When to buy airfare??? (+ another unrelated question)

[coolestwife]

1. Should I buy airfare as soon as I book the cruise or should I wait until closer to the sail date? I haven't flown in about 13 years and I'm a little nervous.

 

2. If two people are booked in a cabin and one cancels, does the person still going end up having to pay the double occupancy fare?

 

Thanks in advance....

[momofzeke]

How far out is your cruise? I am still 7 months away, so I've been shopping for airfare and waiting for Southwest Airline to open up it's schedule for March (right now they only go through December).

 

If you are only a month or two from sail date, I would get serious about getting a flight booked. If you are still several months away, you have time to do some comparison shopping. If you see a fare that seems like a good deal, though, grab it!

[coolestwife]

How far out is your cruise?

 

 

TOO FAR!!!! It's in May of '06...I'm just nervous that the prices will go UP instead of down between now and then....

[seaturtletattoo]

They will go up and down and down and back up and back down :) Hang in there! Unless it gets super super cheap, I would wait it out.

 

I just booked my airfare for my trip, it had dropped over $100pp in 20 hours. (And dropped $40 more pp this morning! BOO! I should have waited, oh well). Figure out what is a reasonable amount and go from there. You have plenty of time.

[coolestwife]

They will go up and down and down and back up and back down :) Hang in there! Unless it gets super super cheap, I would wait it out.

 

I just booked my airfare for my trip, it had dropped over $100pp in 20 hours. (And dropped $40 more pp this morning! BOO! I should have waited, oh well). Figure out what is a reasonable amount and go from there. You have plenty of time.

 

Does $405 round trip from LAX to Miami (non-stop) the week before Memorial Day sound good? As I mentioned it's been a while since I've flown.

 

P.S. my Step-daughter LOVES turtles....and wants a tattoo. I have to mention your screen name!

[HeidiHo]

If I wanted to fly From Chicago to Tampa the end of September, I could buy a ticket now for about $100.00 round trip. Flights for the end of March when we want to go are $400.00+ right now. The last couple of Spring Break trips we've taken, I have started looking into airfare about 6 months out. Fares were very high then. Around 4-5 months out they started to drop. Each time we paid around $200.00 pp round trip (once to Denver, once to Orlando). I really think if you wait, you'll see better prices. I'm just watching and waitng for our cruise in March. I don't expect to get the $100.00 rt fare that I could get for end of September since it's Spring Break but I'm pretty sure we won't be paying $400.00+. If I'm wrong, it'll be a lesson learned.

[coho ken]

I book our air as far out as possible, unless you are banking on let's say SWA who only releases about 3 months out. Then, make sure you get it right as the fares come out. I should add that we have 3 school aged kids and travel during breaks which makes it even harder to get good air the longer you wait. Once you are positive on the cruise, book! Start getting ideas by doing some searches now to get a base price. Also, if find what you think is a great price, it does happen, grab it because the prices change by the hour if not by the minute. We booked a Spring break cruise (March 06) at the beginning of June and had our air booked by end of June. Non-stop from O'Hare (Chicago) to Miami for 188.40 out the door. After we booked our six tickets the price jumped the next morning and has not come down since. Everything was done online and I searched many sites. This booking was directly through the airlines web page. The other sites could'nt come close to the price. Good luck and jump on a good price because this afternoon it might not be there.

[luvz2run2000]

This might not be too early for May 2006. We are on the 5/19 Liberty sailing and we booked our airfare three weeks ago. The price has gone up over a hundred dollars since we booked and there are less than 10 seats available on our flight out of Rome. If you want a specific flight and are going to wait check seat availability as well as price.

[CardsRamsRock]

Sign up with Travelocity.com's Farewatcher product (it's free.) You set the parameters: What airports (I believe you can select 5), another variable is price change, for example they will send you an e-mail everytime the price goes up or down $25 if that's the choice you make.

 

We have a cruise booked in October that we booked a couple of months back. Fares from St.Louis to Tampa had been in the $300 - $400 range ever since we booked. We recently found and booked a fare for $120 RT.

 

We might have done even better but I was comfortable with that price and we were able to get non-stop flights on the days and timeframes we wanted. If we had waited for even less expensive fares we may have gotten them but might have spent a lot more time in airports.

 

Another thing to consider are nearby airports, even when Tampa fares were high, Fort Myers was always much less. In Florida it's easy to rent a car at one airport and drop it off at another, usually without a surcharge. So we had a contigency plan of flying into Fort Myers (I believe it's a couple of hours a way) and renting a car and dropping it off at Tampa. I went through the reservation process at Dollar to make sure it would be cost effective and it would have made sense for us if the Tampa fares had stayed up.

 

I think the key is to be vigilant in your fare checking, for instance as good as Travelocity's program is they can't check Southwest Airlines fares so you have to check them for yourself. We never book early and have never been burned, I'm sure it will happen someday but I figure I'll have saved thousands of dollars in the interim!

