How early do you book flight???

[Goplayball]

We will be sailing out of Miami in Dec. Flight cost are on the high side right now. May have to consider driving and that is a long way from upper SC. Any thoughts or suggestions? We have a party of 4 with other couples.

[ms-getaway]

You could wait..but risks the flight you need being unavailable or even higher:eek:. Check flights going to Fort Lauderdale. They are usually cheaper.then you call SAS transportation to take you to the port of Miami for 13 dollars p/p each way. Thats the group rate, may be even cheaper. Hope it helps.:)

[texasnana]

I tend to book early and found out that there are certain seats on American planes that are cheap seats. Usually rows 25-27 on locations we fly to. Well i looked in March and found a non stop from Austin to JFK very cheap and guess what it was in that row of seats. I am glad i booked as our upcoming trips to see family i booked in jan for May and guess what in those rows of seats and the price is now 3/4 more then i paid. My thoughts are you book when you feel it is a good rate and do not keep checking.. Good luck.

[janetz]

Dec is pricey. Last year I found the cheapest rate mid October. I was checking prices am, afternoon and later pm, every day. They change constantly. You could drive down the day before and stay over at a place where you can leave your car for the duration of your cruise. ;)

[SlmGT]

We will be sailing out of Miami in Dec. Flight cost are on the high side right now. May have to consider driving and that is a long way from upper SC. Any thoughts or suggestions? We have a party of 4 with other couples.

 

I used Bing and found a 1-stop round trip flight for $225 (final cost) via Delta for Dec 4-12 but I'm not sure what dates you're going. There are non-stop itineraries, but for now they are significantly more expensive. Generally MIA costs more [in $ and stress-induced airport syndrome] than FLL.

 

I believe prices will be very volatile, but since I do not have loads of pricing data in front of me. I can tell you one thing; expect price drops on American Airlines, because right now after looking at their available seats on an 11AM non-stop flight, they'd be flying with literally a handful of seats taken. :eek: Now granted, AA's site is terrible as is their entire organization organizationally, but their prices ought to decrease substantially, especially because they will certainly lose money if they fly with almost all seats available.

 

But I do not know enough about flights to/from Charlotte/Miami to be definitive - so take it for what it's worth, likely ~grain of salt or sugar :D

[PhxRain]

Right now Orbitz has a price guarentee. Buy your tickets and if their prices go down and another Orbitz customer buys at the lower rate, you'll get the price difference in form of a check. Now you get the money AFTER your trip but at least you know you can buy now and maybe get some money back afterwards. Just 1 of many suggestions you'll get here. I am going to buy my tickets to Europe as soon next years dates for my cruise open up. Not going to wait & see if they go down. When we went to Hawaii in '08 I booked 9 months ahead for $555 each ticket. My brother hmmmm's & haw'd about whether to go with us or not so he waited. Tickets went up to $1200 each & he couldn't afford to go.

 

Have fun on your cruise!

[Bunkie103]

I buy them as soon as I see a price I can live with. A few years ago I waited for them to come down and would up spending more on transporting my family from Providence, RI than I did on the cruise.:eek:

[SunniLicious]

For our next trip, I bought airline tickets the first day that date was available for sale. :) Got a good price, too.

 

Usually we don't book trips far in advance so we get the air right after booking the land or cruise portion.

[MamaParrotHead]

I booked a few weeks ago for our January sailing. I had a price in mind I could live with, and jumped when I found it in combination with times I liked.