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Best time to buy flight tickets


mdin
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I apologize in advance if this topic doesn't belong in here.

 

For those who fly to get to their cruise port, when do you typically purchase airline tickets?

 

I'm basically looking for the best price and am debating between buying now (4 months out) or possibly waiting for a better deal as we get closer to the end of February. In my case, it will be Hartford to Miami or Fort Lauderdale. 

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You are flying in high winter season to a popular city.

Why would you think that prices would go down?? They are based on supply and demand so if lots of people want the tix they will remain expensive!

I'd buy today if the price is within your budget. Waiting might mean an even higher price!

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When you are comfortable with a price book. I always  look at price, non-stop, and flight times both ways. Earliest the better going to Fla., return trip around 1-2 p.m.

 

Check multiple airlines both one way and round trip. 

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The rule of thumb is 60 days out to hypothetically get the "best price".  Of course, this is just a rule of thumb.  Like anything else, supply/demand governs and price-predictive modeling becomes moot.

 

It's best to monitor prices over time based on where you are coming from and where you are going to for a period of time to determine (a) if you are getting a "good" price and (b) how those prices are trending

 

With airfare, it is never a good idea to wait because, more often than not, prices will rise as supply diminishes.  It's a rarity these days that airlines have to slash their prices to sell off empty seats.  That's not to say a bargain cannot be found... it's just not an industry-wide common occurrence.

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I book travel as part of my job, and for myself. 60-90 days are usually the best rates. Only in rare cases do the prices go way down closer to departure. When I started looking for my January flights the cost was over $400 RT. I bought around October 10th and paid $313. Now it's going for $320. I also use several different websites to monitor prices.

Edited by JennyB1977
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On 11/5/2018 at 12:48 PM, mdin said:

I apologize in advance if this topic doesn't belong in here.

 

For those who fly to get to their cruise port, when do you typically purchase airline tickets?

 

I'm basically looking for the best price and am debating between buying now (4 months out) or possibly waiting for a better deal as we get closer to the end of February. In my case, it will be Hartford to Miami or Fort Lauderdale. 

 

On 11/5/2018 at 1:02 PM, riffatsea said:

You are flying in high winter season to a popular city.

 

 

On 11/5/2018 at 1:24 PM, StolidCruiser said:

The rule of thumb is 60 days out to hypothetically get the "best price". 

 

With airfare, it is never a good idea to wait because, more often than not, prices will rise as supply diminishes.  It's a rarity these days that airlines have to slash their prices to sell off empty seats.  That's not to say a bargain cannot be found... it's just not an industry-wide common occurrence.

 

Hypothetically?  Based on what logic?  Airfare is highly fluid and there is no one time that is consistently best for getting the lowest fare.  It's also not as simple as saying that with every seat sold the supply diminishes so the price rises.  Yes, supply goes down, but airlines use complicated and secret algorithms to determine pricing.  Just because a seat sells doesn't automatically mean the price will now go up.  If the airline hasn't sold the number of seats it wants sold by that date, the price may well stay the same.

 

On 11/5/2018 at 1:30 PM, Tiger0613 said:

If you aren't an elite with an airline and you care about where you sit, buy now to have a better chance of getting the seat you want.

 

Again, not so fast.  Airlines often make choice seats unavailable to non-elites, leaving them available for elites to select, even up to the last minute.  Last week I booked a relatively last minute flight to join friends in FL for a special event.  It was just a couple of days prior, and I had no trouble (as a Delta platinum medallion member) selecting a good seat on 3 of the four of the flight legs involved.  Besides, even if you can't choose the seat you want several months out, most elites know to keep checking...other seats will likely open up as pax cancel flights, pay to upgrade etc.

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I buy when it's a price I'm comfortable with.  A lot of the international flights we do I know where my comfort level lies.  I do try and always get the bulkhead on our flights on Air Canada so I have to keep availability and price in mind when I book.  Just booked London for next April, so six months out.  $850 Cdn. Non Stop and the bulkhead both ways was wide open. 

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We watch pricing, establish a buy price that we are comfortable with, and hit the buy button when our desired flight hits.  We have enjoyed great fares six months out and as little as  ten days days out.    If we have a cruise booked we check cruise air.  Invariably we can do just as well on our own.

 

Unusual for us but we now have all air booked on a Canada-Thailand-Australia trip .  Flights were booked four/five months out.  Our flights/price point hit so we booked.  More often it seems that we either book 45-60 days or 14 days out.  We are retired and are spontaneous travelers.  Changing our schedules slightly to take advantage of good fares has become the norm.  

Edited by iancal
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On 11/7/2018 at 7:17 AM, waterbug123 said:

 

Again, not so fast.  Airlines often make choice seats unavailable to non-elites, leaving them available for elites to select, even up to the last minute.  Last week I booked a relatively last minute flight to join friends in FL for a special event.  It was just a couple of days prior, and I had no trouble (as a Delta platinum medallion member) selecting a good seat on 3 of the four of the flight legs involved.  Besides, even if you can't choose the seat you want several months out, most elites know to keep checking...other seats will likely open up as pax cancel flights, pay to upgrade etc.

Tiger was commenting on buying now as a NON-ELITE while your apparent disagreement with his opinion is based on buying as an ELITE!

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7 hours ago, NantahalaCruiser said:

Tiger was commenting on buying now as a NON-ELITE while your apparent disagreement with his opinion is based on buying as an ELITE!

 

Sorry, my reply did not come off as intended.  It sounded like he was implying to OP that if seat selection matters to a non-elite, buy early.  My point was that buying early doesn't necessarily mean non-elites have a much better selection than they do when waiting to purchase....due to the preferred seats (rows toward front of cabin, aisles and windows in back of cabin, exit rows, etc) often being reserved for elites to select.

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