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Question on when to book flight and hotel


TimeToGetNauti
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I need a little help. In the past I have either traveled with my mother and allowed her to make the reservations for the flight and hotel, or my travel agent books for me. Now my dilemma is my travel agent is my mother in law, and she is not the best travel agent. I got roped into booking the cruise through her, long story, but my husband and I agreed we were going to book the flight and hotel separately. Mainly because last time she procrastinated so long we had to pay double for both and had to drive further to a different airport because the flights we wanted were booked. Anyway, can anyone tell me how early is too early to book either of these.

Thank you all for your help.

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Hotels can usually be booked one year in advance, and can be cancelled without penalty if you choose that booking option.

 

Most airlines open flights 330 days in advance.

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"They" say that Tuesday afternoon, six weeks before your departure, is the best time to book a flight. I don't know who "They" are or how accurate that information is. We start looking at flights and hotels as soon as we have our cruise booked. When we find a price we are comfortable with, we book it. Sometimes that works out to be a year in advance, other times it's only 2 or 3 months in advance.

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"They" say that Tuesday afternoon, six weeks before your departure, is the best time to book a flight. I don't know who "They" are or how accurate that information is. We start looking at flights and hotels as soon as we have our cruise booked. When we find a price we are comfortable with, we book it. Sometimes that works out to be a year in advance, other times it's only 2 or 3 months in advance.

 

I always book my hotels right away to get the best price. I saved quite a bit of money by booking my hotels for our May cruise back in December when I booked the cruise. I can't believe how much the hotel prices have gone up since then. I'm just thankful it's off season and the prices were so much lower than our cruise last December when the prices were outrageous!

 

As far as airfare goes, I wait to start looking at about 4 months out and watch every day for the best deals. For me, it has usually been about 6 wks to 2 1/2 months out for some reason and yes, Tuesday seems to be the best day to book but I have no clue why. I have looked at airfare 9mos - yr out thinking the prices would be really good that far in advance but it's the opposite...prices are ridiculously high for some reason and there is no way I'll book that soon and pay those prices.

 

Good luck!!

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It's like picking winning lottery tickets for airfare. Last year I waited until about 90 days prior to buy plane tickets, this year cruising at relatively the same time they are $10 cheaper 11 months in advance so I booked them. Right now they are $65 (x 8 passengers) more than what I paid.

 

Hotel you can usually book right away and change if price goes down. I also booked them at 11 months and that rate is $50 (x 3 rooms) less than they are today.

 

Just have to watch them and book when you are comfortable and hope for the best.

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OP,

You left out some critical information. Where and when are you cruising? It makes a big difference. Europe in December? Caribbean over Christmas and New Years? Asia during typhoon season?

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I book the hotel as soon as I book the cruise because it's free to book and free to cancel or change up until the day before you arrive. I keep an eye on airfare regularly and have a good idea what an average fare is to get where I'm going, and I will book as soon as the flights open up and I see an airline with the price at or below the expected price. If you haven't kept an eye on flights beforehand and don't know what price is good, then I would book as soon as possible with Southwest, because it seems that more often than not, prices just go up, but at least with Southwest you can make changes if the price goes down.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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Agree with most the others...

I always book hotels ASAP...and, unless the deal is too incredible to pass up, on a cancelable rate. Then I check out prices from time to time...and, if I find a better deal, I book that and cancel the first one...

 

Airfare is a bit more of a problem...the best deals MAY show up six weeks out...but, not always....and it depends on route, time of year and airline...Southwest Airlines, for example, always displays a variety of rates for the same route...and the cheaper ones always sell out first (and those rates are for the same seat). Also, busy times of year--holiday weeks, summer high season, etc. tend to fill up and desirable flights disappear...so, wait for six weeks out and you risk not getting the most desirable flights. So, I start looking 330 days out with an idea as to what I think is a decent price. If I find it, I book it...and, then, I don't look back.

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OP,

You left out some critical information. Where and when are you cruising? It makes a big difference. Europe in December? Caribbean over Christmas and New Years? Asia during typhoon season?

 

Haha. I am cruising middle of April next year our of Ft. Lauderdale. Easter is early so spring break should end the week before I leave.

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Haha. I am cruising middle of April next year our of Ft. Lauderdale. Easter is early so spring break should end the week before I leave.

 

Don't count on Spring Break being over. Spring break is different everywhere. My wife works for a school district. My kids attended schools in a different district. Their Spring Breaks were almost never the same week. I went to college at UCLA--on the "Quarter System"...Our Spring Break was always different than other local colleges that were on the Semester System.

 

For 2018, most colleges appear to have their Spring Break in March, but different weeks...and several have theirs in April--all the way up to the week of April 14. UCLA, U of Miami, Brandeis, Cornell, three of the SUNY campuses and others are in the first week of April, for example. K-12 districts around the country could be anywhere in the time frame. Not everyone bases it on religious holidays.

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Don't count on Spring Break being over. Spring break is different everywhere. My wife works for a school district. My kids attended schools in a different district. Their Spring Breaks were almost never the same week. I went to college at UCLA--on the "Quarter System"...Our Spring Break was always different than other local colleges that were on the Semester System.

 

For 2018, most colleges appear to have their Spring Break in March, but different weeks...and several have theirs in April--all the way up to the week of April 14. UCLA, U of Miami, Brandeis, Cornell, three of the SUNY campuses and others are in the first week of April, for example. K-12 districts around the country could be anywhere in the time frame. Not everyone bases it on religious holidays.

 

 

Sadly I know. I had planned on going the very end of April. But sadly, my mother in law intervened again. Lol.

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The Spring Break dilemma is real. Spring Break can be anywhere from March to late April depending on the school district. I agree with others that the hotel reservation could be made as early as possible. And I would start watching airfare ASAP and book what feels comfortable to you.

