Best time to buy airline tickets

[PirateOne]

Hi all,

 

Hopefully soon to be first time cruiser in July. Look at taking the RCI Majesty of the Seas Bahamas cruise in July. When's the best time to buy the airline tickets to be the best rate?

 

Looking to fly from the Peoria/Bloomington Illinois area to Ft Lauderdale. Got a quote now for 2 for $390 a person...wondering if I should bite or wait a little.

 

Thanks!

[paul929207]

Your guess is as good as anyone else's.

[momoftwinteens]

I know of a website that will monitor the prices for you. I am unable to tell you that website's name. However, if you use your search engine and look up "airfare monitoring", it should come right up. It starts with a "Y". It was very helpful. I simply entered when I wanted to fly and the destination. The website not only monitored the prices, it let me know by e-mail when the prices changed either up or down so I could make an informed decision about when to buy.

[cb at sea]

Used to be 45-30 days out...but now...who knows! With the fuel prices rising..you never know. When the prices get to where it won't hurt too much, buy them. You have to get there somehow!

After you purchase...STOP LOOKING AT PRICES! You'll drive yourself crazy!

[6rugrats]

It is not against board policies to name Yapta. OP - I don't see any round trip fares for your routing for the entire month of July (you didn't give your exact travel dates) for less than $330 RT - cheapest flights are on Air Tran.

 

Will prices go down? Who knows? Just consider you want to travel to Florida in the summer, and so do lots of other people who are also taking a vacation.

[easy2sea]

About $200 per person sounds fair. Sometimes you may find sales right before the summer time, say late April early May. But i would book the tickets you found now since summer time is usually very busy. The last thing you want is for your flight to be sold out or for you to be forced to purchase a higher fare. Also, depending on your travel style, (i'm a backpack/carryon kinda gal LOL) you may want to try searching for rates to Miami and West Palm Beach. They are a tri-rail ride away from Fort Lauderdale.

[milton333]

Hope this is okay per the board rules, but Bing travel has an "airfare predictor" that's supposed to be better than 50% accurate at predicting whether airfare will go down, based on historic trends. You need to be looking for travel within at least the next 6 months, closer to travel date is more accurate. Put in your travel plans, and it will show an arrow indicating whether you should buy now or wait. There are a number of other fare monitoring websites out there.

 

For what it's worth, most airlines will announce a sale on Monday evenings, which will be widely known by Tuesday. Usually the discount carriers (like Southwest) will have their sales advertised by Tuesday morning, and the bigger carriers will match if they're going to by Tuesday afternoon. So something like 3 pm on a Tuesday is one of the best days of the week to buy airfare. Don't buy on a Saturday. Most of the fare sales will last only through Thurs or Fri, and then rates will bounce back up.

[alhulst]

With the price of fuel climbing I would book now as economics would indicate higher prices coming.

[chipmaster]

Will the stock market go up on Monday or Down, find someone who knows and they can likely tell you when to buy tickets too :D

Hi all,

 

Hopefully soon to be first time cruiser in July. Look at taking the RCI Majesty of the Seas Bahamas cruise in July. When's the best time to buy the airline tickets to be the best rate?

 

Looking to fly from the Peoria/Bloomington Illinois area to Ft Lauderdale. Got a quote now for 2 for $390 a person...wondering if I should bite or wait a little.

 

Thanks!

[firefly333]

Iv already bought my airfare for Sept. I would have bought further out, but some airlines dont have quotes yet for the next cruise I need airfare for.

[KirkNC]

Hi all,

 

Hopefully soon to be first time cruiser in July. Look at taking the RCI Majesty of the Seas Bahamas cruise in July. When's the best time to buy the airline tickets to be the best rate?

 

Looking to fly from the Peoria/Bloomington Illinois area to Ft Lauderdale. Got a quote now for 2 for $390 a person...wondering if I should bite or wait a little.

 

Thanks!

 

You will only know in hindsight; however I can't imagine that they will get any cheaper.

 

Kirk

[botbienvn]

PirateOne,

 

I have also been watching the airfare from Chicago O'Hare to Miami and Ft. Lauderdale since we booked our crusie last week. The prices for both routes have gone up $50 per roundtrip ticket.

