Advice on when book a flight - April vacation time frame

[DarthVader]

Its been a few years since I last booked a flight for April vacation, and back then I was shell shocked at how much the airlines jacked up the price. This year I know, but questions still abound.

April vacation for Massachusetts is about 7.5 months away from today. The conventional wisdom on when to book flights is 3 months out. If memory serves me the last time I did this, I did not see any real movement on flight prices as we had inched closer to our vacation.

I'm hesitant to pull the trigger today, because its so far out, yet I'm not sure if I'll see any real improvements in the price and in fact I'll get burned and have to pay more.

Thoughts on rolling the dice and waiting a couple more months?

 

[Nemo14]

Its been a few years since I last booked a flight for April vacation, and back then I was shell shocked at how much the airlines jacked up the price. This year I know, but questions still abound.

April vacation for Massachusetts is about 7.5 months away from today. The conventional wisdom on when to book flights is 3 months out. If memory serves me the last time I did this, I did not see any real movement on flight prices as we had inched closer to our vacation.

I'm hesitant to pull the trigger today, because its so far out, yet I'm not sure if I'll see any real improvements in the price and in fact I'll get burned and have to pay more.

Thoughts on rolling the dice and waiting a couple more months?

We always booked as soon as booking dates opened up because prices never came down, and in fact many flights were sold out for that week, particularly if Easter Sunday falls during that time frame. Have you considered driving down? It's not ideal, but if you have enough drivers it can work out for you.

 

[DarthVader]

We always booked as soon as booking dates opened up because prices never came down,

During non-peak or vacation times I've saved myself a lot of money by waiting.

f Easter Sunday falls during that time frame.

Luckily Easter is at the beginning of the April and my kids April vacation is near the end (the 16th). I also looked at the crowd calendar and during our week the parks crowds are crushing (I hope).

Have you considered driving down?

Yes and no. Yes, we'll save close to 2k, but it is a 2 to 3 day drive. I'm not sure any of us have the intestinal fortitude to handle that.

 

[Herdman]

We just booked our Southwest flights for next May a couple days ago. The window opened, and we picked the flights that best suited our travel schedule rather than risk them getting filled up. It used to be that you could save some money if you risked the wait, but I haven't noted much change our last few trips.

 

[DarthVader]

It used to be that you could save some money if you risked the wait, but I haven't noted much change our last few trips.

Yeah, I'm thinking this may be the "new world order" Waiting especially during periods of high activity may risk filling up more then saving money

 

[dreamfinder]

I'd say it depends on who you are flying, how often you fly, and your stomach for risk. Several of the flight comparison engines will show you the current better days to fly, as well as give you a guesstimate as to if the price will shift or not. For instance, Google flights will show you the cost for any given day in the month on the calendar selection tool, so you can compare without having to even drill down the days. Now while those prices can and will most likely change, you can see how your given time compares to get an idea for possible shifts (if they occur). Personally, periods they know will have high demand, you won't see much drop. If the airline knows a given time will be in demand, the market will pay the higher price. So that whole waiting game may work for random times to random places, but not during peak periods.

Now if you book via a low cost carrier (such as Southwest or Jet Blue) they usually offer lower fares first, and then as they run out the price goes up. They may offer a sale, but other than that the price won't usually drop back down. If you travel somewhat often (or at least will fly again within a year) I'd strongly suggest booking with someone like Southwest that has no change fees and will refund any drops in the form of a credit. Depending on where you are located in MA, you may do well to look into Manchester or Providence as possible options to save money.

 

[DarthVader]

your stomach for risk

I'm adverse to risk

Now if you book via a low cost carrier (such as Southwest or Jet Blue) they usually offer lower fares first,

We typically go with JetBlue but I found (other then vacation weeks) their prices to go down for a period of time, i.e., advanced booking is pricey, 3 months out or so, better prices. 30 days before departure its pricey.

As for Southwest, I can believe that, though I've not used them very much

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I second @dreamfinder's suggestion. If you're in Massachusetts, don't limit your search to just Logan. Keep an eye on Green (Providence, PVD), Manchester (MHT), and even Bradley (Hartford, BDL). I've saved hundreds that way.

 

[MickeyMomV]

We typically fly southwest and have found recently that the longer you wait the higher the prices go. We are actually looking at driving for a trip in April, something we have said we would never do again. But at a current price difference of $500/person it is worth it to drive... From Michigan.

 

[sgtbtlbailey]

@maflynn, we also live in Massachusetts and are talking about driving down for spring break week, which we would normally NEVER do. Its a big birthday for me next April and 15th wedding anniversary with my DH. I just checked SW because they recently opened flights through June and for the four of us (myself, DH, DD and DS) its either $2368 or $2568 roundtrip from Providence to MCO depending on whether we come back Sunday or Saturday 4/22 or 4/21 respectively, which is double what we normally pay to fly out of PVD - hence the reason we're seriously thinking about driving - and that's with flying down on a Thursday, so I would imagine flying down on Saturday would be worse. There are already a handful of Wanna Get Away rates sold out for the return days, so I would suggest booking ASAP if you're thinking about flying Southwest. The rates are only going to go up for that week.

