goooood flights

[cece45]

Heyyy.

I was just wondering when is the cheapest time to book a flight?

I heard 21 days before, i head 30 days before? and i heard right before?

Anyone know?

Thanks in advance. =]

[UKBayern]

There is no rule of thumb really. In a period that is in high demand you should book as soon as possible. This would include travel during holiday periods such as Christmas or Easter, Spring Break in the US, the first day of a major childrens holiday in the area you are departing from, a major event in the place you are travelling to, etc. It is hard, though, to predict behaviour from other passengers. If a large travel group books, then suddenly the price will go up dramatically.

[tweety33]

I have always found months in advance. The closer it got the more i saw the prices go up everytime I was looking. Once I paid waaayyyyyy to much because we waited to long. You never know. Its all a gamble.

[nbsjcruiser]

Heyyy.

I was just wondering when is the cheapest time to book a flight?

I heard 21 days before, i head 30 days before? and i heard right before?

Anyone know?

Thanks in advance. =]

 

We've always had good luck booking air as far in advance as possible. We have flown out of Portland Maine for the last two years and have another coming up in a couple of weeks. In each instance we have purchased our air as soon as the date has become available, i.e. 10 months out. Also in each case, we have not seen the price drop; it always has increased. In April of this past year we purchased air for the 3 of us at a total price of about $1000 return. Today it is $1300 and the selections are nowhere near what they were 10 months ago.

 

As an aside I always like to compare airfare in the US with Canadian airfare just so you guys down south of us know you have nothing to complain about. Airfare for the 3 of us from our hometown in Canada to Florida for the same dates - $5400. Yep, over 500% more than what we paid. And people wonder why I drive 5 hours south to Maine to fly. I've got 4400 reasons!

[silentbob007]

Depends on the airport, route, season, etc. Check the prices for the route you want. Check close dates. It doesn't really tell you much but might make you feel better. The only way to get the "lowest" price is to check prices constantly and immediately book. Of course it could still go down. Or up.

[Mich3]

I fly often for work or pleasure, and find there is not really much price fluctuation until it becomes less than 21-30 days in advance. Then, the prices increase. They would usually only increase before this, if the flight you are looking at is very popular and almost full. Here is a site that will track prices for you: http://www.yapta.com/

 

Also - tickets are usually less on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

[Globaliser]

I was just wondering when is the cheapest time to book a flight?

...

Anyone know?

Are you asking when is the cheapest time to book a ticket for the flight that you want? If so, you cannot know that until the gate has closed just prior to the aircraft's departure.

 

It is likely that the cheapest time to book a ticket for your flight will be when there is a fare sale that covers your route and your travel dates. Will there be such a sale in the future? Nobody knows.

 

So the rule of thumb is this: Work out what you are happy to pay for your flight. When you see that fare, buy it. If you don't, you're just gambling - you could lose, and then find yourself joining the large club of people who say "If only I'd bought the ticket before the price went up".

[Globaliser]

Also - tickets are usually less on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

It may be true that tickets often cost less if you fly on a Tuesday or a Wednesday.

 

I don't think that there's a shred of evidence to suggest that tickets cost less if you buy on a Tuesday or a Wednesday. Otherwise, why would anyone ever buy a ticket on any other day of the week?

[FlyerTalker]

PSST....come closer, I can't say this too loudly. At exactly 3:07am Eastern time, on the second Tuesday of the month, there's a 3 minute window when the fares automatically drop to almost nothing. You've got to act fast. But don't tell anyone.

 

 

 

Yes, I know I am posting this 2 months early.

[UKBayern]

It may be true that tickets often cost less if you fly on a Tuesday or a Wednesday.

 

I don't think that there's a shred of evidence to suggest that tickets cost less if you buy on a Tuesday or a Wednesday. Otherwise, why would anyone ever buy a ticket on any other day of the week?

 

Yep, that is true: flying on a Tuesday or Wednesday is almost always cheaper.

