Air Fare

[Bigdog2003]

When do you buy your tickets?

 

Do you jump on it as soon as it opens up, or do you play the wait and watch game and hope for lower fares?

[Fydlstyx]

When do you buy your tickets?

 

Do you jump on it as soon as it opens up, or do you play the wait and watch game and hope for lower fares?

 

I played the wait and watch game this time and it failed me. I don't suggest doing it. Delta flights to Miami for my cruise are between $500 and $800 now. I normally pay between $180 and $300. :mad:

[Lisah101]

Depends on what route you are booking. I have traveled a lot and know that some routes, especially where served by competing airlines often have fare decreases. Other routes, rates are fairly steady and usually just go up over time so I book earlier. European routes have just been going up and up latey unless you are crazy enough to try Ryanair which even as a frequent flyer, I would never do. Any route to a spring break city during spring break is going to be expensive Anything to a F1 city around a race is going to be crazy expensive.

 

If we knew what route and appx what dates..... we may be able to help

[Bigdog2003]

We will be flying from Indiana to Orlando for our May 11th cruise next year. I think most airlines should be opening up bookings for our dates in the next couple weeks. In January we flew Southwest and got lucky and got a deal of $130 per person round trip. I have been keeping an eye on their fares and they dont seem to be getting close to that now. We are not pickey on what airline we fly. Also im just not sure if it would pay for us to wait till Southwest releses their fares for next May or book when other airlines allow us to book with them.

[kclvt]

I have been toying with this also -We are cruising out of San Juan on 3/9/13. There are 6 of us flying out of Albany, NY to SanJuan and 2 out of Hartford, CT. They are running about $1300 per couple. I want to wait for Jet Blue to release their schedule so I can see if it is worth flying with them and getting a bag free.

[Lisah101]

I have been toying with this also -We are cruising out of San Juan on 3/9/13. There are 6 of us flying out of Albany, NY to SanJuan and 2 out of Hartford, CT. They are running about $1300 per couple. I want to wait for Jet Blue to release their schedule so I can see if it is worth flying with them and getting a bag free.

 

Just a note... we just did the PHX-SJU in March and US Air had first class tickets for only $75 more than coach. Considering 1st came with free checked bags, inflight hot meal and alcohol.... I went for it! I've found good deals out of Hartford, but I've never found a good deal out of Albany, NY. I used to live in Syracuse and it was crazy that upstate NY never seemed to have good deals on flights, but if I went to JFK or BOS, then I could save a couple hundred dollars.

 

I've never flown Jet Blue before though, so would be interested in what you find.

[nwcruiselover]

I always start looking as soon as the fares for my travel dates open up. If I like the prices I book right away, and that usually works to my advantage in the long run. I travel a lot on Alaska Airlines, and they now offer a price guarantee, where if the price goes down before your flight, you can submit a form and get a credit for the amount of the difference, to be used at a later date. I have taken advantage of that. I usually don't wait for Southwest to open up unless I'm pretty sure their fares will be competitive with others. That depends on the route and I try to keep myself familiar with their fares so I can figure out whether it makes sense to wait for them. Nancy

[rtw68]

This has been tricky, but its worked out so far.

 

We are driving two hours to Columbus, OH to get a direct flight to Miami. Cost us $649 for both of us for our November cruise.

 

I just bought our flight for our April cruise because the same route is $80 cheaper in April 2013 for both of us, go figure.

[ItsAllAboutTheSass]

When we start talking about a cruise, I start looking at airfare. I look for the best deal that includes the cruise fare and airfare.

[Ykgorbie]

I always look at airfares as soon as we book our cruise which is uaually around 10 months out. I don't book right then, but instead watch the fares - our Canadian carriers regularly have seat sales. I usually get the best deals if I can force myself to wait until about 6-8 weeks before we have to leave.

[INTERLINER13]

I have been toying with this also -We are cruising out of San Juan on 3/9/13. There are 6 of us flying out of Albany, NY to SanJuan and 2 out of Hartford, CT. They are running about $1300 per couple. I want to wait for Jet Blue to release their schedule so I can see if it is worth flying with them and getting a bag free.

 

CapeAir offers a codeshare with JetBlue, Albany to San Juan. Not sure of the rate.

[RWolver672]

We usually wait for the prices to drop. Then we pay the higher rate because they went up instead of down. :mad:

[London09]

I'm looking at prices now for our cruise in March 2013. Living in London Ontario it is closer for us to fly from Detroit than it is from Toronto. Plus it is March break and the flights out of Toronto are much higher than Detroit and the airport in Detroit isn't as congested as TO. With our cruise leaving on the Saturday we want to fly to Lauderdale Friday. No difference in price. We are waiting for Spirit to come out with there prices and we are looking at Delta as well. We also want a direct flight. Right now Delta is about 1200 for the two of us return. That's more than the cruise. I search every day.

