When is the best time to purchase airline tickets?

todpatcam

todpatcam

Active Member
We're looking for some advice from any travel experts out there. We are traveling from Indianapolis to Orlando in the third week of November returning before the week of Thanksgiving. We typically fly Airtran and have always been able to get decent airfare. We still have some time but in thenpast we've been able to book our flights by now.

The prices we've seen so far are much more than we've paid in past years. We keep hearing airfare is going down but we've not seen it.

Does anyone have any tips to pass along; best time of the week to buy, any good sites to buy tickets from, and how close to our trip dates should we get before we need to book. We've even thought of driving but there's plenty of cost in that as well not to mention the 18 hour drive each way.

Thanks!!!
 
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celticdog

celticdog

Well-Known Member
Check prices on Tuesdays and Wednesdays (in the evening). They tend to be less on those days. Keep checking every week. Some of the best times to purchase is between 4 and 6 weeks from departure.

Use kayak.com to compare multiple airlines at the same time. I always buy directly from the airline, because for us it's always been the best price.
 
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ArtieJim

ArtieJim

Well-Known Member
celticdog said:
Check prices on Tuesdays and Wednesdays (in the evening). They tend to be less on those days. Keep checking every week. Some of the best times to purchase is between 4 and 6 weeks from departure.

Use kayak.com to compare multiple airlines at the same time. I always buy directly from the airline, because for us it's always been the best price.
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It's also best to try and buy them when they first go on sale. My girlfriend and I booked our flight the day it went on sale, now it's gone up by about $400, round trip for two. Granted it's during Christmastime.
 
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becanya

becanya

New Member
Don't know about AirTran's policies, but we always book Southwest as soon as the schedule becomes available. Then I look at prices twice a day. As soon as it goes down, I exchange my tickets and get the money back in the form of a SW voucher. We travel so much we always use it before it expires. Just did that today and got $350 back!
 
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bayoubelle

bayoubelle

amuck, amuck, amuck
Sign up for fare alerts. I think expedia and travelocity have this feature as do some of the airlines. As soon as you see a decent price, book it. Also, if Southwest flies out of your airport, sign up for DING. You can get flights at steep discounts.
 
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P

Plowboy

Well-Known Member
Why pay? Get yourself an airline credit card like Southwest or United Mileage Plus and fly for free. We've been doing it for years. It's the only way we're able to afford to come from California every year.

We put just about everything on our card (groceries, gas, auto & homeowners insurance, dentist bills, etc.) and pay it off religiously every month. It only costs us the annual member fee.

We're using miles to fly to Maui next week for free. Comparable rt airfare is about $600.00/person. Aloha!!!!!!
 
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celticdog

celticdog

Well-Known Member
Plowboy said:
Why pay? Get yourself an airline credit card like Southwest or United Mileage Plus and fly for free. We've been doing it for years. It's the only way we're able to afford to come from California every year.

We put just about everything on our card (groceries, gas, auto & homeowners insurance, dentist bills, etc.) and pay it off religiously every month. It only costs us the annual member fee.

We're using miles to fly to Maui next week for free. Comparable rt airfare is about $600.00/person. Aloha!!!!!!
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That is a great idea, however the OP really doesn't have a lot time between now and their trip in November to rack up the necessary miles.
 
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powlessfamily4

powlessfamily4

Well-Known Member
Subscribe to AirfareWatchdog.com This company watches all of the fares at once for you. You can always shop them straight from the airline when you are ready to buy. You can plug in your dates and they will email or text you when your prices drop. (As said previously this happens almost always on Tuesday - Thursday)

This is how I purchased my Delta tickets from Atlanta to Orlando in June for $80 RT.

Good luck!
 
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todpatcam

todpatcam

Active Member
Original Poster
celticdog said:
That is a great idea, however the OP really doesn't have a lot time between now and their trip in November to rack up the necessary miles.
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Also, we have the Disney CC which we use for everything we can which allows us cash towards our WDW room and tickets. I think next year we may get an Airline CC and switch it up a bit. Thanks for the tip!!!
 
