buy flight tickets early!

[anne1125]

We almost always buy our flight tickets as soon as the airlines have them for sale.

We bought 3 tickets going non-stop from Newark, NJ to Honolulu for this summer (6/28 to 7/8) for $683 total for each person from Continental's website. They are now selling for $1599. What an increase!

Waiting for sales scares me. What if they don't go on sale? What if there are no seats left together?

How do you sale watchers do it? I'd be a nervous wreck!

Anne

[boyblue]

We're about two months out from our next vacation. We wanted to get our tickets this past week but our travel agent sugested we wait a bit longer. I wonder what is the best time to buy tickets?

[Detailor]

I think it depends on at least a few things, like which airline, destination, how many stops you're willng to make along a route and how full a flight might be.

Jet Blue, for instance, tends to have its best pricing available when they first open up reservations. So if that's your airline of choice, you should buy as soon as you can. Southwest is similar, but they have built up so many routes that they often run sales for some routes and feature their short-tem specials through DING.

If your plans are made relatively close to your travel time, I think that a travel agent will usually advise to buy close to your travel date as many airlines will drop their pricing in the last few weeks in order to fill a flight.

If you're like me and you prefer non-stop flights, then your strategy may be different. I generally have a top price in mind and shop flight options, airport options as early as possible to suit my travel expectations.

Dick Taylor

[boyblue]

I’ve kinda gotten used to one stops. Seems like out of Nassau most flights go through south Florida, Orlando, Atlanta or New York. I figured if I wait too late I will lose options but I'm going to have to ask the travel agent her rationale for waiting.

[anne1125]

Well, I checked Continental again and the same flight is down to
$783. Must have been a computer mistake.

That was scary.

Anne

[somerville]

Originally Posted by anne1125

Must have been a computer mistake.

Anne

I doubt it. Fares are constantly changing.

[nell]

Originally Posted by somerville

I doubt it. Fares are constantly changing.

I agree. I've been watching the Houston to Maui fares and they have been doing the same thing. $1445 one day and back down to the low $700's every few days!

[camachinist]

While being flexible is the best way to effect deals, having information quickly at one's fingertips really helps, as fares (availability and/or price) can change minute to minute in some cases and usually 3-5 times a day.

Here's some examples of todays load for your dates and location, without regard to which buckets are being sold out of.

Fare Details
 
Departing Airport 	NYC
Arriving Airport 	HNL
Departure Date 	06/28/06
 
Note:
The fares listed do not include airport and/or security fees.
 
Fare Basis 	Airline 	Booking Class 	Trip Type 	Fare 	Effective Date 	Expiration Date 	 
132 Fares Returned
HWR21MN 	US 	H 	Round-Trip 	622.60 (USD) 			View Rules    View Routing
RWR21MN 	HP 	R 	Round-Trip 	622.60 (USD) 			View Rules    View Routing
THXE21N 	UA 	T 	Round-Trip 	671.92 (USD) 			View Rules    View Routing
GXE21HHN 	AA 	G 	Round-Trip 	671.92 (USD) 			View Rules    View Routing
THXE21N 	DL 	T 	Round-Trip 	671.92 (USD) 			View Rules    View Routing
LHX21EN 	NW 	L 	Round-Trip 	671.92 (USD) 			View Rules    View Routing
SHSE21N 	CO 	S 	Round-Trip 	671.92 (USD) 			View Rules    View Routing
HR21MN 	US 	H 	Round-Trip 	716.60 (USD) 			View Rules

I get good/great deals mainly because I've spent a lot of time learning the system and spend an hour each day running standardized searches, along with being flexible when planning. For example, we're flying out of our local (FAT) the end of next month, on an open-jaw FAT-SFO-KIX/NRT-SFO-FAT for 550.00 per person all in. I'm lucky to get transcons out of our local for that price. So, we'll take a little trip to Japan, courtesy of Expedia's little mistake with the Osaka and Tokyo Hilton's

Personally, I could see some Hawaii fares going lower in the next month or so. Check often

Pat

[DanM]

I've had incredible luck using Travelocity and searching by flexible dates even when my dates are fixed. I just keep going back and checking to see if my dates are available. Just booked four seats roundtrip non-stop from NYC to Vancouver for $359 each that were available six months ago when I wasn't ready to commit, not available in between, and available again last week.

[itchyfeet]

CaMachinist -- which web sites do you use to do your search. I've used Sidestep & ITA. Are there others you'd recommend? TIA

[camachinist]

Originally Posted by itchyfeet

CaMachinist -- which web sites do you use to do your search. I've used Sidestep & ITA. Are there others you'd recommend? TIA

I do most targeted searching with ITA, using specific search coding. I use interpretations of Yahoo's dream maps, developed by some FT'ers, to map trends. I use Expedia for multi-city routings, which is how I generally work any trip, regardless of it being a round trip or not. I use ExpertFlyer for specific access to GDS information (like the fares I posted above). I've found some promise with Kayak's new "buzz" alert service, but haven't used it enough yet to comment. I have not used Sidestep, but have heard good things about it. Of course, the airline travel library, FlyerTalk, is searched and monitored daily.

Having said all that, the best deals come right off the airline sites, IME, as I can often target fare buckets which aren't listed yet (or at all) on the wider GDS. I fly mainly UA and the vagaries of their online booking engine are well known. It does offer some interesting deals, once one knows how to properly manipulate it

Currently, when someone asks "Pat, can you find me a good deal?", I first go to ExpertFlyer to pull up all the fare buckets, then target the desired ones on ITA, then plug in the relevant flight numbers on the airline booking engine and peruse their fare buckets/availability as a comparison. I usually use Orbitz (which uses ITA) and Expedia as control checks. I establish a baseline, and check for movement from the competition (too complex to outline here) to help predict trends or near-term responses. I check their routings on FlyerTalk, to see if mileage runners have any opinion. I then advise the person to book or wait, based on my instincts and historical experience. If I tell them to book, I mean immediately, like this minute.

I liken this process to alchemy Another phrase I use often is "Success is where preparation and opportunity meet". Preparation is what makes one cognizant of opportunity. It's really the same process that is discussed on TUG regarding timesharing, IMO. There's no "secret recipe". It's just a lot of hard work, which I (and others) happen to enjoy.

Pat

[Zamboniii]

Originally Posted by itchyfeet

CaMachinist -- which web sites do you use to do your search. I've used Sidestep & ITA. Are there others you'd recommend? TIA

Just curious, what site is ITA?

Thanks for the help,

Tim

[camachinist]

Originally Posted by Zamboniii

Just curious, what site is ITA?

Thanks for the help,

Tim

http://www.itasoftware.com/

Free registration required...Orbitz uses the same exact booking engine, with a few minor tweeks.

Pat

[Zamboniii]

Thanks Pat!

TUG is the best!

Tim

[bluke]

Originally Posted by camachinist

I do most targeted searching with ITA, using specific search coding. I use interpretations of Yahoo's dream maps, developed by some FT'ers, to map trends. I use Expedia for multi-city routings, which is how I generally work any trip, regardless of it being a round trip or not. I use ExpertFlyer for specific access to GDS information (like the fares I posted above). I've found some promise with Kayak's new "buzz" alert service, but haven't used it enough yet to comment. I have not used Sidestep, but have heard good things about it. Of course, the airline travel library, FlyerTalk, is searched and monitored daily.

Having said all that, the best deals come right off the airline sites, IME, as I can often target fare buckets which aren't listed yet (or at all) on the wider GDS. I fly mainly UA and the vagaries of their online booking engine are well known. It does offer some interesting deals, once one knows how to properly manipulate it

Currently, when someone asks "Pat, can you find me a good deal?", I first go to ExpertFlyer to pull up all the fare buckets, then target the desired ones on ITA, then plug in the relevant flight numbers on the airline booking engine and peruse their fare buckets/availability as a comparison. I usually use Orbitz (which uses ITA) and Expedia as control checks. I establish a baseline, and check for movement from the competition (too complex to outline here) to help predict trends or near-term responses. I check their routings on FlyerTalk, to see if mileage runners have any opinion. I then advise the person to book or wait, based on my instincts and historical experience. If I tell them to book, I mean immediately, like this minute.

I liken this process to alchemy Another phrase I use often is "Success is where preparation and opportunity meet". Preparation is what makes one cognizant of opportunity. It's really the same process that is discussed on TUG regarding timesharing, IMO. There's no "secret recipe". It's just a lot of hard work, which I (and others) happen to enjoy.

Pat

Pat,

Could you explain fare buckets and how you use them when searching for the best/cheapest flights. Thanks,

[camachinist]

Originally Posted by bluke

Pat,

Could you explain fare buckets and how you use them when searching for the best/cheapest flights. Thanks,

Hehe, sure...

Go over to FlyerTalk, find the forum of your favorite airline and spend about a year reading it, along with the mileage run forum

Then subscribe to a GDS access portal, like ExpertFlyer (or use a free portal, like ITA), and use what you've learned to find the good deals, which may not necessarily be the cheapest price. There's all kinds of things to consider, like upgradeability, mileage earning, blackout dates, minimum stays, flexible routings, allowable segments, and on and on...

Do that for about a month and you'll understand why a good travel agent is worth their weight in gold. It's a lot of work.

Specifically, to answer your question, I know which fare buckets are usually the cheapest with the airlines I follow, and I use targeted searches for them on ITA and ExpertFlyer. In some cases, I target particular fare buckets because I know they can be upgraded (and other, cheaper, ones can't). For example, in the above code I posted, the "T" fare on UA (United) is usually one of their cheapest, but it can have restrictions, like blackout dates, minimum stay, limited segments, etc. I then have to pull up the fare rules and check that. Then I pull up the routing list to see what the possible routings might be. Knowing such things is how mileage runners can fly 2000 miles out of their way for less money than the average airline traveler, or how a regular traveler can find a more advantageous routing (times, locations, etc) for the same money.

Just like in timesharing, knowledge is power...

Really, the best thing to do is go read FlyerTalk just like you read TUG. You'll see a number of TUG'ers over there, who know a heck of a lot more than I do.

Good luck!

Pat