 

I know Spirit Airlines have sales for flights to Ft. Lauderdale on certain days in a week. You need to sign up to receive emails regarding these promotions so you know when there is a promotion. I got an email last week and went to their website to check. The total cost for my family (4) came out to be $1100 after taxes (direct flights.) It was a great deal. At this point, we want to fly to Miami, so I passed it. However, I'm still watching the prices for Ft. Lauderdale just in case.

 

You will need to monitor it everyday to be able to tell when is a good time to book.

 

Good luck.

[KirkNC]

For once we made the right call this year (after getting crushed by a large price drop two years ago :mad:). We booked Washington to Paris with a return of Amsterdam to Washington for $928/pp. Those same tickets are now $1,205/pp so we saved $277/pp by booking early or a total of $831. Heck we are driving 3.5 hours just to get that deal. If we flew from Raleigh it would have been $1,500/pp :eek:. I can take a little drive for $1,716 ;).

 

Kirk

[firefly333]

The total cost for my family (4) came out to be $1100 after taxes (direct flights.) It was a great deal. At this point, we want to fly to Miami, so I passed it. However, I'm still watching the prices for Ft. Lauderdale just in case.

 

You will need to monitor it everyday to be able to tell when is a good time to book.

 

Good luck.

 

Its actually cheaper for me to fly into FLL than MIA and shuttle to the hotel. No shuttle I know of from MIA, so its $24 taxi. If I fly into FLL, SAS shuttle is only $15 and since Im flying in myself so its cheaper actually to shuttle to the hotel from that airport.

 

Before you turn down the idea of flying into MIA compare the taxi prices,,not all that different. Lets say its $60, which is probably on the high side vs. $24, so $36 difference for a taxi to your hotel. Saving $36 on the taxi vs paying extra might not make much sense if the rates jump on airfare.

 

My problem with Spirit, who I booked for the first time, rates dropped on my return flight ..too bad, so sad, you cant get it in future credit as other airlines will. My even bigger complaint ..each carry on is $30 pp and to check a bag is $28. Im paying $56 to check my bag round trip ...when all I got is a carry on. Drives up the price Im paying big time.

[botbienvn]

Its actually cheaper for me to fly into FLL than MIA and shuttle to the hotel. No shuttle I know of from MIA, so its $24 taxi. If I fly into FLL, SAS shuttle is only $15 and since Im flying in myself so its cheaper actually to shuttle to the hotel from that airport.

 

Before you turn down the idea of flying into MIA compare the taxi prices,,not all that different. Lets say its $60, which is probably on the high side vs. $24, so $36 difference for a taxi to your hotel. Saving $36 on the taxi vs paying extra might not make much sense if the rates jump on airfare.

 

My problem with Spirit, who I booked for the first time, rates dropped on my return flight ..too bad, so sad, you cant get it in future credit as other airlines will. My even bigger complaint ..each carry on is $30 pp and to check a bag is $28. Im paying $56 to check my bag round trip ...when all I got is a carry on. Drives up the price Im paying big time.

 

We'll fly to Miami the day before the cruise and will stay at a hotel (not sure if I can mention name here) that provide complimentary shuttle from airport to the hotel AND from the hotel to Port of Miami. On the way back, the shuttle cost (booked thru this hotel) is $10/ pp from the port to Miami airport. So, overall, there are cost savings for us on taxi from hotel to the port.

 

I'm not into Spirits that much either. They charge $45 for each carry-on luggage. We usually have 2 carry-on luggages with us. So, it's $90 right there.

[firefly333]

We'll fly to Miami the day before the cruise and will stay at a hotel (not sure if I can mention name here) that provide complimentary shuttle from airport to the hotel AND from the hotel to Port of Miami. On the way back, the shuttle cost (booked thru this hotel) is $10/ pp from the port to Miami airport. So, overall, there are cost savings for us on taxi from hotel to the port.

 

I'm not into Spirits that much either. They charge $45 for each carry-on luggage. We usually have 2 carry-on luggages with us. So, it's $90 right there.

 

$24 for a taxi is cheaper than $10 per person = $40??

 

btw I flew into Miami last fall and wound up taking the city bus to Intercontinal, a 5 star hotel near Bayside and the port, and it only cost me $2. Yes, we can mention the names of hotels. I got it for $84 on lastminutetravel.

