouldn't have surprised me either. Besides, the further out you book, the higher the chance your schedule will change, and a "decent" time could turn in to a "bad" time.

Generally, we book very very early, refundable tickets for the flights we want. Then watch the pricing on other fares and/or other airlines to figure out when or if we want to go non-refundable... when the price is significantly lower and this can include cruise air pricing too.

bon voyage

You can use Google flight to track the flight you want. It will send you email everytime price changes. Once in a while it comes down low then you buy. I bought my two last plane tickets that way.

 

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This is what I do too. Except you need to check Southwest Airlines by itself as they won't show up on google flights.

You book the tickets when they are at the price you are happy with.

I watched tickets for my cruise I just took in Europe start at $1,000 per person. It dropped down to $650/pp around 6-months out. I purchased it, it when up to $800 a week later.

You book when you are happy with the price. Most times the prices don't go down. Most flights will have some period where there is a decent price for the tickets. Unless it is a high season for the place you are going to.

This is bad advice, when put as a generality like this - as we have pointed out on the other thread to which you have posted. You can pay too much by booking too early.

This is what I see for my upcoming trip through Kayak....

Are there still bargains? Yes, but not at good times. My idea of a nice vacation isn't flying the red-eye in the middle of the night, nor is it figuring out how to kill six hours because I get off the ship in the morning, but my flight home isn't until 7 PM in the evening.

This is what I see for my upcoming trip through Kayak....

 

 

Are there still bargains? Yes' date=' but not at good times. My idea of a nice vacation isn't flying the red-eye in the middle of the night, nor is it figuring out how to kill six hours because I get off the ship in the morning, but my flight home isn't until 7 PM in the evening.[/quote']

 

But also, keep in mind that a bad time to you is a good time to someone else. There's someone else who may find that schedule perfect. As much as I hate red-eye flights, especially short ones, I like that they can allow me to work in Los Angeles, Antelope Valley, or Inland Empire until 5pm, grab dinner and a couple drinks in LA, head to the airport, and still be home for breakfast the next morning.

Amazing how one person's experience with one specific flight somehow becomes industry-wide hard and fast truth.

I also suspect there's a bit of "see how well I did with this purchase" with all the repetitive "here's how much it would be now"

We have not found that booking early always results in a good price. In fact we do no longer see any rule of thumb other than perhaps for busy Christmas holiday time routes, etc.

Our practice is to first understand the pricing as a return flight and as one ways. We also want to understand if there are any fare advantages to be had by using alternate airports and/or alternate airlines for each direction. If we are heading to FLL we routinely check for flight cost to and from MIA and PBI.

Once we understand what good price is we monitor prices for a while to see what the market is doing. Prices are based on demand and adjusted according to sophisticated revenue maximizing logarithms. We have had great fares booked well in advance, a few months out,and in one or two international routes just 10 days out. We also check the cruise air prices.

IF your plan is to score the absolute lowest price air fares than my advice would be to start planning to vacation in your back yard.

But also, keep in mind that a bad time to you is a good time to someone else. There's someone else who may find that schedule perfect.

It is a subjective opinion. Your mileage may vary.

I booked six tickets this weekend, but I'm not going to bore everyone with the ins and outs of my fare researches.

Are there still bargains? Yes' date=' but not at good times. My idea of a nice vacation isn't flying the red-eye in the middle of the night, nor is it figuring out how to kill six hours because I get off the ship in the morning, but my flight home isn't until 7 PM in the evening.[/quote']

 

It is impossible to avoid an overnight flight when traveling to Europe at any price unless you are very lucky and live close to an internatioanl airport that has direct flights to your destination. Othe4rwise, I do not book any red eye flights.

 

For me choosing fliight times also involves looking at the layover duration. I absolutely will not book a short connection at a huge airport if there is no later flight out or I have to change terminals.

It is impossible to avoid an overnight flight when traveling to Europe at any price unless you are very lucky and live close to an internatioanl airport that has direct flights to your destination. Othe4rwise, I do not book any red eye flights.

 

For me choosing fliight times also involves looking at the layover duration. I absolutely will not book a short connection at a huge airport if there is no later flight out or I have to change terminals.

One thing is to take an evening flight to somewhere like NYC, Boston or Chicago, spend the night in an airport hotel, and then take the day flight to Europe (usually London). I'm lucky enough that I can leave home early and hop on the ORD-LHR day flight, which I love, but I do know people who have done what I mention above and flown up to the gateway airport the night before.

One thing is to take an evening flight to somewhere like NYC, Boston or Chicago, spend the night in an airport hotel, and then take the day flight to Europe (usually London). I'm lucky enough that I can leave home early and hop on the ORD-LHR day flight, which I love, but I do know people who have done what I mention above and flown up to the gateway airport the night before.

And, if that overnight connection is less than 24 hours, it's not "breaking" the fare, so you get the through fare and the overnight.