 

[Dave B]

@maflynn, we also live in Massachusetts and are talking about driving down for spring break week, which we would normally NEVER do. Its a big birthday for me next April and 15th wedding anniversary with my DH. I just checked SW because they recently opened flights through June and for the four of us (myself, DH, DD and DS) its either $2368 or $2568 roundtrip from Providence to MCO depending on whether we come back Sunday or Saturday 4/22 or 4/21 respectively, which is double what we normally pay to fly out of PVD - hence the reason we're seriously thinking about driving - and that's with flying down on a Thursday, so I would imagine flying down on Saturday would be worse. There are already a handful of Wanna Get Away rates sold out for the return days, so I would suggest booking ASAP if you're thinking about flying Southwest. The rates are only going to go up for that week.

Wed are typically the cheapest days to fly Southwest

 

[sgtbtlbailey]

Wed are typically the cheapest days to fly Southwest

Point taken, but unfortunately in this case, it only makes it $60 cheaper and we'd have to pay for another night in the hotel

 

[DarthVader]

it only makes it $60 cheaper and we'd have to pay for another night in the hotel

That's the very discussion I'm having with the my wife. The last time we went down to WDW, we bumped our vacation back a day to save $$ on flights and booked a hotel at one of Disney's value resorts. It worked out for us, but that's only because the savings were significant.

 

[dreamfinder]

Point taken, but unfortunately in this case, it only makes it $60 cheaper and we'd have to pay for another night in the hotel

Pretty sure at least parts of MCO are 24 hours.... Just sayin

 

[Dave B]

Pretty sure at least parts of MCO are 24 hours.... Just sayin

There are also very cheap motels just off property to stay for one evening, most peoples Credit Cards will offer free hotel as well

 

[sgtbtlbailey]

Pretty sure at least parts of MCO are 24 hours.... Just sayin

If it were just me and my husband, that might be an option, but we have a 12 yr old and 6 yr old and hanging in the airport overnight is NOT an option with them.

 

[Zipadeelady]

I'm in the minority here but I was always told to book around 3 months out but the trip we're leaving for in a few weeks had me panicked so I booked our flights a soon as I could, around 6 months. I kept checking prices just out of curiosity and they have slowly went down. Now I'm just 2 weeks from flying to Disney and I could've saved half the price. Oh well, lesson learned. I'm from the mid-west so maybe that has something to do with it.

 

[Dave B]

Yeah I have learned the hard way to be patient as well, but I can tell you if you booked Southwest and a cheaper flight comes up you can get a credit for the difference and use it on the next trip, my flights changed from $179 to $109 last year, we used the $70 credit per ticket when we booked our flights this year

 

[DarthVader]

I'm in the minority here but I was always told to book around 3 months out but the trip we're leaving for in a few weeks had me panicked so I booked our flights a soon as I could, around 6 months. I kept checking prices just out of curiosity and they have slowly went down. Now I'm just 2 weeks from flying to Disney and I could've saved half the price. Oh well, lesson learned. I'm from the mid-west so maybe that has something to do with it.

That's the gamble. It all depends on when you go however.

We went a couple of years ago during April vacation, Much like you, I typically waited to book to wait until I get in that 3 month window, however during April vacation the Massachusetts airports did not show any reduction of airfare, quite the opposite, I paid more because I waited.

Airlines know when each location has a major holiday and will not adjust the costs, in fact they purposely jack up the prices. Just look at the week of April 16th for Boston, the prices are 2x even 3x more then other airports.

but I can tell you if you booked Southwest

No knock on Southwest, I just don't flying with them, I'm more satisfied with JetBlue and since most of our existing skymiles are with them, I'm looking to see how I best use JetBlue for this trip. The skymiles I get from this trip should push us over the limit for a future trip.

 

[Nemo14]

I'm in the minority here but I was always told to book around 3 months out but the trip we're leaving for in a few weeks had me panicked so I booked our flights a soon as I could, around 6 months. I kept checking prices just out of curiosity and they have slowly went down. Now I'm just 2 weeks from flying to Disney and I could've saved half the price. Oh well, lesson learned. I'm from the mid-west so maybe that has something to do with it.

Yeah I have learned the hard way to be patient as well, but I can tell you if you booked Southwest and a cheaper flight comes up you can get a credit for the difference and use it on the next trip, my flights changed from $179 to $109 last year, we used the $70 credit per ticket when we booked our flights this year

It's true their prices often go down during off season, but April break time is a peak season, especially from New England, and it's highly unlikely to happen then.