How far out do you book your plane tickets?

[Gardyloo]

Anybody who believes they can out-think the airlines' revenue/yield management computer algorithms is, in my view, delusional. That includes my neighbor who always buys tickets at 12:03 AM on second Wednesday mornings, and Scott McCartney.

[MrCruzeaddict]

Here it is TUESDAY....and the price is the SAME ;)

 

 

 

Joe<------Actually....I booked it SUNDAY night! :o

 

 

 

UPDATE...The price has actually gone up from here (GRR). its now 473.00 w/2 stops..Leaving at 6:05am and getting into FLL at 9:47Pm...GEEZ..what a LONG day. That's no way to spend your first day of vacation! :o

 

 

Joe<-----That non stop out of DTW is looking better all of the time! :D

[MrCruzeaddict]

When flying to Alaska a few years ago, I found that the airlines would have only a couple of special fare seats available each day. When those were sold,the price went up. Then often, early the next morning i'd see the same cheaper fare seats available again ( the airline released a couple more seats at the cheaper fare overnight).

 

I also read that it is good to clear your cookies before a repeated search. If you keep coming back, somehow they can tell and think they've got a "live one on the line" and don't show the cheap fares. Not sure if that is true but it can't hurt.

 

That's a great idea...I never thought about emptying my cookies before a new search!

 

 

Joe<-----Learns something EVERY day! :D

[FlyerTalker]

Anybody who believes they can out-think the airlines' revenue/yield management computer algorithms is, in my view, delusional.

DING DING DING....we have a quote of the day winner. Soon to be immortalized in a signature near you.

That includes my neighbor who always buys tickets at 12:03 AM on second Wednesday mornings, and Scott McCartney.

ROFLMAO!!! :D

[kenish]

That includes my neighbor who always buys tickets at 12:03 AM on second Wednesday mornings, and Scott McCartney.

 

But it only works if they click "Purchase" using their lucky mouse !

 

Another little-known thing about cookies, browsers, and travel sites...many detect whether you're using a Mac or PC. Lower-cost flights, hotel rooms, etc. are displayed to PC users but not to Mac users. Why? Mac users tend to be more affluent so the travel sites "market" the higher price points to that demographic. To be clear, they don't show a higher price for Mac users, they simply mask the cheapest possibilities, which can still be found with a "deeper dive" which most people don't make the effort to do.

 

A friend who programs websites told me about this a few years ago..I was very skeptical, but there's been recent press that showed this practice is used on about half the airline and hotel websites and most of the search/booking sites.

[FlyerTalker]

Gary Leff at View from the Wing has a slightly different take on the "Mac personalization" story. You can read it HERE.

[parrotfeathers]

Okay someone--educate me--I didn't even know one could use multiple airlines on a trip. I see a couple that would work on the ITA software--United and U.S. Air. It says contact a travel agent.

[Gardyloo]

Okay someone--educate me--I didn't even know one could use multiple airlines on a trip. I see a couple that would work on the ITA software--United and U.S. Air. It says contact a travel agent.

You can easily arrange multiple-carrier tickets using any of the big online agencies like Expedia, Travelocity or Orbitz.

[Zach1213]

You can easily arrange multiple-carrier tickets using any of the big online agencies like Expedia, Travelocity or Orbitz.

 

Or, since those two are partners, it can likely be done through United or US Airways

[parrotfeathers]

Decided to take Flyer's and others' advice so went ahead and booked my flights through Delta. Prices haven't gone down the last month so I decided it wasn't worth gambling. Thanks to everyone who educated me. One reason I was waffling is because on a HAL trip last year flight costs went down after I booked very early.

[MrCruzeaddict]

I know what you mean. I booked our flights a week ago Sunday and they haven't moved a bit. Still 271.20 from DTW. I really can't see it going down any even on a TUESDAY :p

 

 

 

Joe<----Just countin' down the days! :D

[Zach1213]

Decided to take Flyer's and others' advice so went ahead and booked my flights through Delta. Prices haven't gone down the last month so I decided it wasn't worth gambling. Thanks to everyone who educated me. One reason I was waffling is because on a HAL trip last year flight costs went down after I booked very early.

 

I think that's a good example for people who always want to book on the first possible minute they can. The first tickets are rarely the cheapest.

[buddylover]

If this was anywhere near the holidays, that makes it an exceptional time -- any holiday season will have higher demand and early booking is appropriate.

 

I would suggest that this NOT be taken as typical by the readers of this thread.

 

Disagree once again. We don't fly near holidays, always book our cruises for "off" times to avoid the school/holiday vacations and ALWAYS book early and ALWAYS have snagged the lowest fares each and every time. In waiting the fares have always increased substantially. Don't understand where you are coming from.....Your advice is NOT sound.

[hockeyluver]

Hi there,

 

I see you are from Ontario and are flying to FLL and I have been searching for flights for us for February 2013, and the prices are horrendous!:eek:

 

Just wondering where you are flying from to take that Delta flight so cheap and where do we sign up?? :D

 

The cheapest I could find was $1700.00 for 2 return from Toronto.