And try to play around with the traveldates a bit. We saved EUR 80 pp by flying to Venice one day earlier, we could then spend the EUR 160 on a hotel and a meal and a great day in Venice. On the way back, we stayed in Lisbon one day shorter than originally intended, saving EUR 154 per person on flights (intra-EU that is a lot!).

[Mich3]

It may be true that tickets often cost less if you fly on a Tuesday or a Wednesday.

 

I don't think that there's a shred of evidence to suggest that tickets cost less if you buy on a Tuesday or a Wednesday. Otherwise, why would anyone ever buy a ticket on any other day of the week?

 

I guess because they don't know any better? I have evidence from my experience that tickets cost less those days. My most recent experience was just last week. The middle of the week before, a flight I was looking at was $319. By the time my company approved the trip on Friday morning, The price had increased $60. I waited until the following Wednesday morning (1/27), and the price again dropped to $319.

[fbgd]

I guess because they don't know any better? I have evidence from my experience that tickets cost less those days. My most recent experience was just last week. The middle of the week before, a flight I was looking at was $319. By the time my company approved the trip on Friday morning, The price had increased $60. I waited until the following Wednesday morning (1/27), and the price again dropped to $319.

 

That proves nothing.

 

The fares fluctuate all the time deliberately to keep people guessing, why would the airlines cut people who buy on Tuesday or Wednesday a break? Because it is furthest from payday?

[AZjohn]

LOL… Trust me, if there was a way to figure “the best deal or time or place” a lot of posters here would know all about it and tell you like FlyerTalker tried.

 

I keep a close eye on fares/routes all the time and my guess is the inventory managers come in early in the morning and then throw darts at a chart to figure out which fares increase or decrease.

 

But for a lot of frequent flyers like me, we don’t just look at the cheapest prices to find the “best deal” out there. So if OP (or anyone else) is simply looking for cheap and could care less about service/routes/aircraft/loads/and upgradeable fares, I would suggest trying some of the web sites mentioned above and pull the trigger when you think you see the best price.

 

Oh, and if anyone can figure out any logic from inventory managers can you please share it with the rest of us?:D

[6rugrats]

Oh, and if anyone can figure out any logic from inventory managers can you please share it with the rest of us?:D

 

Of course - and I will post it along with information about when WN is going to open up their schedule!

[Mich3]

LOL… Trust me, if there was a way to figure “the best deal or time or place” a lot of posters here would know all about it and tell you like FlyerTalker tried.

 

I keep a close eye on fares/routes all the time and my guess is the inventory managers come in early in the morning and then throw darts at a chart to figure out which fares increase or decrease.

 

But for a lot of frequent flyers like me, we don’t just look at the cheapest prices to find the “best deal” out there. So if OP (or anyone else) is simply looking for cheap and could care less about service/routes/aircraft/loads/and upgradeable fares, I would suggest trying some of the web sites mentioned above and pull the trigger when you think you see the best price.

 

Oh, and if anyone can figure out any logic from inventory managers can you please share it with the rest of us?:D

 

I provided one website, which is not a site that finds the "cheapest fare" or "best deal." It is a site that will track the price for the exact flight you want, so you can see how it fluctuates over time. If someone has a lot of time before they travel, this is useful information. I am not sharing something I read; I am sharing experiences. I fly 60,000+ miles per year (8 years and counting), not counting my awards flights, so I have plenty of experience with pricing, airlines, airports, seats... Usually I fly with the same airline, although I occasionally have to go with another, depending what options are available.

 

Of course you have to look at everything before you book a flight--the routes, air crafts, connection times, airports, seats available, on time percentages, and more. The original poster asked a basic question, and I provided some information. Since you all think you know better about how things don't work, I guess that is your loss. Will I be sharing more info? I think not. I should have known better than to sharing flight info with "cruise experts."

[FlyerTalker]

I fly 60,000+ miles per year (8 years and counting), not counting my awards flights, so I have plenty of experience with pricing, airlines, airports, seats... I should have known better than to sharing flight info with "cruise experts."

Not picking a fight about the Yapta advice. The "Tuesday/Wednesday" comment gets some issue.

