How far in advance do you normally book your airfare?

[ute_fan]

We're sailing out of Miami on 11/5. I don't know how far in advance to book the airfare. It seems like any of the "sale prices" that are currently out there are only good through the end of May/first part of June.

 

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

[silentbob007]

If it's not during a peak time, I'd say about 3 months out. However, you should start monitoring prices now so that, if you see a great price any time before that, you will a) recognize that it is a great price and b) book it while you can.

[ute_fan]

Thanks for the suggestion. I've been looking already, but thought it was too soon to be stressing about it. I'm very good at stressing, however, so I just wanted confirmation from others about how soon they tend to book :eek: .

[PeterPan]

I start watching about 1 yr out. When I see a price I'm comfortable with, I book it, and don't look back.

[janetz]

If you go to http://www.cheapair.com there is a place were you can put in your info and the site will email you when the flights go up or down...:)

[lauren0309]

My cruise isnt until January. I've been keeping my eye out for airfares and this past week I saw an airfare I thought was good so I booked it. One less thing to worry about.

[RevSmith]

keep looking...pretty soon you will be an expert!

[love2vacation]

We leave in a week and I booked our air last summer. It never got any cheaper than the price I booked. If I would have waited till Fall to book, I would have had to pay 300.00 more! Course we are going during Spring Break season and that does make a big difference!

 

Just keep roaming the air sites till you see a price that you want to pay! Good luck.

[zqvol]

Book as soon as you find a price that is acceptable. With all the fuel price increases and airlines in bankruptcy, you should expect prices to increase and possibly a great deal.

[striplea]

I booked my airfare with my TA when i booked my cruise which is in december. I got a great deal on it. A week and a half later the exact flight jumped up $315 more a person. Needless to say, being on the budget I am, if we priced the cruise with that airfare we wouldn't have booked the cruise.

 

My best advice would be to set a price with yourself that your comfortable paying and then when the flight hits that point, book it. Just make the price your willing to pay a reasonable price.

[pltwannab]

If you feel like it is a good fare and within your budget, buy it. If there is a sale and the fare drops more than the change fee ($100 on most airlines) , you can call the airlines and ask for the lower fare. They subtract the change fee and give you the difference.

 

Done it a number of times.

[ute_fan]

Thanks for the good suggestions everyone. Part of my problem is dealing with the bankruptcy problem. Being from Utah, which is a Delta hub, the best flight times & prices are currently on Delta. I'm really hesitant to book Delta this far out. Guess I'll just have to keep looking and praying to the airline gods that the prices don't skyrocket over the next couple of months :eek: .

[mspink98]

We don’t sail until February 2007, and I plan on buying plane tickets as soon as I can-hopefully the end of this month. The airline we want to fly on has equivalent flights (leave Friday AM, return Sunday PM) in January 2007 for a VERY good price right now, so I will keep looking until our dates become available. The January fares I’m finding are just a hair over $200 for Milwaukee to Orlando, RT, on Midwest Airlines, and I don't think we'll do better than that.

[parody]

ute[/left]_fan] I don't know how far in advance to book the airfare.

 

To answer this question, the first thing one needs to ask is whether Southwest Airlines or some other "low-fare" carrier is a viable option. Typically, these airlines have relatively short booking horizons compared to the legacy carriers. For example, currently, Southwest is only taking bookings through August 3, 2006. In your instance, Southwest doesn't fly to Miami and you must consider whether going to Ft. Lauderdale from Salt Lake City is a reasonable thing to do. If it is an option you want to consider, you can monitor airfares and wait until bookings are open for your time period. Otherwise, you will need to follow the suggestions provided here.

[WiscCruiser]

For everyone looking for airfare, keep in mind that the airlines release flights to the general public 330 days before the flight. So, simply count back that many days from the day you plan on returning and that's when you'll first be able to buy your tickets. On flights during peak times such as Spring Break, book your airfare ASAP, and like others have said, don't look back.

 

For Kathy from Milwaukee: We're in the same situation as you. Our next cruise is in February 2007, so we've got a little while to wait until flights are available. Hoping for a good price on Midwest, too.

[zqvol]

Thanks for the good suggestions everyone. Part of my problem is dealing with the bankruptcy problem. Being from Utah, which is a Delta hub, the best flight times & prices are currently on Delta. I'm really hesitant to book Delta this far out. Guess I'll just have to keep looking and praying to the airline gods that the prices don't skyrocket over the next couple of months :eek: .

Check with someone about fare rules, but I believe that if Delta stops flying (most unlikely) other airlines will honor their tickets. If delta stops flying you can expect SLC fares to really go up so be careful.

[ciderapple]

If you go to www.cheapair.com there is a place were you can put in your info and the site will email you when the flights go up or down...:)

 

Has anyone booked through Cheapair? Are they reliable? I am currently looking at their website for a flights to Miami in Dec from the DC area. I always feel "safer" booking directly with the airlines, but the prices via the airlines are very pricey at the moment.

 

I thought there would be loads of choice seeing as we have three airports here BWI, DCA and IAD, but there seems to be very little in the way of non-stop flights leaving Dc in the morning and Miami pm. I am considering driving down at this rate!

[parody]

I have never used cheapair.com. Possibly others will pass on their experiences. I see that they have been in operation for 15 years. I do want to note that I think they are the only search site these days that includes Southwest Airlines. However, it does not include the full range of fares included on southwest.com

. In addition, the southwest site includes some lower fares that are not shown on cheapair.com

. I suspect this is but one reason why Southwest doesn't normally allow other sites to quote their fares and is a good reason not to use cheapair.com

when looking for a Southwest flight. On the subject of Southwest, have you considered a flight from BWI to FLL?

[ciderapple]

On the subject of Southwest, have you considered a flight from BWI to FLL?

 

Thanks, I did look, but I think the flight timings were wrong for us or something, I know I dismissed it for a reason! Confused after looking at different flights now!

 

I have now booked American Airlines BWI-MIA through Priceline, I have the flight numbers, e-ticket numbers etc, fingers crossed :rolleyes: