Best time to buy plane tickets

[rufio]

What are your secrets for buying plane tickets? I'm planning a trip in October and if I do end up going solo I'm going to fly vs. driving 9 hours alone. I've had friends who have told me that there are certain tricks (buy tickets at 11:30pm on a Wednesday, or something crazy) to buying tickets. So what are yours?

 

[jmcdougall]

What are your secrets for buying plane tickets? I'm planning a trip in October and if I do end up going solo I'm going to fly vs. driving 9 hours alone. I've had friends who have told me that there are certain tricks (buy tickets at 11:30pm on a Wednesday, or something crazy) to buying tickets. So what are yours?

I am SO interested in this advice also......thanks for any input.

 

[luv]

I buy them as soon as I know I'm going.

One time, my sister told me to hold off until the next day for some dumb reason and the tickets went up about $200/a piece the next day.

Never made that mistake again. $400. And I don't remember the reason, but it was dumb.

 

[englanddg]

I buy them as soon as I know I'm going.

One time, my sister told me to hold off until the next day for some dumb reason and the tickets went up about $200/a piece the next day.

Never made that mistake again. $400. And I don't remember the reason, but it was dumb.

Yeah, next day is BAD unless you wish to fly standby.

Earlier the better.

 

[Hot Lava]

I posted this on another thread awhile back:

Buy at 3 p.m. EST on a Tuesday: Most sale fares kick in on Monday at 8 p.m., and end on Thursday at 8 p.m., and according to Rick Seaney, co-founder of FareCompare.com, the greatest number of cheap seats will be available at 3 p.m. on Tuesday. Avoid flying on weekends: Be mindful of booking weekend flights because these are popular with both business travelers and vacationers. More specifically, you should avoid flights on Friday afternoon through Monday morning, if you can Fly hungry: The least expensive flights tend to take off at dawn (also best for avoiding delays), or around lunchtime, as well as after 6 p.m. Shop for one seat: Reservation systems are programmed so that if there’s one too few cheap seats for your group, all members get bumped up to the next price level. So if you’re traveling with a group, establish the base price fro one passenger and compare it with the price for all. Cheapest day to fly: Wednesday.Other low-cost days to fly are Tuesday and Saturday, says Farecompare (Friday and Sunday are the most expensive days to travel).​

I usually start by putting dates into Orbitz and getting a good overview. Then look at Kayak. Then I look at each individual airline website. For airlines such as SW or JB, you have to, as they are not part of Orbitz. But sometimes I find better prices on the UA website than the aggregators.

Sign up for sale alerts from any airline you think you would fly.

As for driving - I have driven cross country several times by myself. Several 8-10 hour segments each trip. I didn't think it was all that bad. I only stop at big, well populated places. And satellite radio is indispensable!

 

[disneygirl76]

What are your secrets for buying plane tickets? I'm planning a trip in October and if I do end up going solo I'm going to fly vs. driving 9 hours alone. I've had friends who have told me that there are certain tricks (buy tickets at 11:30pm on a Wednesday, or something crazy) to buying tickets. So what are yours?

I just watch the flight costs so I know the average of what they should be. Usually, we can get a flight from DC to MCO for about $220 a person round trip nonstop. When we booked our last trip, I could only see them around $300. So I booked b/c they were not changing and I needed to the times more then anything. BUT, we were able to get credits - 3 times!!!!! - for each time the flight was reduced which resulted in enough for me to use a free ticket! We flex Air Tran and they were great at adjusting the price and giving us the credit.

 

[Hot Lava]

I forgot to mention, there is some website (I think associated with Bing) that will tell you whether you should buy now or wait. It takes your dates and with historical data determines if the prices are likely to go up, down or stay the same.

 

[coltow]

Once we have the $ to buy them we do. Sometimes it's 6 months ahead sometimes it's 3 months.

We watch prices as soon as we have dates, we also watch + - a day or 2 cuz that can make a difference. Ideally when possible we book trips for mid weeks, like go Wed-Wed instead of Sat-Sat, flying during the week can be significantly cheaper then weekends

Also if you have other airport options that helps. Last year a 6am flight out of Boston was $250 each one way, a noon flight out of Manchester NH (1hr away) was $125

 

[Weather_Lady]

It depends. Ones like Jet Blue, one of our favorites, release their lowest fares first and the numbers only go up, so "the earlier the better" is the rule. Another low-cost carrier in our area, Southwest, goes up and down in price, BUT if you buy and price drops later, you can receive a credit for the difference to use toward a future flight. You just have to take a look at the fine print for each airline.

 

[KCheatle]

I just booked my flights yesterday and I don't leave until September 14th. I like booking early. The reason I booked now is because I get a free upgrade to the comfort seats because of my platinum level on Delta. So, I didn't want those seats to already be reserved. There's only so many. Either way, I like booking flights as early as possible so that I can choose the seats I want. I hate being in the back of the plane and I also don't like looking out over the wing so I try to get seats that are close to the front and have good window views

 

[launchpad03]

What are your secrets for buying plane tickets? I'm planning a trip in October and if I do end up going solo I'm going to fly vs. driving 9 hours alone. I've had friends who have told me that there are certain tricks (buy tickets at 11:30pm on a Wednesday, or something crazy) to buying tickets. So what are yours?

Farecompare.com has had really good info and alert systems in the past. Set up an alert there. Also the comment about Bing's prediction score is helpful. Anything with 80% confidence or more (you'll see on the bing travel site once you search for flights) is a solid bet. Also, faredetective.com has some historical info. (For the record, farecompare.com used to have really great historical info but seems to have removed it entirely from their site.) I've also gathered that a notion for best time to purchase is no longer as applicable as it once was. Looking around at some fares over time, like a previous commenter said, will give you a good hint of if a fare is below, above or exactly average price for you airport.

Best wishes!

 

[KLeigh]

I agree with the advice mentioned above. Also, keep your eye out for limited time sales. I was able to book round trip, non-stop flights through Southwest during a three day fall getaway sale for $90 per person each way.

I've also noticed that buying directly through the airline is usually cheaper than travel sites like Expedia, Orbitz, etc.

Good luck!

 

[Bob]

I posted this on another similar thread. Saw this on the news a little while back.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/lifestyle/2013/02/tips-for-saving-money-on-airfare/

They also mentioned something about the best time to get domestic tickets is 30 - 45 days out from your date of travel.

 

[Sweet Melissa]

I usually buy on Tuesday or Wednesday, and I do so at about 2-4 months out. That seems to be the "sweet spot" for pricing. Too early and the airlines are still posting what some call "wish list pricing", meaning that it's the price they want, but they will later lower prices to fill up flights. Wait too long, however, and they start gouging you again for last minute flights.

Also, just like they're the best days to buy tickets, Tuesday and Wednesday are the cheapest days to fly. Shockingly, after that, the next cheapest day is often Saturday.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I'd set a fare watcher on something like Yahoo travel. It will watch flights for that city and email me once they drop below a certain level. I manually check too. You also have to keep an eye out for fare sales for SWA. While I think they've already had one for Oct, it's far enough out that you might see another.