Best time to buy is always when the flights are first released.
Best time to buy is always when the flights are first released.
Well said. We have had the exact same experience with SWA. Sometimes best fares — or near best fares — are opening day. But not always.Disagree. I have found rates lower than opening day rates for my airport & preferred route several times. It may be different for your airport. But best rates on opening day is not always true for mine. Best advice is to know what is a good rate from your airport & book when you see that rate, no matter when it is.
Edit to add an example. We were just at Disney last month with my sister & her husband. They booked on opening day as soon as flights came out & paid about $125. I was not able to book as soon as flights were released & they had jumped by the time I got home from work. So I did not book. In July, the flight dropped to $86, a significant drop from opening day prices. That's when I booked my tickets.
Within the past 2 years, we have traveled to Orlando about 5 times. I have booked on opening day for 1 trip & prices never dropped lower. I have booked on opening day & gotten credits after the price dropped. And I have seen prices open high, go even higher with a WGA fares selling out for weeks & then come back at even lower than opening day rates. There is no hard & fast rule for every city & every route.
Wow... $25???!!! That is amazing? Haven’t seen fares like that ever! Great score!We just returned from our trip to MCO from Philly. We originally booked on day one of Southwest schedule opening and paid $90 each way, which we thought was a decent price. Over the next few months we rebooked a couple times until finally getting it down to $25 each way. Of course, we adjusted the times a bit, leaving a bit later to get to Disney, and a late morning return flight, but we couldn’t pass it up.
That’s why we like flying Southwest so we can get the low airfare and credit if the price comes down. Now my dilemma, another trip to Disney before the credit expires, or should I be nice and plan a trip to Atlanta to see the Phillies play for dear hubby?
I know you're exaggerating, but yes, the more flexible you are, the better off you are on finding cheaper flights. If you are only willing to fly at 2pm on Friday with no stops, someone willing to fly at 6am with a stop (or two) will probably find a cheaper rate.I'm reading this thread and feeling so discouraged. How are people finding such good rates? I've been checking various airfare aggregators for months but have yet to see anything cheaper than $600 - $800 a ticket! I'm not coming from some far away country either. We're flying out of upstate NY. Prices haven't budged in all the months I've been watching them. The only thing I'm doing that could be upping rates is I've eliminated any airlines that don't let you choose your seats. Ideally I'd like to get a non-stop flight since neither DH nor I care for flying, but those are the $800 tickets. I've checked other airports that are a father drive away, or flights that aren't nonstop, and that gives me the $600 or so rates. We're still looking at $1800 for 3 people minimum. Airfare is taking a huge chunk out of our budget that I (unknowingly, I rarely fly) didn't account for.
Edited to add: I've been thinking and I realized that I might be doing other things that aren't helping...like I'm eliminating flights that have 10+ layovers (or overnight ones), flights that would have us up all night in order to get there on time, etc. Are people getting these better rates just being more flexible than I am? As much as I want to save money, I just can't see us choosing some of these undesirable flights that being listed for less. (And they're still not cheap per se...like around $300+ per ticket.) I'm also having trouble finding flights that don't end up cutting off days from our vacation or cause difficulties with scheduling. (We have a relative picking us up and driving us to a house 2 hours away on arrival day, so I didn't want to get in super late since she doesn't like driving at night, for example.)
I appreciate your response. The choices I'm being given really are pretty unsatisfactory. Every time I think I see a better fare, I stop and go, "oh wait, it leaves at 5:00am? Or "...a 12 hr layover??" or..."it leaves at 11pm and doesn't get in until morning?" I'm thinking my problem may be a combo of where we are (not really near any major airports) and when we are traveling (end of April, maybe the airlines consider this still spring break season?) I see much cheaper fares being advertised for totally different dates (we can't really be flexible on dates, I'm afraid) or or going into or out of major cities.
I'm trying to figure out how best to balance inconvenience with price and my brain's starting to hurt. I've tried flying into one airport and out another, checking all the nearby airports, trying to decide if we really could stand to leave the house at 200am just to get there. I'm probably just going to have to bite the bullet and increase our budget. I just get so discouraged when I hear about other people finding great rates for hundreds cheaper!
Definitely figure out what airports you are willing to fly out of & which airlines will or won't work for your family. Then keep an eye on the flights for those airlines & airports. If the typical rates are too much, then you'll have to decide on what you can change: airport, airline or budget. But don't let the fact that other people, in other cities, flying different airlines are getting cheaper rates discourage you. Some airlines & cities are just more expensive to fly from.
Best time to buy is always when the flights are first released.
Most legacy airlines (Delta, United, American) release on a rolling schedule 330 days before the date. So if you want to look for the round trip, you'd need to wait until 330 days before your return date.How do you know when flights are first released? Is it different for each airline?
Most legacy airlines (Delta, United, American) release on a rolling schedule 330 days before the date. So if you want to look for the round trip, you'd need to wait until 330 days before your return date.
Others (Southwest, Jetblue, etc) release a bunch at a certain time. They should have posted somewhere on their website when their next release date is and what dates it will cover.