[Ykgorbie]

I'm looking at prices now for our cruise in March 2013. Living in London Ontario it is closer for us to fly from Detroit than it is from Toronto. Plus it is March break and the flights out of Toronto are much higher than Detroit and the airport in Detroit isn't as congested as TO. With our cruise leaving on the Saturday we want to fly to Lauderdale Friday. No difference in price. We are waiting for Spirit to come out with there prices and we are looking at Delta as well. We also want a direct flight. Right now Delta is about 1200 for the two of us return. That's more than the cruise. I search every day.

 

Do you subscribe to Westjet's Seat Sale website? They have pretty regular sales and I would think you could find something better than $1200. We once found a Westjet seat sale that cost us around $600(pp) taxes in for return airfare - Yellowknife to Fort Lauderdale which is an unbelievable deal for us.

[finsupcruiser]

I played the wait and watch game this time and it failed me. I don't suggest doing it. Delta flights to Miami for my cruise are between $500 and $800 now. I normally pay between $180 and $300. :mad:

 

Still playing game for April 2013 to SNA(Long Beach)

 

Delta is becoming my least favorite airline. If it were not for one free bag DH and I recieve--I would not book them.

 

Local airport small so we are at mercy of US Air and Delta

[Bigdog2003]

We usually wait for the prices to drop. Then we pay the higher rate because they went up instead of down. :mad:

 

That is waht im affraid of but then also in the back of my mind I keep thinking that I would hate to book and then see it go down. On our last cruise it was all a spur of the moment thing and we got lucky that Southwest was running a deal. This time around we are booked far enough in advance im not sure I can wait for Southwest.

[Irishlinny]

We will be flying from Indiana to Orlando for our May 11th cruise next year. I think most airlines should be opening up bookings for our dates in the next couple weeks. In January we flew Southwest and got lucky and got a deal of $130 per person round trip. I have been keeping an eye on their fares and they dont seem to be getting close to that now. We are not pickey on what airline we fly. Also im just not sure if it would pay for us to wait till Southwest releses their fares for next May or book when other airlines allow us to book with them.

I've been pricing tix for months for our Breeze cruise which leaves Thanksgiving day. We are flying down ON Thanksgiving. The prices I have been seeing all along for the other airlines were over $700 for 2 RT tix. Waited for Southwest to release their schedules because my fake bookings were getting us in at around $600. I was pleasantly surprised when they opened up this week and I got them for $499!!!:D Well below the other airlines and 2 bags free per person to boot!

 

I did hear a travel specialist once say that the best time to book air is 3-5 months out...

[pcvtmom]

http://www.reidsguides.com/t_pl/t_pl_s_airfare.html

 

I have used the strategies in this website, and I've been fairly successful.

[Fydlstyx]

Still playing game for April 2013 to SNA(Long Beach)

 

Delta is becoming my least favorite airline. If it were not for one free bag DH and I recieve--I would not book them.

 

Local airport small so we are at mercy of US Air and Delta

 

Yeah, I have the Delta credit card and get the free bag and priority boarding, but am probably going to give up on them soon. $500-$800 is far too much for a flight to Miami from Pennsylvania.

[ATL2LAS]

I use one of those farescraper websites. They send you emails when your city pair has a fare decrease

[kclvt]

So do you think booking now for March of 2013 is too early?

[Irishlinny]

So do you think booking now for March of 2013 is too early?

I wouldn't, unless you find some outrageously good sale or something. Not all the schedules are out...you might have more to choose from if you wait. Also, the current schedules may change, causing an issue for when you plan to travel. And the price of fuel seems to be coming down, so the prices may do the same;)

[beerman2]

Used Spirit Miles to get free 1 way trip in Oct. Couldn't get roundtrip.

 

Delta actually has return fare from Fll to Dtw for 134.00. So it will cost me 268.00 Rt for 2 . And return is non-stop compared to Spirits connections and get me home 1 1/2 hours earlier.

 

 

If you are cruising out of Miami I'd suggest you look into Flying into Fll ( Fort Lauderdale). You may save enough to cover transportation costs.

[girlscruise2011]

I booked my flights for my Thanksgiving cruise as soon as Jet Blue opened their schedule back in April. I grabbed from Boston to FLL for $140pp. Coming home on Thanksgiving weekend is an expense, ended up on AA from Miami to Boston on Orbitz for $310 pp (I'm a family of 5. Jet Blue that day is still over $450pp). With the raising cost of gas at the time and Thanksgiving, it would be the best I could do. Both flights have since gone up but Southwest FINALLY opened their flights and not only did they add nonstop flights from Manchester, NH to FLL (which they didn't have for current timeframe), I could have booked round trip for $300pp with free bags :(

 

I wish airlines like Jet Blue and Southwest opened their flights a little bit sooner.

[kclvt]

I wouldn't, unless you find some outrageously good sale or something. Not all the schedules are out...you might have more to choose from if you wait. Also, the current schedules may change, causing an issue for when you plan to travel. And the price of fuel seems to be coming down, so the prices may do the same;)

 

This makes me feel better because I don't like what I am seeing for price and flights yet. The guy I work with said sometimes in July you will find good prices. He said my best bet is to wait until January - now that makes me nervous!