[arizdback]

Most of March on Southwest is scheduled to be released early AM September 22. Subject to change.

How far out is your cruise? I am still 7 months away, so I've been shopping for airfare and waiting for Southwest Airline to open up it's schedule for March (right now they only go through December).

[ladycaveat]

Sign up with Travelocity.com's Farewatcher product (it's free.) You set the parameters: What airports (I believe you can select 5), another variable is price change, for example they will send you an e-mail everytime the price goes up or down $25 if that's the choice you make.

 

We have a cruise booked in October that we booked a couple of months back. Fares from St.Louis to Tampa had been in the $300 - $400 range ever since we booked. We recently found and booked a fare for $120 RT.

 

We might have done even better but I was comfortable with that price and we were able to get non-stop flights on the days and timeframes we wanted. If we had waited for even less expensive fares we may have gotten them but might have spent a lot more time in airports.

 

Another thing to consider are nearby airports, even when Tampa fares were high, Fort Myers was always much less. In Florida it's easy to rent a car at one airport and drop it off at another, usually without a surcharge. So we had a contigency plan of flying into Fort Myers (I believe it's a couple of hours a way) and renting a car and dropping it off at Tampa. I went through the reservation process at Dollar to make sure it would be cost effective and it would have made sense for us if the Tampa fares had stayed up.

 

I think the key is to be vigilant in your fare checking, for instance as good as Travelocity's program is they can't check Southwest Airlines fares so you have to check them for yourself. We never book early and have never been burned, I'm sure it will happen someday but I figure I'll have saved thousands of dollars in the interim!

 

How do I sign up with Travelocity.com Farewatcher?

[I Luv Crusin]

How do I sign up with Travelocity.com Farewatcher?

 

Go to Travelocity.com and look for Farewatcher, click on it and follow the directions............:rolleyes:

[beasfriend]

I booked our fare for a 1/8/06 cruise already - Boston to Miami non-stop on American. It's not a great price, $250pp, but during the winter once I get on a plane out of Boston I don't want to stop anywhere on the East Coast (or Cincinnati or Atlanta) because of weather - been there, done that and it isn't fun.

 

I keep checking the price of our flights and since mid-July they've gone up $130pp, so I'm happy.

[musicmansmom]

i check out the air fare prices as soon as they are available on the net. i book on the net with the air line i choose so if the prices go down i get get a credit. so far i have always saved hundreds ( and im not exagerating ) by booking early for my flights. on my last cruise i paid for my flight 11 months in advance. a month before the cruise the cost had gone from $302 round trip to over $900 :eek: . i check my flight all the time to see if the price has gone down but normally it just keeps going up. so booking the sooner the better is my moto :) .

[JodyB]

How do you get credited if the price goes down?

 

Thanks for any advice.

Jody

[popcorngal]

I booked our flight for January back in March when they first came out, and it has steadily gone up since then. I booked online directly with the airline. I do keep checking in case it goes down, but so far it's going the other way.

 

As far as paying if the other person cancels, I believe you pay what's called the single supplement, which is usually about 150% of the double fare. At least that's how it used to be...;)

[coolestwife]

i check out the air fare prices as soon as they are available on the net. i book on the net with the air line i choose so if the prices go down i get get a credit. so far i have always saved hundreds ( and im not exagerating ) by booking early for my flights. on my last cruise i paid for my flight 11 months in advance. a month before the cruise the cost had gone from $302 round trip to over $900 :eek: . i check my flight all the time to see if the price has gone down but normally it just keeps going up. so booking the sooner the better is my moto :) .

 

If you book directly with the airline and the price goes down, do you just call them and ask for a credit?

I found a not so great rate with Delta and Alaska Air that are non-stop (a plus in my book) and at the departure/arrival time I want and if I can get a credit if the $$ goes down, I'll book it!

[GoinCruisin]

If you book directly with the airline and the price goes down, do you just call them and ask for a credit?

I found a not so great rate with Delta and Alaska Air that are non-stop (a plus in my book) and at the departure/arrival time I want and if I can get a credit if the $$ goes down, I'll book it!

 

Depends on the airline and how they handle it, and what kind of fare you are booking, etc. Call the airline and ask them...

[momofzeke]

Most of March on Southwest is scheduled to be released early AM September 22. Subject to change.

 

Thanks, ariz. I'll be watching for that!

[klfhngr]

i got mine 4 months out for $715 for 2 people, price dropped to $525 for two people at 2 months out, so wait!!!! no need to rush like i did!

[coolestwife]

i got mine 4 months out for $715 for 2 people, price dropped to $525 for two people at 2 months out, so wait!!!! no need to rush like i did!

 

Did you contact them to see if they would credit the difference?