Airfare- book now or wait?

[vacationlover_mn]

I always buy my cruises way far in advance, and book flights as soon as they are available.  I know that due to what is going on in the world, some things are higher priced that normal. So… not sure what to do.

 

We want to fly direct, on delta, comfort plus or first class, from Minneapolis to LA, next Feb.  Comfort plus is $1300 for 2 people, first class is $2100.

 

What would you do- wait and see if prices go down, or book now?

[Biker19]

19 minutes ago, vacationlover_mn said:

What would you do- wait and see if prices go down, or book now?

You can lock in (probably a slightly higher price) by using Air2Sea but don't need to buy/pay till final payment. Then watch prices.

[vacationlover_mn]

4 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

You can lock in (probably a slightly higher price) by using Air2Sea but don't need to buy/pay till final payment. Then watch prices.

We have done air to sea before, but never kept an eye on prices… if they go down, do I just give them a call?

[Biker19]

Just now, vacationlover_mn said:

if they go down, do I just give them a call?

Yep.

[ATG]

We have a cruise in October that I need to buy airfare for.  Before the Ukrainian war, Delta comfort + was about $330.  Now it’s $460.  But, a couple of weeks ago it was $550.  I’m going to wait and see what happens in the next month.  I check a couple of times a week, if I see a good price I’ll book.

[Oceansaway17]

keep checking and making notes.

I was told that Tues is the best day and so I checked yesterday and got once price, today I got a $0 lower price so I booked it.

[Cigar King]

We fly first class.  I haven't noticed a lot of changes in the prices (from ORD to Florida ports).  What I have noticed is that capacity seems to fill up fast.  We just had to sit in row 1 because it was the only row available.  First world problem to be sure but all of our recent flights have been 100% full.

[vacationlover_mn]

Just now, Cigar King said:

We fly first class.  I haven't noticed a lot of changes in the prices (from ORD to Florida ports).  What I have noticed is that capacity seems to fill up fast.  We just had to sit in row 1 because it was the only row available.  First world problem to be sure but all of our recent flights have been 100% full.

Ok, good to know!  I see Delta is saying only 5 seats available at my current price, in first class…

[CruisingHogFan]

38 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

You can lock in (probably a slightly higher price) by using Air2Sea but don't need to buy/pay till final payment. Then watch prices.

If your flight gets canceled or changed you have to deal with Air2Sea. We had a horrible experience like many others and will never use them again. We got American to pull the reservation from them so we could make changes for no charge after Air2Sea wouldn’t let us (even tried to blame the airline)

[masspector]

Use Google flights.  You can put in your dates or pick specific flights and then track them.  You will get an email if price goes up or down.  In general domestic fares are best prices about 1-3 months before departure date.  You can also look at fare history on Google flights.  It will tell you if it is a good, ok, or high price.  However first and comfort could sell out.  

[DukeASUGirl]

Unless I find a phenomenally low rate, I never buy more than 1-3 months out. And usually closer to the lower end of that range.

 

Our cruise is in October, so I likely won't buy until the July-Sept range, unless I find something just shockingly low.

[masspector]

That is the beauty of Google Flights.  It does the work for you.  A year out you can put in a tracked flight and you will get an email each time the flight price changes.  You need to know what a decent price is.  But you will not miss out on a sale that might happen 6 or 9 months before your cruise.

[colesc15]

19 hours ago, vacationlover_mn said:

I always buy my cruises way far in advance, and book flights as soon as they are available.  I know that due to what is going on in the world, some things are higher priced that normal. So… not sure what to do.

 

We want to fly direct, on delta, comfort plus or first class, from Minneapolis to LA, next Feb.  Comfort plus is $1300 for 2 people, first class is $2100.

 

What would you do- wait and see if prices go down, or book now?

For what it's worth, I just bought tickets from Green Bay WI to LAX for February last week. The flight times were good, and worked with the cruise. We used 6,000 miles for the one way there, which was as cheap as I've ever seen since flights from Green Bay generally aren't cheap. If I had used cash, round trip was $360 a person. Add an extra $80ish for main cabin extra (comfort plus). 

 

Not Apples to oranges, but MSP being much bigger, I would expect way cheaper prices. LAX being a major hub, flights are usually cheaper than many.