Flights $$$!!! Price tracking tips or tricks?

[Lovey Life]

Good gracious! I just booked our flights to Fort Lauderdale for our May 21st Equinox cruise. The round trip airfare was just a little bit under the cost of our cruise. OMG!!! Do any of you seasoned travelers have any advice or suggestions, tips or tricks on how to track the airfare prices and hopefully improve the fare? I’d love to reduce the cost of these flights…. I’ll enjoy our cruise so much more if I don’t have to fret about the “ride” I was just taken on by the airline industry!!! Hehehe!

Looking forwarded to a week of fun and relaxation in the Caribbean!!!!🚢☀️🌊🌴🍹👙

 

Edited March 12, 2022 by Lovey Life

[Vagabond Knight]

The Ukrainian mess is driving fuel costs skyward, and you're booking at a time when graduations and weddings are really starting to kick in for the year, unfortunately.

You may try Kayak. Kayak will search most (but not all) airlines and provide you with a lot of options to narrow down your results.  They have an "advice" box that shows whether they think fares for your trip will go up or down in the near future, and you can enable price tracking.  You can also say if your flight days are flexible and compare the prices for a few days before and after.  Flying in a couple days early or leaving a day or more afterwards can affect your fare by quite a bit sometimes.  If you can spare the extra time away, you can sometimes get a longer vacation for very little money (need to balance that out between the change in fare and the hotel nights, food, rental car, etc.).  Note that not all carriers show up on Kayak.  You'll need to search Southwest separately, for example.

For the future, you may consider applying for a new travel credit card or airline credit card a while out from a big trip. These cards often come with a huge number of miles or a companion ticket after some initial purchase amount within x number of months.  Nerd Wallet and The Points Guy usually have a good breakdown of what cards are currently offering what incentives.

 

[DCPIV]

I was going to say something along the same lines. Late May through early June is an expensive time of year to fly. Demand for air travel also has shot up very rapidly recently. Oil prices shouldn't have much to do with prices, though, as airlines typically lock in their fuel contracts well in advance, and many took advantage of the recent low prices to do so long term. 

 

I'm afraid the only advice I can give you is to shop around as much as possible,  be flexible with your travel dates, and keep checking for lower fares. In the meantime, look at the bright side. Your cruise was so inexpensive that your air fare rivals the cost! 

[TeaBag]

Did you look at Flights by Celebrity?  I was very surprised to see a fare from HNL to YVR, one way in May for $174 US.  We couldn't get that as I booked in CAD.  The fare in CAD was $28 higher than the conversion rate, but we went for it anyway.  Still a fairly good deal.

I agree with Vagabond that fuel costs are going to drive airfares up.  We are paying $2.29/l for gas at the moment!

[mikewomb]

I might mention that if you are willing to fly in coach it seems that American has some good fares. I second the comment about checking for any miles you might have that you have forgotten about, and also credit cards with air benefits. It takes some time , but it is not impossible. I actually saw on flights by celebrity one way, Phoenix to Ft Lauderdale for $89. 

[jelayne]

I check Google flights and set a alert for price changes.

I haven't seen a fare on flights by celebrity that was less than the airline for anything I checked recently.  I booked our flights to FLL for April about 10 weeks ago and was dismayed to pay $662 for 2.  Just now checked and the same flights are now $998.

 

[Jeremiah1212]

https://matrix.itasoftware.com/search

 

Or fly Flights by Celebrity. I got tickets for ORD-FLL for $8.00 recently. West coast to FLL or MIA just isn't super convenient if you are not doing a red eye. 

Edited March 12, 2022 by Jeremiah1212

[DCPIV]

24 minutes ago, TeaBag said:

Did you look at Flights by Celebrity?

 

Good thought! 

[Lovey Life]

3 minutes ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

https://matrix.itasoftware.com/search

 

Or fly Flights by Celebrity. I got tickets for ORD-FLL for $8.00 recently. West coast to FLL or MIA just isn't super convenient if you are not doing a red eye. 

Yes! This! The red eye isn’t an option for us and the alternatives are priced sky high…..

pun intended! Last time I booked Flights by Celebrity our flights were canceled last minute and the red eye was substituted….. in a pinch that’s ok……. just not interested in taking that chance on this trip….. looking for R & R, a stress free, fun vacation!!! 
Wow! $ 8.00 is amazing….. great deals are out there!👍🏻

[NutsAboutGolf]

A big problem is this sailing ends during Memorial Day which is a major holiday so there will be inflated pricing.

 

You can register for free for price alerts on kayak dot com, every morning they'll email you the rates.

 

Otherwise really comes down to flexibility, is it possible to find an affordable hotel for a few nights post cruise?

 

Lastly at sams club, maybe you know someone with a membership if you don't have one, online they're selling $500 giftcards for $450

 

[canderson]

25 minutes ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

https://matrix.itasoftware.com/search

 

Or fly Flights by Celebrity. I got tickets for ORD-FLL for $8.00 recently. West coast to FLL or MIA just isn't super convenient if you are not doing a red eye. 