 

I really wouldnt pay that much to fly into one or the other airport, as they are about 30 minutes apart. If you prepay for the carry on, its $30 not $45, assuming you dont join their club, then its cheaper.

 

You really have to sit down and look at what it costs bottom line to decide which airport. I found the $2 bus in Miami took a while, maybe an hour, but it was the right price and I had lots of time to wait for my friend who flew into FLL.

[Krazy Kruizers]

we know that we can't wait to buy tickets -- there are so few flights out of our area that we have to jump on the flights just to make certain that we get the dates we want

[botbienvn]

$24 for a taxi is cheaper than $10 per person = $40??

 

I'm aware of the flat taxi rate of $25. However, when I called a taxi compay last week to check out, they said with my family size (4 people plus 3 suitcases and 2 carry-ons,) taxi may not work out.

 

Thanks for the information on Spirits carry-on charges. I have not flown with them and unaware of the $30 rate. It's good to know.

[botbienvn]

$24 for a taxi is cheaper than $10 per person = $40??

 

I'm aware of the flat taxi rate of $25. When I called a taxi compay last week to check out, they said with my family size (4 people plus 3 suitcases and 2 carry-ons,) taxi might not work out. So, I budget $40 for our family for the shuttle.

 

Thanks for the information on Spirit carry-on charges. I have not flown with them before and are unaware of the $30 rate. It's good to know.

[PirateOne]

Thanks all. Ended up getting tickets from Peoria, IL to FLL, flying in the day before for $400 per person. I'll use SAS to get to Port of Miami.

 

Just checked and the tickets have gone up $10 since I bought them last week. Ended up buying them from Orbitz since their price assurance seemed the best. They'll track until the day you leave and if an other Orbitz customer buys the ticket cheaper, they'll give the difference. Supposedly, at least.

[gersus]

I flew with friends to Puerta Plata two years ago. After watching the rates, my friends bought theirs for $650. I waited 3 days and bought mine for $580. It was a risk cuz we weren't too far out from flying. You never know!

I'm debating on buying tickets from STL to SJU now for Sept. I'm probably going to go ahead and buy them. They have went up about $20 in the last month. I doubt they will get much cheaper and my wife is a worry wart! She would freak out if I waited till August, lol.

BTW, I use kayak and love it!

[langsgang]

I used SAS for my last 2 trips and we went all over with them. They were prompt and had nice vehicles and 1 guy even stopped at a drug store so I could by a curling iron to replace my broken one before I got on the cruise. It cost me $10.00 at the drug store, who knows what the cruise ship would of charged. It was Oasis of the Seas and they need to pay for that ship. lol.... Have a blast!!!!

[uvasag]

PirateOne,

 

We'll fly to Miami the day before the cruise and will stay at a hotel (not sure if I can mention name here) that provide complimentary shuttle from airport to the hotel AND from the hotel to Port of Miami. On the way back, the shuttle cost (booked thru this hotel) is $10/ pp from the port to Miami airport. So, overall, there are cost savings for us on taxi from hotel to the port.

 

I'm not into Spirits that much either. They charge $45 for each carry-on luggage. We usually have 2 carry-on luggages with us. So, it's $90 right there.

 

Good luck.

 

Can you please tell me which hotel this is ?

[Cuizer2]

Hi all,

 

Hopefully soon to be first time cruiser in July. Look at taking the RCI Majesty of the Seas Bahamas cruise in July. When's the best time to buy the airline tickets to be the best rate?

 

Looking to fly from the Peoria/Bloomington Illinois area to Ft Lauderdale. Got a quote now for 2 for $390 a person...wondering if I should bite or wait a little.

 

Thanks!

 

According to an article I read recently, the best time to purchase an airline ticket is Tuesday.

[sloper12]

I heard, and have found, that on Tuesday between 12:00 noon and 1:00 the prices go down. Don't know why. There were times that I tracked prices for a particular route for a week and sure enough, on Tuesday afternoon, the price dropped, in my case $150. I also was on once late at night and the price went way down. Might want to try watching at various times for a week or so and see. But, snatch it up if you see it at a good price. :D