How soon should I book air?

[Living the Dream]

Hello to all of you Princess Cruisers - my wife and I are booked for the January 7, 2006 sailing aboard the Caribbean Princess (paid in full) - my question is how soon should I book the air/

Southwest Airlines is only taking reservations as far in advance as Oct 28. Hard to say really when they will open the reservations for January.

Anyone had an experience like this?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Shane

[custompcsys]

Most of the "regular" airlines let you book 335 days in advance. If you book that far out, however, I wouldn't count on the times being the same when you leave as when you booked. We booked our flights to Seattle right around the 300 day in advance mark and they had 2 major schedule changes since. We leave in a bit over 3 weeks now and it seems to have settled down, but we did have to change the return flight about 4 months ago because the schedule change made it too early to leave the same day as the cruise returned to port. We just decided to spend the day in Seattle and leave the next day, no biggie.

[Toto2Kansas]

I would begin monitoring prices NOW. Southwest will be a few months before they release their prices for your date, but it is never too early to begin your search.

That way when you do see a fare sale, you can grab it up before it ends. Recently I had been checking prices for months, one morning our carrier of choice had a 24 hour sale and we were able to get our flights for less than half of what they were the day before.

 

Best of Luck, hope you find a good price.

[massagegirl]

I'd look, but you are so far out, you are likely to get a better deal. I have to fly in Jan and I'm monitoring the prices, but I will not buy untill arounf OCt, unless I see a deal that I know can not be beat.

[WCAB]

We booked our own air to FLL in December for an April cruise. As the date got closer the price kept going up and up. We saved several hundred dollars by booking early. May not always work out this way but was our situation.

 

Carol

[Dreamer333]

I start shopping airline prices as soon as I book my cruise...

 

Once I see the price go below $200 (from Ohare to Ft Lauderdale), I purchase.

 

What fares are you seeing now?

 

I think the latest you should wait is Oct (to check out the SW airline prices)... but in the mean time, keep monitoring them!

[Aloha Me]

Looking for non-stop so we booked NW three weeks ago for March 2006 cruise to Hawaii. Fares have already gone up some.

[SaltwaterTwo]

Hello to all of you Princess Cruisers - my wife and I are booked for the January 7, 2006 sailing aboard the Caribbean Princess (paid in full) - my question is how soon should I book the air/

Southwest Airlines is only taking reservations as far in advance as Oct 28. Hard to say really when they will open the reservations for January.

Anyone had an experience like this?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Shane

 

Our TA said that if we are using Frequent flyer miles for award travel (on UAL) we should book as soon as possible - and this is for a March 2006 departure? Does anyone have experience with this"

[Dreamer333]

 

Our TA said that if we are using Frequent flyer miles for award travel (on UAL) we should book as soon as possible - and this is for a March 2006 departure? Does anyone have experience with this"

 

Yes, with frequant flyer miles, you should book as soon as you book your cruise!

There is a small amount of space on each flight that is allowed to be used with frequent flyer miles, so you definintely want to get those seats!

[mellowgirl]

Fares have dropped a little over the past few days. Watch for a couple of days to see the trends, then book. We all know they can change like the wind. Best to book far ahead while they are fairly low.

[amagar]

We usually book 2-months out, but may change now because of one thing: oil prices. They're only going up...may recede for a couple of months this summer, but when winter comes and people begin fighting over fuel oil/gasoline...prices will run up. Best advice, probably, is to figure out what a reasonable flight has cost in recent months. Aim for that, or a bit higher.

[Toto2Kansas]

 

Our TA said that if we are using Frequent flyer miles for award travel (on UAL) we should book as soon as possible - and this is for a March 2006 departure? Does anyone have experience with this"

 

We also use UA ff miles and believe it or not sometimes better flights open up about 6 months out. The safest way is to book the flight was soon as it opens up, I think that is about 330 days out. Then keep an eye on them. If a better one to the same destination opens up later my understanding is that you can change your flights without charge as long as the destination is the same.

 

And watch those 'saver' rates compared to the 'standard' rates. We were able to get 'first class suites' for our flights to Heathrow this August for only 100,000 per person. The 'standard' ff rate is almost double that. So it pays to keep checking, every day if necessary, on the UAL site.

[coiran]

Most airfares went up 3% yesterday.

 

Ron

[Pam in CA]

I just booked my air from BOS to LAX (non-stop) for December. I don't know where you're coming from but check out Song (http://www.flysong.com) which is operated by Delta. It's usually less-expensive than SW and JetBlue (at least out of BOS or MHT), and is far more comfortable. I like them a lot better than JetBlue, plus they offer some really good sandwiches, salads, etc. to purchase for a reasonable price. (They have a ham & cheese with a mustard sauce on a pretzel bun that's to die for.) Our air, including taxes, for 12/23 (holiday rates) was $334 from BOS to LAX RT, which was far less than other airlines I checked.

[spongerob]

Airfares ARE going to go up. That price that seems a little high today might be tomorrow's great deal.

[chriscruise]

 

Our TA said that if we are using Frequent flyer miles for award travel (on UAL) we should book as soon as possible - and this is for a March 2006 departure? Does anyone have experience with this"

 

 

 

I would go ahead and book. We booked our flights for March 2006 as soon as they were available. We paid around $250 non-stop from Chicago to FLL. Our friends decided to join us on the cruise. The same flights are close to full and cost $1000!! They were able to find something with one stop each way for a reasonable amount. We learned that when booking for spring break it's best to book early...and yes, those times will likely change, but you have a flight and you didn't pay outragous prices. The airlines have been cooperative if the new time don't work for a cruise, but they won't help you pay for extra transportation costs if they change airports (like FLL to MIA).