How far in advance to book air for next summer?

[goldenrod]

Yes it is 331 days out we have booked business class on American for seven years and the saver business tickets which require the least miles are not continually released the standard business class are but require almost double the miles!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[FlyerTalker]

Yes it is 331 days out we have booked business class on American for seven years and the saver business tickets which require the least miles are not continually released the standard business class are but require almost double the miles!

If you say so.

[waterbug123]

we have booked business class on American for seven years and the saver business tickets which require the least miles are not continually released

 

That may be your experience, but that doesn't make it a universal fact. When I booked tickets for our trip this past July to Africa we planned to use miles to buy biz tickets. I started looking at 331 days out but waited to purchase and found lower mileage seats a couple of months later. This happened to be on Delta and their Sky Team partners.

[goldenrod]

Have never had Delta miles Just America or United and we usually end up being booked on a partner Airline so the low mile business seats available are very limited and sometimes have not been able to get them at all! We went to Australia two years ago and no way would I fly coach on such a long flight, it took us four years to get the flights both ways!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[iancal]

We used Aeroplan points for a trip to year two years ago. The Aeroplan agent gave us a tip. Lufthansa, an Aerplan partner, opens up additional reward seats-business and econmy- thirty days out IF they have the space to allocate.

 

I waited, and booked a Lufthansa reward flight 29 days out. Prior to that there was no space available. Not certain if other airlines do the same. Mileage requirement was the same as it would have been 90 days out.

[pinotlover]

I have already booked all my flights for next summer. I have found airline sales where the prices have been very appealing. We got our flights with only one stop (we're not near a major international airport) in lieu of multiple stops. For those that only costs matter this is not significant, but for us it is a big deal. Plus we got the selection of seats we wanted, not what is left at 53 days out. We're happy campers with our selections. If prices go lower, we're still happy with what we have.

 

We will soon be looking for seats for our 2017 Fall river cruise. Will probably lock those up before Christmas.

 

We flew AA Business Class to China this May. The best prices we ever saw posted for that trip, we were fortunate to book at 315 days out. No other prices, on no other airlines were ever within $800 of our early sale. Within 90 days of that flight, prices had risen to over $1500 each of what we paid.

[pinotlover]

iancal;

 

I have a question. In the scenario you posted above, you had waited until day 29 to book a ticket to Europe. What would you have done if no ff tickets became available? Would you have cancelled your trip, or pay whatever the fare might be at the time, with however many stops that may be required to get you to your destination? :confused:

[iancal]

We usually have a back up plan. When we booked on Lufthansa we had a backup reward flight booked on Air CAnada. At the time we eached saved about $250 in admin fees after switching to Lufthansa. The bonus for us was avoiding LHR and on the return arriving home in the early afternoon vs late at night.

 

We sometimes pick up an inexpensive one way to Europe. Last time we flewour backup plan to get a one way home on Transat, Condor, Icelandair or snag a good consolidator fare on a major. Instead we booked a last minute Med cruise that had a great cabin price and cruise air fare home.

 

We are retired and often do not have a firm schedule. It allows us to be very flexible. We usually book cruises in the cancellation window. We monitor cruise prices and air prices, if applicable, at the same time.

We booked a med cruise three years ago from Rome. We found a great one way fare to Porto, Portugal and another inexpensive flight on to Rome several days later. The savings paid for some of our time in Porto. HAd we only been looking at Rome flights we might not have purchased the cruise.

Edited October 17, 2016 by iancal

[Shorex]

No, Tuesday Afternoon Isn't the Secret Time to Buy Cheap Airfares. Why do you ask?

 

Just as 54 days out isn't the secret time, neither is any Tuesday.

[johnjen]

I've since lost the name of who it was who said to wait until the first week of the year. Best advice ever. We began looking for flights late last year and realized the RT fares were crazily high.

 

So the other day we found fares RT Barcelona for our June cruise via Air 2 Sea, and realized the prices dropped when compared to what they were just three weeks ago.

 

Just not happy realizing that CLT is a connecting airport on the way home, but I look at it this way: It's not there on the way to Barcelona, so we lucked out.

[pinotlover]

Johnjen;

 

Good information for all. After reading your thread, I went back and checked current pricing for flights I have booked this summer and fall. What I found was that economy seat prices had, in fact, went down, $200-$400+ per person RT, while (true) Premium Economy and Business Class seats had increased significantly. Our Business Class seats , for June/July now costs about $1K more than they did when I booked them at 330 days out. Our October Business Class seats have gone up about $200 each RT. So I guess part of the answer is where you are sitting. I will add that the seat availability for those current less expensive seats is not pretty. Rear of the plane and middle seats primarily. But, if you're short and only money matters, now is a good time to buy economy. :D

[fbgd]

I've since lost the name of who it was who said to wait until the first week of the year. Best advice ever.

 

As I said in the other thread that you bumped it's a fluke. Airlines don't purposefully drop prices in the new year.

 

There is no magic time to book fares.