Is it too soon to book airfare?

[PrincessE]

My husband and I are booked on the Grand Princess sailing out of FLL January 31, 2011.

 

We want to fly first class and I'm finding that it will be cheaper to fly into PBI instead of FLL or MIA.

 

I found a decent fare $886 R/T SEA to PBI. Do you think it's too early to book and pay for our airline tickets? My husband thinks prices will go up and we should buy now.

 

I'm always hesitant to book too soon (even though we booked our Caribbean cruise on our Mexico Nov 09 cruise!).

 

What do you all think?

 

BTW - since we're flying into PBI, we're renting a car, driving to FLL, dropping the car off at the airport and taking a cab to the hotel. We'll do the same after the cruise. Cab to airport, rent car and return it at PBI. Has anyone ever done that before?

[traveller99]

Personally, I'd book the airfare now. Fewer surprises down the road.

ENJOY!

[PrincessE]

Personally, I'd book the airfare now. Fewer surprises down the road.

ENJOY!

 

EXCELLENT POINT! And then I can forget about it and move on to obsessing over something else. LOL

 

Thanks for your input. That was the push I needed, I guess. :)

[diane.in.ny]

I can only tell you about my experience.

 

I have bought my air and had it go down significantly. I went to the airport ticket counter and was able to get a credit voucher for the difference.

 

I have no idea if any of the airlines are still doing this but if you feel the fare is a good one, I'd grab it.

[printingchick]

I would highly recommend booking now and taking advantage of that nice price guarantee where you'll receive a refund (via hovercraft, no less!) if the price goes down after you book. I believe it will cost you an extra $10 for that peace of mind, but if the price does drop, you'll save way more than that!!

 

Take if from someone who has benefitted.

[eandj]

Rule of thumb...when you see a price you can live with, book. And don't look back. Airlines are hard to predict with the fewer flights and seats available for many itineraries. And you know your first class seats are way fewer in number.

[jerandder]

My experience has always shown that it's better to book airfare earlier, rather than later.

 

Just a thought, though...figure out the rental car/gas price before you make your final decision. It seems to me that the fare would have to be significantly lower to fly into PBI for it to be worth all the hassle of the rental car (waiting time to pick up and drop off, driving time, catching cabs to and from hotels, etc.) Your time is worth money as well!

 

Enjoy your trip!

[eddiesgal]

I've always booked early and on the whole have locked in better prices. Of course nobody can guarantee that, but, IMHO, it's best to just find a price you're comfortable with and go for it rather than stressing over it.:)

[drd-aus]

Just a note about the rental car - make sure you get a solid quote upfront regarding any one-way dropoff fees as these can be as high as $100.

 

Buying air this far out I would go with a third party like Orbitz and make sure you get a lower price guarantee.

[printingchick]

In GENERAL I do agree that it's better to book early for lower prices. HOWEVER, I did this a couple years ago when gas prices started climbing. Everything was saying air fares would sky rocket, given the ever-increasing gas prices.

 

Well, gas prices did rise for a while, then they fell. I could have gotten a MUCH better air fare had I waited.

 

The point is, it is impossible to predict. If you can get some sort of price guarantee, it's worth doing it. If the prices don't fall and it cost you $20 for the price guarantee, big deal. You could potentially save HUNDREDS.

[lovemylab]

Three years ago I booked my airfare eight months in advance only to watch it go down in price. My TA felt prices would go up so that is why I booked when I did. Last year I booked my airfare on the first day the flights were available - the price only got higher. You win some and you lose some. If it's a price you are comfortable with, just book it and don't think about it again.

[Hlitner]

We often have internal debates about the best time to book air. But, we do have a thought about the current situation. The cost of oil has been going up up up (near $90 a barrel) and if the world economy continues to improve most experts expect oil prices to keep trending up. The airlines live and die with fuel costs so we expect prices to increase due to the oil prices.

 

Hank

[Krazy Kruizers]

We always book first class seats as well. There are very few flights from Pittsburgh to Ft Lauderdale so we book our flights as soon as possible.

[Seaphantom]

All of the above offer sound advice. My wife and I had held out a few years back for our Mediterranean cruise and the price did drop.....then rose....then dropped. At some point we were driving ourselves WHACK-O wondering when to book. As it got closer to cruise-time we decided to book and not stress. I believe the prices rose afterward. Very unpredictable.

 

Since your cruise is not for another nine months you may find a better fare later-though I can't speak for first-class fares. As E&J stated: if you're comfortable with the current rate then book it and not stress. If that rate is r/t for TWO folks then definitely book it. That would be a great rate for two first-class r/t tix!

 

I was going to state that January may be an off-season time for airlines therefore possible lower rates but if you're headed to the warmth then it is peak season for those routes. Enjoy your trip!

[6rugrats]

I would highly recommend booking now and taking advantage of that nice price guarantee where you'll receive a refund (via hovercraft, no less!) if the price goes down after you book. I believe it will cost you an extra $10 for that peace of mind, but if the price does drop, you'll save way more than that!!

 

Take if from someone who has benefitted.

 

I am a little confused by this post. Is this a joke?

[eandj]

I am a little confused by this post. Is this a joke?

 

 

Could that poster be referring to some of the online bookers like Travelocity, expedia etc. ? They offer the chance to price match if you find the rate lower within a certain period of time???? But I too don't get the 10.00 remark. :confused::confused:

[RoofingPrincess]

At one point the online bookers were charging a $5/ticket booking fee... could that be the $10?

