Cheaper Airfare 8/22???

I saw on the national news one day that airfare for fall travel is the lowest on August 22. Has anyone else heard of this? My cruise is in October and I still haven't purchased my plane tickets.

I saw on the national news one day that airfare for fall travel is the lowest on August 22. Has anyone else heard of this? My cruise is in October and I still haven't purchased my plane tickets.

Not true. These news items get recirculated on a regular basis and usually refer to some kind of average. A common on is "On average, you'll find the lowest fares 45 days out." (or 29 days, or 53.5 days or whatever). But that's an average, and the specific day in question could actually have higher fares than the days on either side.

Apply common sense and think about it: Do you really think that every airline in the world is going to magically offer the cheapest tickets available for purchase on 8/22- for every single city pair and every single travel date in the upcoming 3-4 month period? If this was true, trust me- everyone would know they do this, and everyone who has any travel planned whatsoever for the months of Sept, Oct and Nov, would wait il 8/22 to buy their tickets. When they did, 2 things would happen: 1) The airlines would see that NO tickets were being sold for fall travel over the past 6 months, and they would start offering huge bargains...well before 8/22, and 2) when the airlines saw the huge surge in demand for ticket purchases on 8/22, they'd do what any smart business does when they see a surge in demand- they'd raise prices that day, probably to astronomical levels.

For someone, somewhere, traveling to some particular city, on some particular date this fall, on some particular airline, hindsight will eventually show that the cheapest ticket was, very coincidentally, sold on 8/22. But it's luck of the draw. You're just as likely to find the cheapest price for YOUR travel itinerary/dates/airline to be available 8/21, 8/30, or last Feb, or early October or pretty much whenever.

True story, that just happened in the last few days..

After hearing the (false) "buy on Tuesday" mantra for years, 5 days ago (a Thursday) I was reading a prominent financial magazine. They were interviewing a Frommer (major travel experts) editor, who was promoting buying on Saturdays as the best day to buy. Sure enough, two days later (on Saturday) the airfare for the trip I am currently researching, for next May, dropped 10%.

As of this morning, the fares have not changed from Saturday...still down 10%.

Saturday is the new Tuesday. Which was the new Aug 22...

I saw on the national news one day that airfare for fall travel is the lowest on August 22. Has anyone else heard of this? My cruise is in October and I still haven't purchased my plane tickets.

The lowest day to purchase or the lowest day to fly?

Of course this isn't true. There are millions of combinations of flights. How could it possibly be cheaper for all these flights on one day?

The buy on X day "advice" is just garbage. The amount of information that is published about how airline pricing/revenue management or yield management works is minimal so people draw their own conclusions.

How many years of experience does this self proclaimed expert at Frommers claim to have in working for the airlines in the relevant departments? Just because they claimed that Saturday is a good day and you happened to find a fare go down on a Saturday and stay there for a few days doesn't mean this Frommers guy is on the money.

 

How many years of experience does this self proclaimed expert at Frommers claim to have in working for the airlines in the relevant departments? Just because they claimed that Saturday is a good day and you happened to find a fare go down on a Saturday and stay there for a few days doesn't mean this Frommers guy is on the money.

It was a gal at Frommer, and her last name was Frommer...so you can deduct what you wish from that.

My comments were tongue in cheek...I don't believe any such situation actually exists. I fly lots...many times a year.

I believe the far more interesting to watch in the coming months is going to be the full introduction of the Basic Economy fared by the majors.

Will those fares track standard Economy fares, or will they be on a completely different algorithm? What percentage of available seats will the Airlines allocate to those fares? How will the boarding process be affected in reality?

I'll never buy that Class of ticket, but I believe it will have some major impacts. First being, I was told by one AA rep, that for those over sold flights with BE tickets, their will no longer be requests for people to take bumps. The seats for those BE passengers won't be assigned until at gate. They 'lol use certain procedures to assign remaining seats with those left over being bumped. No negotiations for a better deal thereafter, here's your voucher, and we'll help you find a new flight after this one is departed or go to Custer service.