Have been watching, and business DEN > BCN with up to two stops (none of those 30+ hour silly itineraries using TAP and others) for late October has been consistently running $3200-$3500 minimum at any site.  Haven't seen a single legit consolidator fare anywhere.  There are a few questionable one-man agencies with no known storefront information that offer less, but hesitate to send money in that direction.

Edited March 12, 2022 by canderson

[granddutchess]

I find Google Flights helpful when searching for airfares.  The prices are crazy though.  They are only going to keep going UP!

[terrydtx]

We have our business class tickets booked with Flights by Celebrity (FBC) business class to Rome in August for our Reflection cruise. We originally booked in January with FBC RT on Delta for $3267pp. I check with FBC every day online to see if fares drop, on Thursday I saw flights on United from San Antonio to Rome one stop in Newark drop dramatically to $2518pp and I called FBC and got rebooked to these flights for no added fees and a much better flight itinerary.  This is how we stay on top of airfare costs, I do not expect any better deals than this so will only check every couple of days. The advantage of using FBC is if I had booked on Delta directly and when costs drop like they did on United I would not have been able to switch bookings.

Edited March 12, 2022 by terrydtx

[LGW59]

3 hours ago, Lovey Life said:

Good gracious! I just booked our flights to Fort Lauderdale for our May 21st Equinox cruise. The round trip airfare was just a little bit under the cost of our cruise. OMG!!! Do any of you seasoned travelers have any advice or suggestions, tips or tricks on how to track the airfare prices and hopefully improve the fare? I’d love to reduce the cost of these flights…. I’ll enjoy our cruise so much more if I don’t have to fret about the “ride” I was just taken on by the airline industry!!! Hehehe!

Looking forwarded to a week of fun and relaxation in the Caribbean!!!!🚢☀️🌊🌴🍹👙

 

If you booked it apparently you can afford it.  I always factor flights as part of my total vacation cost.  If you want lower flight costs, keep checking airline websites and second market resellers.

[terrydtx]

I do not know what you consider too high for flights, but I just looked at flights to FLL from San Diego and found many flights for $545pp RT. That is just about what we pay to FLL from San Antonio so in MHO it is a good fare cost. Celebrity is offering a $100 discount on the flights too. Here is one flight that looks good if it was me booking.

Airline:American Airlines

Operated By:

AMERICAN AIRLINES

Baggage & Change fees

FLIGHT DETAILS

DEPARTS:

Fri, May 20, 2022

SAN09:35am

LINDBERG FIELD

08h 06m

• DFW
   

 

FLL08:41pm

FLL INTERNATIONAL

ECONOMY

$546.19 USD

$646.19 USD

ROUND TRIP AVG. PER PERSON

Refundable with fees

 

 

 

 

Airline:United Airlines

Operated By:

UNITED AIRLINES

Baggage & Change fees

FLIGHT DETAILS

DEPARTS:

Sun, May 29, 2022

FLL02:50pm

FLL INTERNATIONAL

08h 11m

• IAH
   

 

SAN08:01pm

LINDBERG FIELD

ECONOMY

Edited March 12, 2022 by terrydtx

[Ex-Airbalancer]

3 hours ago, TeaBag said:

Did you look at Flights by Celebrity?  I was very surprised to see a fare from HNL to YVR, one way in May for $174 US.  We couldn't get that as I booked in CAD.  The fare in CAD was $28 higher than the conversion rate, but we went for it anyway.  Still a fairly good deal.

I agree with Vagabond that fuel costs are going to drive airfares up.  We are paying $2.29/l for gas at the moment!

That is because you are in BC , Bring Cash 🤣

$1.68 a litre here 

[Jim_Iain]

I also use Google Flights and set up alerts and watch the prices.  They go up and down almost daily.   The prices on Celebrity Flights my also be high in that most are fully refundable fares while you might get a better price on your own.   Also many possible flights don't show up on Celebrity e.g. Southwest.

[phoenix_dream]

3 hours ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

https://matrix.itasoftware.com/search

 

Or fly Flights by Celebrity. I got tickets for ORD-FLL for $8.00 recently. West coast to FLL or MIA just isn't super convenient if you are not doing a red eye. 

$8.00??  You can't be serious.  Fly from ORD to FLL fairly frequently and there are never ever flights at any time near that cost anywhere

[TeaBag]

1 hour ago, Airbalancer said:

That is because you are in BC , Bring Cash 🤣

$1.68 a litre here 

You are too funny!  Thanks for the laugh.  They won't even drop the request for an antigen test, returning home, if you go to Blaine WA for a fill up.

[tallnthensome]

Cruise Air forum for flight information and suggestions. 

[georgiaguy]

I found flights by Celebrity a bit more difficult for tracking since we have multiple airports as options. My solution was to create an old fashioned spread sheet and track it daily. Helped to see a full picture of price drops and when to call and book/rebook as necessary. 

[D C]

Set an alert in Google flights. Best way to track, so long as you don't use Southwest 

[Jim_Iain]

13 hours ago, D C said:

Set an alert in Google flights. Best way to track, so long as you don't use Southwest 

I do the same and also set up alerts so it e-mails me when a price drops. It also has a little icon that tells you when it's a good time to book.

[zoncom]

SOUTHWEST DEN-FLL $94  .April 17,22. 

[klfhngr]

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