USVI-On-Line

The air fare prices from Philly to STT are outrageous for April 2009 !!! This year we may have to make reservations backwards...usually we book the villa THEN the air. We just may have to wait to make sure the air fares come down before we book our villa. $700-$800 is unbelievable. I know it is risky...but just can't take the chance that they will not come down! What do you all think?

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Well I'm flying to STT from a "foreign" country (via 2 stopovers in the US) but a local travel expert recently said that if you are going on a charter flight wait til the last minute for a good deal. If you are going on a non-charter airline you need to book asap. The expert said that due to rising fuel costs airlines are cancelling flights if the seats aren't selling as they won't fly an airplane that isn't close to capacity.

I have been watching my price for STT for more than 2 months now and it has only fluctuated by $2.00 ($864 is the cheapest I can get from here). If I can figure out my San Fran connection I'll be booking asap for Feb/09.

We are booked on the direct Newark to STT in late May. I booked as soon as the flight was available at $478 rt. That same flight is now over $900! My real concern is now that the price has been raised so high they aren't selling seats. I fear the flight may be cancelled. They still have another 8 months to sell tx but I am a bit paranoid about it.

Hi Suzi:

I completely feel your pain. I have already book our villa for April 09. It's my daughters gaduation present so we will have 3. After I booked the villa and went to get the airline tickets, the price went up to over $800. That is all but double than what we're use to paying out of Philly. I put the flight on Yapta and have just been waiting. It's been over two months so far and the price hasn't moved. I am going to wait a bit longer than I will probably book out of Newark. The price break from Newark is worth traveling a bit farther.

XOXO
Bug

I second the Newark idea. We're flying in <2 weeks (!) and I paid under $300 vs $800 out of Philly-oh, and it is direct vs connection out of PHL. It's a bit further but also check out JFK-flew out of htere in February for <300 as well.

Suzi

I agree with everyone else. For the first time in 15 years we are flying out of Newark rather than Philly beccause of the price difference. I don't think the fares are going to go down I have been watching them out of Philly for months and they are actually lower now than they were a few months ago.

We booked out of Philly for the end of Jan thru early February using FF miles because the price has held steady at about $760. Based on this thread, I'm hoping the flights don't get cancelled

I'm flying out of ATL instead of Nashville, on Spirit instead of Delta, so I still have a connection. But it's going to be $400, compared to $900.

They always say there is a dip in ticket prices 60 days out, and I figured the way prices were that would not be the case this year, so I jumped on that $400 flight. A week or so ago, US Air had a flight from ATL to STT for $298.

Oh well. It's always a gamble when you buy plane tickets.

LuLu-- my experience is that there's a steep drop 90 days out then the prices start to rise again, then there's another brief, shallow dip (and I do mean brief and shallow) at about 45 days. After that all bets are off and you usually pay top dollar.

Of course those algorithms (sp?) might be in the toilet these days.

My friend used to be a booking agent for American or United, I can't remember which one. She told me that she ALWAYS recommends that people book the minute they can because there are low-priced seats at first and once they run out, it's anybody's guess what you'll pay.

we are heading down to St. John at the end of November, and with fuel prices going up, we figured it would be safest to book as soon as they allowed for our dates. We got a fairly decent price ($428)out of Baltimore, our prefered airport. We have since watched the price almost double. We are grateful for the low price, but we have also had our flight details changed several times, including putting us on a return flight going into Reagan National Airport in DC! We aren't happy with that change, but I see where the airlines are heading with this. When I have spoken with agents about changes, they have been sympathetic, but acknowledge that this is going to be the pattern for a while now, at least until fuel costs stabilize.

Can the airlines do that to you? Force you to return to an airport that you did not depart from? I would call the airline and ask them to rebook so that your departure and return are to the same airport.

Apparently they can... We haven't checked with them on that yet, but I think I will. They adjusted seat assignments for us several times, but changing a whole flight might be something else.

If you contact them I think they are required to re-book you. Couldn't find much Googling. But I think I'm right on this...