Is it better to buy airfare closer to the date of the trip? When is the cheapest time to buy?

Question

I'm looking for tix for 4ppl, from JFK to Fort Lauderdale, on Oct 16, coming back on Oct 19.

The airfare was $230.99 one day, then dropped to $200.00, now its back up to $245.50!!! Does this happen alot?

Answer 1

Yes it does happen, more than you might think.  Check out this youtube video I found, that has some great tips for making sure you don't pay more than you need to for your airfare.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQpBzq5Xd...

Answer 2

Yes. I check Orbitz about 2 months before my trip, a couple times per day. It can change during the day but have found from my experience that about 1 month before the flight the ticket is about as low as it will get. The next couple days the price starts climbing again.  But these days with so many flights being cut back, it is risky to wait very long.

Answer 3

Yeah, it happens a lot.

But my advice to you is to book as early as possible.

Usually they have a set price for flights that nobody has really booked yet.  Say $250.  You might check every day for the next week, but it will stay at $250.

When you see it jumping up to $260 or down to $200, that's when people are starting to book.  Generally, however, you will see it go up, not down.

I'm in college, and I travel back and forth, and I'm a BROKE *** College kid, so I try to find the cheapest prices.

Usually this happens to me:  

1.  I book early (2-3 months in advance during non-holiday season) at say, for example, $250.  I wait a week, the price stays about the same.  it goes up to $340.  *Phew!

2.  Then the seats usually go very low and they say theres a couple of seats left on the flight, then the seats get jacked up to like $600.

3.  About 1-2 weeks before the flight, there are three possibilities that I've run into.

The flight is gone, and it's full, so tough luck.

The flight is at $800 now, tough luck.

You totally lucked out, and somehow it's $200.

I don't know how the calculations work, but that's generally the pattern that I observe (I fly 4-5 times a year back home and back to school).  So I just book early.  I'd rather lose out on 50 bucks than to be forced to pay 300 dollars more.  

So my advice?  

BOOK AS EARLY AS YOU CAN to secure your seat at an affordable price.

Or you can risk it, and try to book it a day to a week before and press your luck.

Answer 4

Usually airfares are dictated by a background algorithm which does a real time calculation based on the number of available seats on a particular flight/sector. However, a lot of times travel agents are responsible for blocking tickets in adavnce and thereby making a false supply shortage leading to increase in ticket prices.

Usually it's best to book in advance coz the difference woudl never be that much. In addition u get the option for the choicest seats ( like near emergency exit door and all )

Personally, i book them right before the flight or may be one day in advance, coz there are few non-refundable tickets which come at the cheapest price and are in the last few rows of a plane......But that's me from a bachelor's perspective and ready to sacrifice couple of hours of comfort for some savings.......

The other option is to check it daily late evenings to hope to hit the best price.