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Book your hotel of choice early then check back even up to a few days before your trip. We had booked about 6 months out, joined the loyalty club for that brand. We got our rate lowered by booking and cancelling 3 more times, in the end we paid half of what we originally booked. The price will go down when it gets closer if the hotel has alot of openings avaliable. We sailed April 1, very much still spring break in Ft. Lauderdale. If your willing to keep checking prices, you may find a bargain.

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Hi

We have booked the Oasis of Seas for next Feb. I have been checking air Southwest and Hotels regular. In the past, I usually book my air as soon as it becomes available' with Southwest out of Buffalo . The day before our cruise. Then book our Hotel at same time. So far it has work well for us. Since this our first time out of Port Canaveral. We are looking at the Radisson Inn and Cortrans Shuttles from Orlando airport roundtrip, We have read most reviews and just double checking to see we are on right track. Thank you for any other info in advance. Happy Cruising:D.

298 days till cruise time

kruise kat:D kruise runner:cool:

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Once I settle on a Hotel I will book as soon as they open their dates, the airlines, hard to say but will keep checking prices and when I feel it has dropped to a good price I book that. I have been told the best time to book is on a Tuesday also that to check prices for the exact day and closest month to your leaving, even if dates are not open.

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I've had great luck with the hopper app. I was watching a flight to New Orleans in July, a few weeks ago it went down to $307, and suggested I book it. It has since been as high as $550, and tbe app says it probably won't go lower than $399.

 

However, it wasn't as accurate for a flight to Dublin in April. It was Easter week, and it's based on flight prices from last year, so flights ended up being higher, and didn't go down as low as hopper expected, since Easter was in march last year.

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Sadly I know. I had planned on going the very end of April. But sadly, my mother in law intervened again. Lol.

 

The end of April may not have worked any better...

 

 

We are just off the 22 Apr 2017 Harmony sailing. Spring break was still alive and well, there were 1700 kids onboard.

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I am glad I saw this thread. It reminded me to check my hotel reservation for my cruise in September/October leaving out of Port Canaveral. When I made the hotel reservation back in February I booked at $153 per night. As a result of this thread I checked this morning and I rebooked @125 so it pays to check those hotel reservations. The same thing worked for me in San Juan during my last cruise.

I have a tendency to wait as long as I can on airfare. I have not booked a flight to Orlando for our Sept/Oct cruise yet because of the price. I am also signed up to receive low price air fare alerts from airfarewatchdog dot com. If I can't get a cheaper flight then we will just drive to Port Canaveral. :cool:

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We book our hotel well in advance, although we have never had to worry about price fluctuations there. We, frequently, use points or certificates anyway. I have seen hotels in the Galveston area get fully booked long before a cruise so the location can get a little dicey if you wait to book a hotel.

 

We watch flights very closely and like others here have said, Tuesday is a good day to check them out. The timing can be interesting when the price drops. Yesterday (Tuesday), United dropped their 1st class to Hawaii by around $700 for our January trip so we went ahead and booked. We have gotten cheaper flights but that was years ago. The other airlines were $1,600 to $2,010. Usually, we find 60-90 days out, the prices fluctuate. Good Luck

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I've always heard that you should book international flights as soon as they're available or about 10 months in advance. Does anyone know if this is true? We're cruising out of Sydney next year.

 

I do agree that price wise it's best to wait (if you can) to book domestic flights no more than 2 months in advance.

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I've always heard that you should book international flights as soon as they're available or about 10 months in advance. Does anyone know if this is true? We're cruising out of Sydney next year.

 

I do agree that price wise it's best to wait (if you can) to book domestic flights no more than 2 months in advance.

I've always heard 6 months out is the best time to book international flights. We sailed out of Sydney a little more than year ago and I booked those about 6 months in advance and I believe I got decent fares.

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As a very experienced traveler, I can tell you that with few exceptions prices tend to increase over time. I find the best rule of thumb with hotels is to book early and monitor. They make it easy to re-book your reservation.

 

Airlines, work differently. They have a much more limited product. Pricing depends on the city pairs and demand. Weddings, conventions (business and leisure), business meetings and sporting events can sell out a days of flights in minutes. If you do not have options like driving to a port, or can travel flexibly over a period several days wide, be sure that you book before fares rise dramatically. You downside risk rises the longer than you wait.

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I've always heard that you should book international flights as soon as they're available or about 10 months in advance. Does anyone know if this is true?
I've always heard 6 months out is the best time to book international flights. We sailed out of Sydney a little more than year ago and I booked those about 6 months in advance and I believe I got decent fares.
The only sure rule about booking flights is to book them when they're cheap. The trick is to do your research in advance to find out what "cheap" means for the route that you want.

 

Sometimes you'll get the lowest fares if you book 363 or 360 or 355 days before the flight, if that's when the airline opens bookings. Sometimes you will only get very high non-discounted fully flexible fares if you book at that time.

 

Sometimes there will be a sale that covers your travel dates that you can make use of, and you'll get a bargain. Sometimes, the only sale that will ever cover your travel dates will have finished two days before you knew which dates you wanted to book your ticket for.

 

And sometimes you will get an extraordinary bargain the week before travel, or even later. The best value fare I ever got to go from London to Sydney was booked a week before I departed: just under £1,000 round-trip in premium economy, a price never seen again. The best value fare that I ever bought for a short-haul trip was London to Amsterdam same-day round-trip, booked the day before travel so that I could go to have lunch with a friend there - and the fare was available because a strike that was due to start that day was cancelled at the last minute so there was huge amounts of space and the airline was happy to ditch it for anything that it could get.

 

You just never know.

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