Booking your Flight?

[bsmartin2000]

Can anyone tell me when is the best time to book a flight? Do you book it as far out as possible or are there cheaper flights a little closer to your trip? Every flight from Maine to Orlando is about 375 round trip, does this seem like a good deal or should I wait a little while?

 

[riess424]

Can anyone tell me when is the best time to book a flight? Do you book it as far out as possible or are there cheaper flights a little closer to your trip? Every flight from Maine to Orlando is about 375 round trip, does this seem like a good deal or should I wait a little while?

I am not sure about Maine to Orlando pricing...but the farther out you book the less likely you are going to get stuck with a much higher price. You might get lower prices down the road if they are not heavily book but its a gamble. This is also depends on when you are looking to travel, i.e. thanksgiving, christmas, easter etc. From what I've heard supposedly 3PM on Tuesday/Wednesdays is the best time to book, again supposedly.

I usually book as far out as possible to Orlando because I book my DVC rooms early so I just get the flight out of the way, usually around 350. I could wait and get possible 325, but I could wait and pay 450---easy decision in my eyes

 

[melmood2000]

I'm from Maine :wave: My husband and I are traveling to the world in september. I just booked our flights on sat. We are Traveling Sun-Mon. I looked at flying out of Portland JetPort but they didn't have a direct flight, then I looked at flying out of Logan but the cost of parking was off setting the savings I would get over portland. So I found out that Flying out of Manchester on Southwest with a direct flight was a compromise out of the three. The drive to Manchester is only about an hour and a half for us and an easy ride. I booked roundtrip flights for 2 adults for 570.00.

 

[I_heart_Tigger]

GAWD! I should just drive the 8 hours to Bangor and fly from there. Customs check would probably be easier, too.

I'm flying from Halifax, Nova Scotia in April (17 days!) and paying $690 return, last year in April I paid $770 return and in August 2010 I paid $890 return...and those were all fairly decent prices at the time.

I have paid as much as $1200 for flights to Orlando - difficult to budget when your flights take up 2/3 of your vacation costs.

 

[Poofiesdream]

I am actually going to Maine from West Palm Beach airport. I booked Southwest flying from PBI to Manchester and flights are $121. each way. If the price drops you just rebook for free and get the credit good for a year. I have also flown into Portland ME on Jetblue. There rates are pretty good but have risen lately. Book now and if they drop they will also give you a year voucher for the difference. Definetly book Early, as soon as you can! With the price of gas rising prices could skyrocket. :wave:

 

[ncstate7991]

IF you are flying Southwest, they are very flexible about price changes. If the prices goes down, they give you a one year credit for that amount. The only negatives to this; you have to book a flight within one year of your original booking date, and the passenger name must be the same.

Other airlines change hefty change fees that usually negate the savings. Traditionally airlines have started sales on Tuesday or reset their pricing bundles on Tuesday. That usually makes Tuesday the cheapest day to book. I have also been able to book some fares on Tuesday morning (around 4 or 5 am) that have been accidently priced wrong. These error fares are usually fixed pretty quick, but the airline will honor it. Once I was able to fly roundtrip from RDU to Austin for $108 after tax. I booked this at 5am and by 6:30 am the airline had removed the fare.

Lastly, don't forget the baggage fees that airlines charge when comparing airlines. Southwest allows two bags free. JetBlue allows one bag free. Most other airlines charge for the first checked bag. Good luck and I hope you are able to get a cheap fare!

 

[Polyman]

Booking as far out as possible does not always result in a lower fare than if one waited. Example: Go to Continental(United).com and look at Newark to Orlando in August (4 1/2 months out). Around $600. R/T. INSANE. Now look around 3 months from today. Around $248. for the same flights. This 3 month window has been a pattern that I have been watching over the last several months. I don't believe I am the only one who is noticing this. Take a look at the seating charts for the August flights. The planes are nealy empty. People are waiting.

 

[wendysue]

Booking as far out as possible does not always result in a lower fare than if one waited. Example: Go to Continental(United).com and look at Newark to Orlando in August (4 1/2 months out). Around $600. R/T. INSANE. Now look around 3 months from today. Around $248. for the same flights. This 3 month window has been a pattern that I have been watching over the last several months. I don't believe I am the only one who is noticing this. Take a look at the seating charts for the August flights. The planes are nealy empty. People are waiting.

I agree with the 3 months out. I kept checking flights from Chicago every day for mid April. They were always around 350 RT. One day at the end of January, the same seats were 184 RT. Got em! You have to make sure to check every day. Sometimes more than once. I have had good luck the last two trips booking early on Saturday morning.

 

[kasey1988]

GAWD! I should just drive the 8 hours to Bangor and fly from there. Customs check would probably be easier, too.

I'm flying from Halifax, Nova Scotia in April (17 days!) and paying $690 return, last year in April I paid $770 return and in August 2010 I paid $890 return...and those were all fairly decent prices at the time.

I have paid as much as $1200 for flights to Orlando - difficult to budget when your flights take up 2/3 of your vacation costs.

We fly out of Halifax as well and are looking for flights in September, right now westjet is $750, air canada$500 and united is $520... I'm waiting for a seat sale, hopefully not going to pay over $520 ish return... Also looked at flying out of Bangor, $300 return, but by the time you factor in gas, and potentially a hotel (depending on flight times) and airport parking it really didn't save much!

 

[I_heart_Tigger]

We fly out of Halifax as well and are looking for flights in September, right now westjet is $750, air canada$500 and united is $520... I'm waiting for a seat sale, hopefully not going to pay over $520 ish return... Also looked at flying out of Bangor, $300 return, but by the time you factor in gas, and potentially a hotel (depending on flight times) and airport parking it really didn't save much!