 

Part of the problem is that there are ALWAYS two sets of dates involved in an airline ticket purchase. Date of purchase AND date of travel. Too many out there only think of date of purchase, so a number of us try to keep it clear what dates we mean. Also, many flights sell out of the lowest buckets long before the 21-30 day out timeframe. What you really get is within that period there are often very few, if any, low discount tickets, and you are forced into significantly higher buckets. And the variance between buckets is much higher.

 

As for the "cruise experts", 6rugrats is a 1k on UA, I'm a diamond medallion at DL, AZJohn has to be either top or near top with UA/Star, and the list goes on with fgbd, globaliser and more....we're not "cruise experts" nor even true flight experts (like the guys that do a quarter million miles a year and get their mail addressed care of their airline). But we do know our stuff.

[grandmato4]

I'm assuming you haven't purchased your airline tickets yet for your Mar 13th sailing on the Liberty out of Miami. No idea where you're flying from.

 

Hopefully you plan to fly a day early to your port which would be a Friday Mar 12th and guessing your plans call for flying home either the day your crusie returns on Saturday Mar 20th or the following day on Sunday Mar 21st. Its always possible for an airline to run a sale this close to your sailing but the odds aren't so good for that to happen with your dates falling within spring breaktime for colleges along with many of us northerners who wish to get out of the cold and snow and enjoy warmer weather. I haven't nearly the experience with flying as many that have already posted but for the routes that I do travel and watch I rarely see prices go down in the 6 week period before a flight going to Florida that time of year. I almost always only see them increase those last weeks, sometimes drastically. For the timeframe of the end of Jan to middle March from where I live to FLL or Miami I've consistantly seen the best prices on the flights we would consider 5 to 8 months out the past few years.

 

Also a word of caution, cheapest flight isn't always the best flight option. Actually we rarely book the "cheapest" flight we see if we don't consider it the "best" flight for our money. Personally I don't do flights with 30-45 minute connection times at any airport. Way to risky for me and my luggage. I don't book flights with more than one connection when flying precruise and I am willing to pay a few more dollars for nonstop flights, especially precruise. I prefer the first flight out in the morning for the aircraft I'm flying on precruise and I always pay attention to how many flights the airline has later in the day going to my destination.

 

I do not book my return flight after a cruise sailing from Miami or FLL prior to noon if I am flying home the same day. So far I've never had a major delay in getting off the ship in either port but it does happen. I have experienced major backups at the airports in both checking luggage and getting through security. Always, no, I've sailed through on several occasions but experience tells me delays can and do happen and I choose to reduce the possiblty of stress and problems as much as I can.

 

Look at flight options into both Miami and Fort Lauderdale. If you have multiple airports within easy driving distance look at options from all those airports. It can be amazing to see the difference in cost by simply driving a bit further to another airport if that is an option for you. Look at the prices returning the day your cruise returns to port and the following day and check on the cost of a hotel room to see if that is a better option for you. Early morning flights leaving Miami or FLL that are too early for cruisers tend to have better pricing than later flights that all the cruisers need to book. Good Luck!:)

[fbgd]

As for the "cruise experts", 6rugrats is a 1k on UA, I'm a diamond medallion at DL, AZJohn has to be either top or near top with UA/Star, and the list goes on with fgbd, globaliser and more....we're not "cruise experts" nor even true flight experts (like the guys that do a quarter million miles a year and get their mail addressed care of their airline). But we do know our stuff.

 

I've only been on one cruise and have none planned! Not even sure why I'm here half, er, make that most of the time! :D

[FlyerTalker]

I've only been on one cruise and have none planned! Not even sure why I'm here half, er, make that most of the time! :D

The scintillating conversations and the jocular company??

 

Personally, I like being where someone other than my spouse tells me that I know nothing....:D

 

And pardon me for misspelling your name. How could I have done so!!

[Globaliser]

I have evidence from my experience that tickets cost less those days. My most recent experience was just last week. The middle of the week before, a flight I was looking at was $319. By the time my company approved the trip on Friday morning, The price had increased $60. I waited until the following Wednesday morning (1/27), and the price again dropped to $319.