 

Your help would be greatly appreciated, this will be our 1st flight :eek: but our 9th cruise, we have always driven to the ports before for our cruises, either Baltimore of Cape Liberty.

 

Thanks!

Gail

Comet Cruiser

 

Flights out of Toronto are :eek: have you thought of flying out of Detroit ( where we fly from ) or Buffalo ? you can usually get a sleep park and fly hotel room $89 and still be under that flight cost.

 

 

We are looking at flying from DTW to Fort Myers for a few days precruise with the inlaws, we can get $159 pp since we have never flown to Ft. Myers does this sound good? We are going to rent a car and drive over to Miami for the precruise night. Now I am looking for flights out of Miami to Detroit , the best i have found so far for my date ( Feb 23 2013 ) is $190 pp but it is at 11:15 am dh thinks that time would be fine, but i am not sure....??

[hockeyluver]

just broke down and joined the $9 fare club at Spirit, so for a total of $283 luggage and seats included we are booked.

 

now to find a good deal on the way home!

[calliopecruiser]

Well, it's a 5+ hour drive to Detroit (depending on the border time) - it would have to be a really significant savings to convince me to drive that far. Buffalo is closer, but not as many direct flights, so again it eats up time in transit. I do prefer driving across the border to going through airport security hassles, but I haven't seen really significant savings. I guess if you've got a lot of people in the car the savings might add up, but that would be the only thing to really make it worthwhile, IMO.

 

I just did a quick check online with random dates in February (for 8 days away), and found the price for non-stops to and from Toronto were actually $75 CHEAPER than connecting flights round trip from Buffalo.

[kenish]

just broke down and joined the $9 fare club at Spirit, so for a total of $283 luggage and seats included we are booked.

 

now to find a good deal on the way home!

 

As FYI, the $9 club auto-renews during the 10th month of membership. If you decide not to renew, you must proactively cancel. Spirit and the credit card companies will not cancel the renewal since the terms are stated in the sign-up disclosure.

[MrCruzeaddict]

Flights out of Toronto are :eek: have you thought of flying out of Detroit ( where we fly from ) or Buffalo ? you can usually get a sleep park and fly hotel room $89 and still be under that flight cost.

 

 

We are looking at flying from DTW to Fort Myers for a few days precruise with the inlaws, we can get $159 pp since we have never flown to Ft. Myers does this sound good? We are going to rent a car and drive over to Miami for the precruise night. Now I am looking for flights out of Miami to Detroit , the best i have found so far for my date ( Feb 23 2013 ) is $190 pp but it is at 11:15 am dh thinks that time would be fine, but i am not sure....??

 

We live in Grand Rapids, MI. Flights for our Feb. Equinox cruise is $473pp with 2 STOPS! We booked it out of Detroit (DTW) on Delta for 271.20 NONSTOP!

 

Joe<---I can drive 120 miles to save over 400.00 ANY day! ;)

[hockeyluver]

As FYI, the $9 club auto-renews during the 10th month of membership. If you decide not to renew, you must proactively cancel. Spirit and the credit card companies will not cancel the renewal since the terms are stated in the sign-up disclosure.

 

Thanks for the heads up, umm want to come back and remind me :p :p

 

I had joined this back a few years ago when it was $39 my hubby had a week off work come up suddenly so him and our dd went down to visit his mom, flights ended up costing $69 each round trip :D

[FlyerTalker]

just broke down and joined the $9 fare club at Spirit, so for a total of $283 luggage and seats included we are booked.

 

now to find a good deal on the way home!

Be sure to be aware of the automatic renewal "feature" of the $9 club. I'll leave it to you to uncover the details, including the time frame for cancellations.

[parrothedmark]

Always check on Mondays and Tuesdays for best pricing

[FlyerTalker]

Always check on Mondays and Tuesdays for best pricing

But be sure to do so at 3am. :D

 

This must have been a story in the Enquirer, right next to the one on Elvis's miracle alien cure for cellulite.

[Zach1213]

Always check on Mondays and Tuesdays for best pricing

 

Last week I bought two plane tickets for separate business trips to Washington DC later this summer. On Tuesday, I bought one for $302 that had been $302 for several days before. On Friday, I bought one for $254 that had been $302 on Monday and Tuesday. So...it was cheaper for me to book Friday than Monday or Tuesday.

[FlyerTalker]

Always check on Mondays and Tuesdays for best pricing

I forgot....read POST 76 in this thread. Click the link to go back there.

[MrCruzeaddict]

We booked our flights for our Sept Oasis cruze back in January (FNT-FLL). Got an email from CheapOair that American has changed our flights. They now have us leaving FLL @ 7:05AM on disembarkation day. There is NO way that we can make that flight. You know that I'll be on the phone tomorrow!

 

 

 

Joe<----Hates when they do that...