Another San Juan Question

[NoVa Mimi]

I am looking everday for a drop in fares to San Juan in July...they just keep going up :( . We are flying from Washington Dulles (we have to go from Dulles and not BWI or DCA due to transportation issues) and want to go down on the day before, of course, but the prices I'm seeing are the highest I've seen in a long time! Does anyone know when the airlines drop their fares, like Tuesdays, late at night, etc? Also, is the opinion of most that the fares will continue to rise, or drop? Thanks in advance for any helpful hints anyone may have!

[CoralReef]

There is often a "sweet spot" 8-12 weeks before your travel date, when prices go down for a day to a week, before starting to rise again.

 

Of course, there are no guarantees, especially in the current fuel cost situation, but if you can stand the suspense and prices are not actually rising, you may be better off waiting for that "sweet spot". It worked for me for our Rome flight, I saved $200 per person.

 

Another advantage of waiting until closer to the travel date to book is that airlines are less likely to change your seats, times and connections. (AA is particularly bad about this, in my experience, and they didn't even contact me to tell me they had made significant timing changes! I never would have found out if I hadn't kept checking our reservation online.)

 

If you're not using kayak.com, I recommend it. It's an easy way to compare lots of airlines in one search. (Although they don't include all the small regional airlines which sometimes have the best prices.) Check on Mondays and Tuesdays especially, the airlines often drop prices those days.

[arb18]

Try JetBlue...

[NoVa Mimi]

Susan and Amber, thank you both for your suggestions. I think I will continue to wait and see what happens in the next month or two. I am doing Yapta and Kayak along with checking the airlines sites several times each day (more on weekends :) ) Amber, I checked Jet Blue and was really shocked that they were over $800 each ticket...I always thought Jet Blue was less expensive. Am I missong something with their prices, perhaps too soon or too late to schedule for July? Thank you both again and keep your fingers crossed that I find "the sweet spot" :)

[tobyjr10]

We are cruising out of San Juan in June. I purchased 3 tickets out of Dulles airport thru United Airlines/Ted for $726 for all 3 tickets together and that is including taxes.

[tcha]

I purchased 3 tickets round trip from Norfolk VA to San Juan for $2,000 just 3 weeks ago. You can do better than me!

[NoVa Mimi]

toby, when were you able to get that pricing? That's the pricing I remember and am trying to obtain. Did you go through United's site? Thank you for the info!

 

tca, that's what I'm trying to get away from. I'm sorry that your tickets were so high.

 

Tami

[suzski]

We are cruising out of San Juan in June. I purchased 3 tickets out of Dulles airport thru United Airlines/Ted for $726 for all 3 tickets together and that is including taxes. I got 5 tickets out of BWI on AA for $180 ($362 pp) in late January. Price for same flight now is $1965.

 

I purchased 3 tickets round trip from Norfolk VA to San Juan for $2,000 just 3 weeks ago. You can do better than me! :eek: OMG! We live in Chesapeake and those horrendous prices are exact reason that we're making the 4 hour commute to BWI (the savings definitely add up with 5 in our group!)

 

Not sure of your dates, but AA has a flight out of DCA for $377 on the 6th, returning the 13th.

[Host CJSKIDS]

Looking in the month of July American has great prices from IAD to SJU. The fares classes are $218, 238, 258, 308 328, 368 408 and 418.35 roundtrip plus taxes.

 

Not sure of your exact dates but these are the fares available for the month of July.

[tobyjr10]

Tami,

 

I purchased our tickets on 28th of Feb from united website. I originally went on expedia.com to see what airline had the cheapest flight and then booked them thru united website so I would not be charged the $15 booking fee that expedia charges.

[NoVa Mimi]

cjskids, I just checked AA and the lowest I can get now out of IAD is $418 RT. Toby, I can't believe I missed that! That's before I was checking several times daily...in fact I probably didn't check that week..darn! The kicker of it all is I have over 100,000 miles with UA and no seats are available on 7/5 or 7/20 for the reasonable seats only those that cost 70,000 miles each, which I don't have enough to cover. I even have a coupon for one free companion ticket, but it's not good to San Juan, only in the upper 48 states. Sometimes, you can't win for losing...:(

[megr1125]

didn't see how many tix you need, but greatam and flyertaker) always suggest booking one at a time....sometimes there will be one or 2 seats in a lower fare bucket but if you need, say 3 and only 2 lower price seats are available, you get thrown into a higher price...so try booking one at a time.....

 

greatam (and FT) pop on here all the time so maybe they will help....both have some great suggestions and can be very helpful!:p

[NoVa Mimi]

Meg, You mean check availability using my miles to check for 1 or 2 seats at a time? I appreciate all the input, you all are great!! :)

[Host CJSKIDS]

cjskids, I just checked AA and the lowest I can get now out of IAD is $418 RT. Toby, I can't believe I missed that! That's before I was checking several times daily...in fact I probably didn't check that week..darn! The kicker of it all is I have over 100,000 miles with UA and no seats are available on 7/5 or 7/20 for the reasonable seats only those that cost 70,000 miles each, which I don't have enough to cover. I even have a coupon for one free companion ticket, but it's not good to San Juan, only in the upper 48 states. Sometimes, you can't win for losing...:(

 

Sorry you missed it. Keep checking, AA changes their flights prices constantly and sales will show up on day and not the next. I got vouchers 3 weeks ago for an upcoming trip due to price reductions and was lucky as the reduction was only a one day thing.

[megr1125]

Meg, You mean check availability using my miles to check for 1 or 2 seats at a time? I appreciate all the input, you all are great!! :)

 

all of the above....maybe use miles for 1 seat? then book the other 1 (or 2) solo???

[NoVa Mimi]

Well, I did it! :) I was able to book 3 seats at $338 each and I have enough miles with United for reimbursement. To be reimbursed, all I have to do is contact the program when I get my Visa bill with the reference number and they will credit my Visa account in full...who hoo! :) Now I can go ahead and plan our excursions, etc. Thank you all for all of your help!