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BigTxEars

BigTxEars

Well-Known Member
Yikes!

Bought 5 round trip tickets Houston to Orlando on Southwest on Aug 3rd, travel is Sept 10-18th. Paid $161 each ticket each way for a total of $1610.

Looked today after reading this thread to see if I bought too soon. Same flight there now $155 each ticket...rats :brick: down $30 from what I paid.....same flight back now $238 each ticket....up $385 from when I bought. Net money saved by buying then $355.

All dumb luck on my part.....I would take the other advice on this thread and sign up for one of the watching services as this seems like it can be hit or miss checking day to day. :shrug:
 
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erinshaneb

erinshaneb

Member
BigTxEars said:
Yikes!

Bought 5 round trip tickets Houston to Orlando on Southwest on Aug 3rd, travel is Sept 10-18th. Paid $161 each ticket each way for a total of $1610.

Looked today after reading this thread to see if I bought too soon. Same flight there now $155 each ticket...rats :brick: down $30 from what I paid.....same flight back now $238 each ticket....up $385 from when I bought. Net money saved by buying then $355.

All dumb luck on my part.....I would take the other advice on this thread and sign up for one of the watching services as this seems like it can be hit or miss checking day to day. :shrug:
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I must have missed that deal bcuz we are going the 11th thru 17th and I didn't find any good deals on Southwest and they have to be GOOD..we live 15 minutes from IAH and my dad has worked for Continental for 20 years so he will be flying standby..we like to be on the same flight, but he would understand if there was a substantial difference

I have checked and added a couple of those "fare watchers" website and to me it's a waste of email space...they tell me they have cheap tickets for my flight and to check it out, but when I get to that website it's for different traveling dates or with 3 stops and 12 hours of travel time
 
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disneygirl1

disneygirl1

Well-Known Member
definitely always check airfare midweek. That is when it tends to be cheaper. Sometimes if you can wait for a month or less from your travel dates to book flight can get cheaper, especially if you are traveling during an off time.

Have you ever heard of airfarewatchdog.com? I highly recommend signing up on this site. When registering, you select the airport/s you like to leave from and the destination/s you would like to fly to, and you will receive email notifications on when an air line releases "sale" fares.
 
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BigTxEars

BigTxEars

Well-Known Member
erinshaneb said:
I must have missed that deal bcuz we are going the 11th thru 17th and I didn't find any good deals on Southwest and they have to be GOOD..we live 15 minutes from IAH and my dad has worked for Continental for 20 years so he will be flying standby..we like to be on the same flight, but he would understand if there was a substantial difference

I have checked and added a couple of those "fare watchers" website and to me it's a waste of email space...they tell me they have cheap tickets for my flight and to check it out, but when I get to that website it's for different traveling dates or with 3 stops and 12 hours of travel time
Click to expand...

You know what is odd. Southwest tickets + Early Bird Check In Fee - Any Luggage Fee = Continental + Luggage Fee - Early Bird Check In Fee to the dollar! In other words they were exactly the same with all the adding and subtracting worked out.

Very odd. The reason I choose SW was because the times of the flights were slightly better and we live 1 south of Houston so Hobby airport is closer.

I hope you all get the same flight, but like you said as long as you end up in Orlando it it all good! :)
 
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B

battgyrl

New Member
I frequently use skyscanner.com to do price comparisons for air. The travel experts I have heard on tv, etc. say that fares are generally the cheapest about 8 weeks prior to departure and Tuesdays at noon EST are when specials tend to be released.

Good luck! :)
 
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todpatcam

todpatcam

Active Member
Original Poster
Awesome - thx for the advice. We're checking everyday - hoping fares will come down a bit as we start to get closer to our departure date. :wave:
 
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