[JEDMELK]

OK, first thing is that I believe what printingchick is referring to is some sort of price guarantee that is offered by a 3rd Party Booking Service (since she mentioned hovercraft-- watch the commercials folks). My guess is that the $10 refers to a cost for this price guarantee-- not sure if it is $5 each person (x2= $10) or the $10 per person. Either way, seems like a cheap insurance policy and obviously, printingchick has used that service to her benefit.

 

Next thing that I am surprised nobody has mentioned is: It may not be a bad idea to book now (we quite often book 6-8 months in advance as well) however, what you MUST DO is check back with the airline every month or so to make sure that they have not changed your flight schedule drastically. This far in advance can almost guarantee schedule changes-- sometimes they are just a few minutes but other times, they may cancel a flight you are on and put you on a flight on the next day. I speak from direct personal experience on that! Yes, airlines change schedule regularly and many times they do not notify you. It is not really a big thing as long as you catch the change well in advance but if you book now and then decide to check your flight info 2 days before you leave, if there has been a major change, you may be very unpleasantly surprised and not have very many choices.

 

One last thing is, as others have suggested, weigh all the factors for airlines cost between airports-- rental cars, time, grief, dealing with others on the roads, etc, etc. It may end up being the same to just fly to FLL.

 

Either way, have a great cruise

Jed

[PrincessE]

Thanks to everyone for the words of wisdom. We ended up buying our tickets last night from the 'hovercraft' folks. No booking fee. And they will notify us and give us money back if someone books the same flights, in the same class at a lower price.

 

We did weigh the hassles of flying into PBI instead of FLL. The whole 'renting a car, dropping it off at the FLL airport, taking a cab to the hotel' issue seems a headache, but the price difference really was substantial, IMHO.

 

We got our first class tickets, SEA to PBI for $886 per person. We won't fly red eye flights, so our flight times are awesome. We were finding for the same flight times a rate of about $1347-$1503 for SEA to FLL.

 

I did check on drop off charges (good suggestion there) and found two rental car companies that don't charge for drop off charges. We rented a car from PBI to FLL, picking it up at 6pm and dropping it off at 9pm for $38.35. We'll then take a taxi to our hotel (about $8.00).

 

When we disembark the ship we'll take a transfer to the airport (FLL) and pick up our car. Since we don't fly out until 6:40 pm out of PBI, we're keeping the car all day (we could have flown out sooner, but we wanted some dinkin' around time in FLL and the area). Our car rental is $100.30. Again, no drop off fees. We're renting our car from Alamo. Went directly to their site for that.

 

So for airfare, car rental and taxis it comes to approximately $1926.65. Not bad considering first class airfare to FLL was $2800-$3100.

 

And because I'm letting everything hang out here :) I got the Renaissance Fort Lauderdale At Port Everglades at Captain Kirk's site for $165 per night (we're staying two nights). Not bad. I think. :confused:

 

Thanks again to everyone for your suggestions, advice and opinions. It really did help.

 

If the price goes down, hopefully the hovercraft folks will stand by their promises and refund me some money. If it doesn't go down, I'm content with the price I've paid.

 

I'm celebrating my 40th birthday onboard - in my opinion - all of this is worth it to celebrate my birthday! LOL :p

[jtdlmc]

Which airlines/online companies have a price guarantee? I'd gladly pay $5-10 to get a refund if the fare goes down! I have always booked my flights on the airline websites. The flights were just released by some of the airlines for my dates (Feb 2011) and the fares are really high - about double what I've ever paid before.

[PrincessE]

Which airlines/online companies have a price guarantee? I'd gladly pay $5-10 to get a refund if the fare goes down! I have always booked my flights on the airline websites. The flights were just released by some of the airlines for my dates (Feb 2011) and the fares are really high - about double what I've ever paid before.

 

Orbitz and they didn't charge me anything.

[madge57]

I booked directly with the airlines!!! At the time they were cheaper than the hovercraft!!!! Going to Fll from Columbus, Ohio $195pp very good rate since Columbus is usually the higher priced airports in our area!!

[Seaphantom]

Good point. My wife and I did book early and the airline DID change our flight without notification. Fortunately, my wife is on it when it comes to travel arrangements. The change was such that we had a connectiing flight 15-minutes after the first flight arrived! Not possible unless the two flights are at adjacent gates and even that is pushing it. When I called the airline the agent stated that it is computerized and the computers aren't programmed to recognize a discrepancy. The first flight was changed but we were stil booked for the original connecting flight. Fortunately, there was sufficient options and the agent rebooked for us.

 

So, for very early bookers it is wise to check your flight schedule-and the cruise rates. Some cruise lines will honor a lower rate from your original booking if you notice a rate drop for the same cabin-type and you call them.

[NMLady]

Which airlines/online companies have a price guarantee? I'd gladly pay $5-10 to get a refund if the fare goes down! I have always booked my flights on the airline websites. The flights were just released by some of the airlines for my dates (Feb 2011) and the fares are really high - about double what I've ever paid before.

 

My understanding of that deal isn't that you get a refund whenever fares goes down but that you get a refund of the price difference if someone else books AT THAT SITE for a cheaper fare.

[Fattony]

Most of the posts seem to deal with the question of whether you should book now in order to lock in a good price or wait and see if the prices go down. If I found a good price I wouldn't wait just to see if there were sales later on, BUT there is also the concern of what are the odds of you needing to change your plans. Even with First Class airfare you may need to pay to change dates, and may be unable to cancel (I know this from painful first-hand experience). Depends on the particular fare. Personally, I'd hesitate to buy a non-refundalbe fare this far in advance, but my concern would be the chances of losing most if not all of my money. If my concern were just whether fares might go down, I'd probably go ahead.