Booking Air Question

[sjohnson529]

Right now I can purchase tickets, Knoxville to Tampa, for $190, however the cuirse isn't until 02/08 and I'm wondering if it's a gamble to book a flight that far out. Opinions please? :o

[hockeymom97]

If you find a price you like I would highly recommend that you book it. You never know when that fare is going to go up and then you'll kick yourself for not booking it when it was lower. Just MHO. I've been watching fares for Nov for about the past 3 months and at one point they were around $300 - now they are closer to $450 - I probably should have booked it before, but now I'm stuck hoping that they drop again. :eek:

[hdawson]

Sounds like a great fare. Be prepared for schedule changes. Fly down the day before. Do you think oil prices will drop from $69+ per barrel mysteriously to $30? Just kidding.

[FlyerTalker]

TYS isn't a location known for low fares - I'd be all over that one.

 

Head over to FareCompare and see what the history is on the route and place your bets.

[sjohnson529]

Thanks! We are planning to fly in the day before, know that rule, however the flight back leaves Tampa at 12:54 PM and that's the only one I'm a bit worried about. In May we were off the ship by 8:30 but you never know. I think I'll go ahead and book it. Thanks for your help.

[parody]

I don't know which airline you are considering, so read responses 2 and 13 at this previous thread.

[Charsacutter]

Flyer Talk, We are leaving for a cruise out of San Juan in Jan 08. Was wondering when it would be a good time to book a fare from Sacramento, Ca to San Juan. Do you know if there is a time when fares are there lowest.

Thanks for your time.

[FlyerTalker]

No one knows that, other than the folks at the revenue management departments of airlines. And if they told you, they would have to shoot you.

 

There is an underlying issue here. Yes, there are periods when the fares go down....but that is for flights in those periods, not necessarily for tickets bought in those periods for other times.

 

When you are traveling for a specific occasion, at a specific time, you lose some of the flexibility of "sales" and pricing fluctuations. Yes, tickets might be cheap now (or at some point) for your route, but that doesn't help when the trip needs to be in a different month!

 

San Juan in January. Vacation time for the Caribbean. People wanting to leave the snow (not in SMF) and go someplace warm. Think supply and demand, then think it again. Your judgment of that is more often than not a good indicator of what prices will be like. Thanksgiving, Christmas, Spring Break....you get the idea.

 

Go over to FareCompare and FareCast and start researching your particular routing. Keep an eye peeled, just as you would browsing the ads in the Sunday newspaper inserts. If you check regularly, you can get a good idea of what fares are for your specific dates and routing. With that knowledge, you then can spot when a "good" fare comes along and you can grab it. Also, sign up for fare alerts from online sources.

 

I wish that I could say "wait until October 1" (or something similar) and have a reasonable certainty of it coming true. But I don't want to lead you astray with promises of a holy grail of timing for specific itineraries.