Booking flight for cruise

[tootsie 2]

We are going on a cruise in June of 2007. Would it be wise to book our flight very early (like a year in advance) or wait a while. Would we be less likely to have the flights changed on us if we waited. Thanks!!

[greatam]

You will probably get the best prices at 330 days out. You will not be able to control whether the flight times change, no matter when you book. Same goes for seating on aircraft. You can pick your seats and if they change aircraft type, you will have to pick your seats again. Just happened to me today. Booked for next Thursday to NYC on Tuesday. They have already changed the aircraft from 757 to MD80, thank goodness. So had to go pick seats again.

 

Make sure, whoever you book your tickets with, that you sign up for their notification system. And preferably to a cell or phone that has voice mail. Email notices get lost a lot of time in cyberspace. Enjoy!!!

[silentbob007]

I'm hyper about getting things booked, but unless I see simply a great fare, I will hold back from booking air until a 3-6 months out. This is especially true if you want to go with an airline that is in some financial trouble right now.

 

From my experience, the most expensive flights are the ones booked way out and the ones booked last minute ... both capitalize on different needs. I'd use the time you have to become a savvy air shopper. Try different travel and comparison sites, etc.

[Globaliser]

I have to say that I'm more with silentbob on this. If you know your specific travel dates a long way out, you can watch the movements of the market and get a feel for what the normal level of lowest fare is, and also sign up for sale notifications from airlines and other travel sites, and route-specific fare change notifications (eg Travelocity's Fare Watcher).

 

However, there is one thing that needs to be guarded against. If a sale comes along after a period of waiting, there's a great psychological temptation to wonder whether an even better sale might come along if one waited even longer. The answer is that one never knows. If a sale or a fare change occurs, and the new price looks good (especially when compared to how the market for that route has generally appeared over time), then is the time to grab it.

 

This is the downside of turning airfares into a great deregulated commodity market. We all have to be our own market watchers now.

[Keith1010]

It really would be helpful to know where you are flying from and to. On certain flights I have booked 11 months out but on others I have booked six months out. It depends on locations and what the prices are at the time I begin my reserearch.

 

Keith

[DanJ]

Yes, we definitely need to know the from and to here. A small market won't have the same price movement as, say Detroit or New York, to Florida, for instance. For our recent cruise, we booked on Delta 9 months out for a really cheap price that they didn't have again. After they changed their schedule in October, we had to cancel, since they no longer could get us home in one day. So I booked on Northwest out of Detroit for a fare that was cheaper than the original Delta from Flint. After I booked the NW flight, I followed their website for a week, and the price fluctuated from $200 (which I booked at) up to $400 and back down on a day by day basis.

 

If you book as far out as possible, there is more chance of schedule changes, simply because there is more time for them to tinker with things. It is a pain, because once you book your seats, you have to keep up on the schedule to make sure you keep good seats when they change the type of plane. My original flight on Delta had 4 different aircraft types on it before I cancelled, and I had to go online each time to secure decent seats.

[Cape Cruiser 2007]

Unfortunately w ecan't book flights more than like 330 days out. We're going Feb 2007 and can't book until mid March!

Stinks to try pre & post plans not knowing where & when we'll fly into Fla!

[greatam]

I'm hyper about getting things booked, but unless I see simply a great fare, I will hold back from booking air until a 3-6 months out. This is especially true if you want to go with an airline that is in some financial trouble right now.

 

From my experience, the most expensive flights are the ones booked way out and the ones booked last minute ... both capitalize on different needs. I'd use the time you have to become a savvy air shopper. Try different travel and comparison sites, etc.

 

I know the OP is going to Alaska as she has been asking questions on the Alaska forum. Alaska from anywhere domestic US sells the cheap seats out early.

 

We go to Alaska every summer, at least once. And I send 5-6 employees to Alaska at various times during the summer for our logistics work (fish to US markets). To avoid paying high air fare, I always try to book everything by at least late October. AA is my carrier of choice. But with the AA/Alaska partner agreement, I have found the cheap seats available either on AA or combined AA/Alaska to be the cheapest when the schedule opens. And it has been that way the last 6 years.

 

To other cruise destinations, it is truly a crap shoot.

[tootsie 2]

I know the OP is going to Alaska as she has been asking questions on the Alaska forum. Alaska from anywhere domestic US sells the cheap seats out early.

 

We go to Alaska every summer, at least once. And I send 5-6 employees to Alaska at various times during the summer for our logistics work (fish to US markets). To avoid paying high air fare, I always try to book everything by at least late October. AA is my carrier of choice. But with the AA/Alaska partner agreement, I have found the cheap seats available either on AA or combined AA/Alaska to be the cheapest when the schedule opens. And it has been that way the last 6 years.

 

To other cruise destinations, it is truly a crap shoot.

Thanks Greatam and thanks to everyone else. I'm learning so much on this forum from so many nice people.

[nparmelee]

Greatam offers good advice. Sometimes it's best to just book as soon as you can, I'm glad we did for our June Med cruise. The cost of our flights has almost tripled since we booked last July. We booked early because of using FF miles to upgrade.