But you can also get just as much anecdote in the opposite direction.

 

In fact, let me do some predicting: a ticket bought next Tuesday for London -> New York will be cheaper than a ticket bought for the same travel dates next Wednesday.

 

Why? It's got nothing much to do with it being Tuesday or Wednesday. It's just that a sale will end at midnight on Tuesday night. (It's already been extended once, so I don't think it's going to get extended again.)

 

Do you actually know why your ticket price increased by $60 and then dropped again? Did the airline file and then re-file fares to produce the increase and the decrease? Was there a booking class availability change? Were some booking classes systematically stripped of availability, or did it only apply to the flights you were on? Was booking class manipulation done on a single-sector basis, or did the airline apply O&D management when deciding which booking classes to strip for a few days?

 

Without answers to these questions and more, it is pretty much impossible to extrapolate from this single anecdote to any general proposition that airlines reduce fare for purchases on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. (And the plural of "anecdote" is not "data".)

Oh, and if anyone can figure out any logic from inventory managers can you please share it with the rest of us?:D

I know you're only kidding, but for everyone else: the serious answer is one that you need a PhD in maths to understand.

I am sharing experiences. I fly 60,000+ miles per year (8 years and counting), not counting my awards flights, so I have plenty of experience with pricing, airlines, airports, seats ...

None of us regulars here like to "willy wave", and (all joking aside) we always like other perspectives brought by knowledgeable frequent flyers who have their own experience to offer CC members.

 

But we "usual suspects" here do know what we are talking about. We have a lot of personal experience of buying air tickets and flying. In my case, that's much more than 60K miles a year, and all of it for leisure - so understanding the market is very important to the health of my personal wallet.

 

Both from experience as customers and from other observation/study of the industry, we know how the companies' systems work and what they are trying to do.

[fbgd]

The scintillating conversations and the jocular company??

 

At times ;)

 

And pardon me for misspelling your name. How could I have done so!!

 

Worry not. I think it gets misspelled more than not!

 

And the plural of "anecdote" is not "data"

 

:D:D I'll have to remember that one!

[AZjohn]

....Since you all think you know better about how things don't work, I guess that is your loss. Will I be sharing more info? I think not. I should have known better than to sharing flight info with "cruise experts."

 

The “usual suspects” here have a wealth of knowledge and experience they are always willing to honestly share with anyone. I think the honesty sometimes gets confused by some as arrogance, which is far from the truth as possible.

 

I personally have learned so much here by just reading their post and not getting the wrong message resulting in getting butt hurt. There were times in the past I wrote “I hear this and that is true followed by a post starting with “wrong!” (lol).

 

Am I an expert at flying and all the airlines? No, but I have/am flying more than 100K a year, mostly on international routes. This is my experience I can share as well as what I have learned from my fellow posters here on the Cruise Air threads on CC (as well as some other web sites).

 

The OP asked:

Heyyy.

I was just wondering when is the cheapest time to book a flight?

I heard 21 days before, i head 30 days before? and i heard right before?

Anyone know?

Thanks in advance. =]

 

 

My honest reply is there aren’t any set rules regarding this, period. I think we all wish there were, but there isn’t thus we all have tools set up to help us get what we call “best flights” (conditions we personally want to get from point A to point B).

[Twickenham]

(And the plural of "anecdote" is not "data".)

 

Bwaah! (runs to edit siggy)

[Gardyloo]

Airline Revenue Management is offered as an extra-credit add-on to the Arithmancy curriculum at Hogwarts. It's one of the toughest courses taught there, but passing it more or less guarantees a lifetime job at the Ministry of Magic, Air Transport Division.

[fbgd]

I think the honesty sometimes gets confused by some as arrogance, which is far from the truth as possible.

 

Quoted for truth.

 

I'm not the world's most frequent flyer but I do travel enough to earn a few shiny cards with the airlines and like to pass on my own experiences and advice.