Question for experienced airline travelers

AquaGirl · Post by **AquaGirl** » Wed Jul 25, 2012 1:20 pm

Since many of you seem to travel often, I thought I would ask your opinion on buying airline tickets. We are planning to fly to Sarasota Florida for Thanksgiving week to visit my parents. I've been keeping my eye on airfares and trying to decide when to buy them. I can get the non-stop flights that I prefer to take on USAir for $482. The flights are about 1/2 full. (As a reference point, I am flying down there in Aug for $197 including taxes, which is a great price.)

I have heard that its best to buy tickets late Tues or Weds nights. I checked and the prices for these particular flights were the same last night as they are now.

Perhaps its just wishful thinking that the cost for Thanksgiving week will go down sometime in the next couple weeks. I think I just talked myself into buying them now. Any opinions are welcome!

Teresa_Rae · Post by **Teresa_Rae** » Wed Jul 25, 2012 1:37 pm

I only fly a couple times a year when I'm actually paying, most of my flying experience has been for business when I wasn't paying and didn't have enough notice to track prices anyway.

For personal flights I track flights on Yapta. Have you ever done this? It's very helpful and you can track as many flights as you want.

Pulley · Post by **Pulley** » Wed Jul 25, 2012 1:52 pm

I've found good deals on just about every day of the week. My thought is would I be more upset if the price went down 15% - 20% or up 15% - 20%. If you been following the fare for awhile this good be good deal. If it's not outrageous I would book now and not even look at the fare again. You have to love a non-stop flight.

Gr8Escape · Post by **Gr8Escape** » Wed Jul 25, 2012 2:04 pm

I also would book it if it's been that way for a while.
I also use Yapta to track flights I've already booked as they will also track for refunds. Granted the price has to go down the change fee+ but it's work for me before.
You can also use Kayak to track prices as well.

MN_Bhoy · Post by **MN_Bhoy** » Wed Jul 25, 2012 2:17 pm

I am a frequent flier/former airline employee and I make the trip to NY from MN to visit family during the Holidays. Word from my friends at Delta is that advanced domestic bookings are looking very strong for the 2nd half of 2012. Your US Air flights being 1/2 full this far in advance is a sign of that. As a reference, my flight to St Thomas this coming Saturday was well less than 1/3 sold when I bought tickets six months ago. That flight is now almost full!

It's true that there is always the chance of a fall sale happening, but many of those sales include "black out" dates which usually cover Thanksgiving weekend and Christmas.

I admit that I'm not gambling with my money, but I wouldn't wait too long to buy those Sarasota tickets.

Marcia (Mrs. Pete) · Post by **Marcia (Mrs. Pete)** » Wed Jul 25, 2012 3:16 pm

I have traveled to SRQ hundreds of times; best fares have always been with AirTran. Is this a possibility for you? I generally would watch daily and Tuesday night/Wednesday morning would show the best rates.

Bonny in CA · Post by **Bonny in CA** » Wed Jul 25, 2012 5:10 pm

I remember a tv show that was discussing air fares. One said that about 6 weeks prior is the best pricing. And I also remember them saying that on Tuesdays nights at midnight airlines put seats on sale, but the only way to find them is to call them. They don't show up online.

I haven't tried either of these ideas, just passing on what I heard.

Good luck! Hope you find a great air fare!

MN_Bhoy · Post by **MN_Bhoy** » Thu Jul 26, 2012 4:42 pm

Delta just came out with a fall sale. Need to stay a Sunday night. Problem is that sale period ends 11/14

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/delta-air ... 34706.html

AquaGirl · Post by **AquaGirl** » Mon Aug 27, 2012 12:01 am

My pesky job has interfered with my forum "habit", but I wanted to follow up with the outcome and thanks to everyone who replied.

I ended up buying them about a week after my original post for $475 each. I got busy and forgot about buying them, then when I checked, the price had gone up about $50 for the Sat - Sat schedule. So I booked Sun - Mon. An extra day in Florida is a good thing

Still seems really steep, but Thanksgiving week is like that, unless you buy them way ahead. I got the non-stop flights with perfect flight times for us, so I am happy. Next time I will use yapta and buy them when they are a good price! They are currently $628, so I am glad I bought them when I did.

Marcia - AirTran has now pulled out of Sarasota, sorry to say.

Thanks for your advice everyone.

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