How far in advance do you book air to Seattle?

[ap0805]

Hello all,

We are booked on Princess Grand, August 24, 2014. Wonder how far in advance should we book air travel and also hotel?

 

Any information you can share would be appreciated!

 

Thanks :)

[Splinter]

We took Southwest from LA, and booked 4 months ahead to get the best prices. I believe you can book up to 6 months in advance on Southwest. We specifically wanted to use them for their free 2 checked pieces of luggage apiece, which was worth it for us, and they also had the lowest fares.

[familycruzer]

I am booking with SW as soon as rates open for September which should be in March. I have enough points for two free fares to Seattle and one free fare home.

The hotels will be booked as soon as I get my flight times.

[CruiserBruce]

A little reading on the Cruise Air board would reveal there is no "magic time" for booking airfares. You just have to do the research, find a fare that works for you, buy it, and don't look back.

 

Yes, Southwest may have the cheapest fares on the day they first post fares. But that has been Southwest's trick for years, they release later than most airlines, and when they do, they look around and see what the fares are, and price their flights a few bucks cheaper, if they can, and say they have the cheapest prices. But the airlines that release more than 6 months out usually had cheaper fares prior to the Southwest release, and have sold their cheapest fares out by then. Recently, since all of Southwest's fuel hedges have expired, I have noticed Southwest's fares are sometimes not cheaper than the other carriers.

 

As to hotels, as most standard hotel bookings don't cost you anything up front, book now. There isn't any cost involved. If their price drops, you can just re-book and cancel the older, more expensive booking.

Edited January 6, 2014 by CruiserBruce

[misty57]

We book SW because they fly out of smaller airports and they do not charge change fees. We have had to change our flights several times to beat the weather and also due to being stranded during hurricane Sandy. It was great to be able to do that . I do wish they would open reservations earlier. We're waiting for flights to Seattle in August as well .

[chocolatelabs]

We are cruising in and out of Seattle in early June. I made the mistake of waiting until yesterday to book our flights. By then all of the flights leaving Seattle on our disembarkation day on Southwest were sold out at the lowest wanna-get-away rate - for any flights that were leaving after 11:00 a.m. We were hoping to fly on Southwest both ways to avoid the baggage fees, but we had to fly home on another airline. I learned my lesson to book as early as possible.

Edited January 21, 2014 by chocolatelabs

[jsf]

I've been looking for a post cruise hotel and found that many were sold out because we return on Friday of Labor Day 2014 weekend.

I'm also finding out that Delta has some good prices into Seattle.

J.

[VermeulT]

I'm leaving that day on HAL.

I am waiting for Jet Blue to release times for my return. I have enough points to fly free with them both ways and for my sister to fly free on US Air. I can't book hers until I know my options.... And I'm not liking what has been avail so far (only direct flight is wrong time of day).

 

Delta does seem to have the best rates (from NY & ATL), tho I'd rather use points if I can.

 

I booked our hotel 3 months or so ago.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[jimsig]

A little reading on the Cruise Air board would reveal there is no "magic time" for booking airfares. You just have to do the research, find a fare that works for you, buy it, and don't look back

 

Excatly on the airfare, there is no magic time. Last week I booked JetBlue OW from BOS to Anchorage (stop with no change in Seattle) for $204 and OW back from Seattle to BOS for $187 for a total of $391. I doubt that fare will come down any lower and felt that I could not wait and pass up the fare. As a matter of fact the fare from BOS to ANC has already gone up $130. Even at the current fare of $510 it's not a bad price for that trip. It's really a matter of what you feel comfortable paying.

[VideoTech]

A little reading on the Cruise Air board would reveal there is no "magic time" for booking airfares. You just have to do the research, find a fare that works for you, buy it, and don't look back.....

 

Agreed. The problem is that if you wait and wait hoping for a cheaper fare, your choices of available flights will become fewer and fewer as the planes fill up.

 

Airfares can vary by the day and by the hour, sometimes wildly. My feeling is when you're booking for something that has a fixed departure and return as a cruise does, you're better off to find a fare you can live with, and get the seats booked now. You may have a little more flexibility if you're traveling a day or more before the cruise departs, which I highly recommend you do.

 

As for hotels, their rates are usually more settled. You can find hotel "bargains" through the discount sites, but they can come with surprises (room not available, price not what was quoted, etc). I prefer to go direct to the hotel website, and use reputable chains. I'll pay a little more for the comfort of knowing that my room will be of a certain caliber, in a certain location, and there will likely be no last minute surprises.

 

Bottom line: Hotel booking is the same as airline booking. Research it, decide where and when you want to stay, and book it now. It's unlikely to get much cheaper.

[rockraiders]

Southwest opened bookings for July on Monday. I booked as soon as I got out of bed. $424 round trip Orlando to Seattle. The wanna get away flights I booked are now gone and it's only Thursday.

[jmd958]

We are leaving on our cruise in August. I was driving myself crazy trying to find the best price/schedule on airfare as I live within 2 hours of 5 airports. Round trip flights were hard. The departing flight would be good, but the return flight was either too early or way too late unless I wanted to pay the much higher fare (which I didn't). So, I am doing what I used to do when visiting my kids in Florida. I booked our departing flight on Alaskan air and our return flight will be on Southwest. I beat the best price of a single airline by $50-150 per person.