That's true probably not saving much with the gas prices right now anyway. I might be going in Sept too but those dates are more flexible so I can keep my eye out for seat sales.

Personally I am OK paying a bit more to fly with Westjet over AC (or any other airline actually) they've been very good in my experience and I like the direct flight times...I'll be in the parks before noon on my arrival day!

 

[Uncle Lupe]

We booked our airfare 8 months out. We had to have direct flights and being in a smaller market I never saw a price decrease.

 

[popcenturylover]

We have a direct flight booked 6 months out for Sept. We paid $665 roundtrip for 3. We keep checking since we booked and it just keeps going up!

 

[Master Yoda]

It is a crap shoot. About the only consistent thing I have seen when it comes to airline fares are that it is typically less expensive to fly on a Tuesday, Thursday and sometimes Saturday. Outside of those parameters I can show you examples where buying early was best, where buying later was best and everything in between. If I had to pick one I would book early with an airline that has no or minimal change fees and then set up a fare watch through Kayak, Air fare watchdog, etc and change if necessary.

 

[lebeau]

It is a crap shoot. About the only consistent thing I have seen when it comes to airline fares are that it is typically less expensive to fly on a Tuesday, Thursday and sometimes Saturday. Outside of those parameters I can show you examples where buying early was best, where buying later was best and everything in between. If I had to pick one I would book early with an airline that has no or minimal change fees and then set up a fare watch through Kayak, Air fare watchdog, etc and change if necessary.

Those exist?!?

Booking a flight has been driving me nuts. But that's true every year we fly somewhere. Somehow, it always seems to get worse.

 

[Master Yoda]

Those exist?!?

Booking a flight has been driving me nuts. But that's true every year we fly somewhere. Somehow, it always seems to get worse.

Southwest is the only one I know of off of the top of my head that does not charge a change fee. However, any change in price is issued as a credit if I am not mistaken. No big deal if you fly regularly but if you are like me and have not been on a plane in over a decade it borders on worthless.

 

[lebeau]

Southwest is the only one I know of off of the top of my head that does not charge a change fee. However, any change in price is issued as a credit if I am not mistaken. No big deal if you fly regularly but if you are like me and have not been on a plane in over a decade it borders on worthless.

Sadly Southwest doesn't fly out of CVG. We rarely fly anyway, so a credit wouldn't be all that helpful. But I'd take it.

The problem we're having is that they appear to have cut down the number of flights to bare bones. We can't really find a flight time we like. Ideally, I'd like to fly out around 6 on 10/31. But those flights involve a lay-over that would mean arriving in Orlando around midnight. Way too late with little kids.

If we leave earlier, it will be a rush to make it from school to the airport. Plus the kids would miss trick-or-treating.

Alternatively, we could leave on 11/01. That would make getting to the airport less stressful and allow the kids to trick or treat. But we lose 1/2 day to travel. Oh, it also saves us one night on the room. So, that's a small bonus.

I imagine a lot of people are in the same boat. But with prices as high as they currently are it really irritates me that I can't find a flight that fits my schedule ideally.

(grumble grumble)

 

[Master Yoda]

Sadly Southwest doesn't fly out of CVG. We rarely fly anyway, so a credit wouldn't be all that helpful. But I'd take it.

The problem we're having is that they appear to have cut down the number of flights to bare bones. We can't really find a flight time we like. Ideally, I'd like to fly out around 6 on 10/31. But those flights involve a lay-over that would mean arriving in Orlando around midnight. Way too late with little kids.

If we leave earlier, it will be a rush to make it from school to the airport. Plus the kids would miss trick-or-treating.

Alternatively, we could leave on 11/01. That would make getting to the airport less stressful and allow the kids to trick or treat. But we lose 1/2 day to travel. Oh, it also saves us one night on the room. So, that's a small bonus.

I imagine a lot of people are in the same boat. But with prices as high as they currently are it really irritates me that I can't find a flight that fits my schedule ideally.

(grumble grumble)

You are correct. The airlines have reduced the number of flights. From an operations standpoint is makes perfect sense. You make more money on a full plane then a half full one. From a customer service standpoint it stinks because the flight times and destinations are less than ideal. It is almost to the point were you really need to have a day to travel in and a day to travel out. If you live in a major city that is a hub like New York, Atlanta, etc you can still get to most of the country in a few hours but if you are in a smaller city or a small town you are out of luck. For me to fly to fly from Jacksonville Florida to Orlando I have to connect through Miami or Atlanta.

 

[JillC LI]

Just as an fyi, a computer expert once told me that if you regularly visit an airline web site without clearing your cookies, then the web site will recognize that you are back and showing interest, and it will not offer you a price decrease. I'm not sure that's true, but I always clear my cookies when checking a web site regularly for price drops.

 

[lebeau]

You are correct. The airlines have reduced the number of flights. From an operations standpoint is makes perfect sense. You make more money on a full plane then a half full one. From a customer service standpoint it stinks because the flight times and destinations are less than ideal. It is almost to the point were you really need to have a day to travel in and a day to travel out. If you live in a major city that is a hub like New York, Atlanta, etc you can still get to most of the country in a few hours but if you are in a smaller city or a small town you are out of luck. For me to fly to fly from Jacksonville Florida to Orlando I have to connect through Miami or Atlanta.

Yeah, I get why they have cut flights.

The airlines are lucky that my kids would drive me crazy if I tried to drive. As it stands, I lack alternatives.

Just as an fyi, a computer expert once told me that if you regularly visit an airline web site without clearing your cookies, then the web site will recognize that you are back and showing interest, and it will not offer you a price decrease. I'm not sure that's true, but I always clear my cookies when checking a web site regularly for price drops.

Never heard that before. I have price alerts set up, so I never actually go to these sites. But the price has been creeping up all the same.