Can I moan a little about airfare? About This Page:

[belleandmaddysmom]

Hello friends! I need to moan a little about the ever changing price of airfare.

I have been watching the Airtran website for a couple of weeks now. Unfortunately, Airtran is about my only option if I want to fly out of a smaller airport near my home in canton. I only live 10 minutes from this airport and it is so nice!

So, prices each way started at $104 last week. Then rose to $114. This morning I checked the website and rates were back to $104 again! Well...I just checked a few minutes ago and now rates are $136 each way plus taxes and fees!
Arrgh! How can it change so radically in just a few hours!!

As you can tell, I am quite obsessed about the airfare. I just want to get it out of the way. What should I do? Will prices go down closer to my vacation (December) or do I grab em when I see em?
Sorry so long-Just aggravated!! Thanks for listening!

[BlueCinderellaEyes]

I would say grab them when you see them the cheepest and dont look back! That what I fdid and after I booked the flight droped $60 each! I was soo upset and I dont fly very often so the extra money I had on credit was no good! Ahh booking flights can really suck! Best of Luck and Booking Yours!

[elizabeth shannon]

Sorry to hear about the fluctuating prices.

We live in the UK & my DH often has to travel to Austria and those flight prices are up and down all the time.

I guess I would keep watching and grab those flights as soon as the price looks good.

Sending you and wishes for a good deal

[jimmymac]

Book them now and if the prices do go down before you leave, swap them out. Good luck

[goofysdtr]

I would watch for a bit & see if it goes back down to the $104-114 range. If not, I'd grab it soon. My parents got their flights for June for $188 RT awhile back . . . I hesitated too long to get ours and ended up having to go with another airline. The same flight my parents are on is now over $500 per person RT. No way am I paying $2000 just for our flights!

[janicelovesmickey]

from what I keep hearing on travel sites etc, the airfare is usually cheaper late at night, and on tues-thursday. so if you went on at about 12midnight-say 4am
you may get a better deal.
of course I am never up that late to even try it.

[o2bnwdw!]

I fear rising gas prices may be the cause for the rising airline ticket prices!

Sign up for AirTran's free weekly newsletter. I get it and I believe it comes every Tuesday. It has all their latest specials.

When in Dec. are you trying to fly? If around Christmas, you may want to take anything close to $100 each way. If not, maybe wait a little longer.

Recently AirTran has had $79 flights to Orlando from our airport (Milwaukee). We just booked $79 non-stop flights to Orlando for Sept. on AirTran and hope to book Oct. tickets soon too. I'm waiting on those though until we can book our first DVC trip. I don't want to have airline tickets until I know we have a room to stay in.

So I'm watching their website with you!

[kmurburg]

We went to WDW last December and flew AirTran from Baltimore. I didn't book our airfare until the end of September or early October and we ended up getting a great deal - $59 each way! So I think I'd wait a bit longer before booking - they'll probably have some good deals coming along soon!

[GinaButtrfly]

There is NOTHING remotely cheap in NYC to Orlando for the 1st week of December right now. I am leaving on the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend, so I know I'll end up paying a bit more for that day. I've been told that prices should come down and JetBlue hasn't even released Nov or Dec dates yet. So I'm waiting it out or paying A LOT for 4 of us!

[tinker_me_happy]

I decided what a comfortable price for my family of five would be for me. As soon as I saw something that price (or lower) I grabbed it!! Of course I fly on SW and they are pretty easy to get a "credit" from. (Downside you have to fly again with one year of original purchase price). I planned on around $1200 rt and lucked out with $995 RT for ALL of us! Of course I am still a fare watcher and if they go down, I will use my difference to buy me a ticket in the beginning of December!

[OffKilter_Lynn]

Check to see how many seats are still open - click on the seat icon next to the flight you're interested in. If there are more available seats than purchased seats, that's a good indication that fares will yo-yo down again. Not guaranteed or scientific but a starting point.

If there are only a few available seats, purchase soon!

[Nova]

Offkilter gave you good info. I checked the seating for September and was shocked how many seats were already booked up. So went ahead and booked our flights so we wouldnt be in the very back of the plane. My Daughter waited to late to book her Aug flights on the first plane out and it was full so you really need to keep checking. I was going nuts with checking. I am always so releaved when the air fare is booked. and usually bummed when it drops in price but cant take the chance with all of us going. If it was just hubby and I probably easier to get seats. Wanting them together need to book while the booking is good.

[MMMD]

You might also try checking rates on a different computer. These websites can identify which computer is searching for flights and that might be a reason for fluctuations. Once, I was booking JB flights for my family and the family that was traveling with us. I booked my family at $79 each way and when I logged back on to use their names and credit card their seats cost $89 each way. Just my opinion but if you find anything under $100 each way I would grab it. Gas prices aren't going down anytime soon. Good luck.

[scottjs]

Air transportation has to be the hardest part of the trip for us!

We live in San Francisco and want to go to Orlando.

Which airlines do we fly?

Which would get us to Orlando about the right

time to check in (three in the afternoon)

Is it better to fly direct non stop? (United)

Is it better to fly in comfort?? (JetBlue)

Is it better to pay less? (Southwest)

Is it better to change planes? (JetBlue flys to New York City--then

another plane takes us to Orlando)

Is a package better then booking everything ourselves???

As you can see there are many questions--and so far I have not even

written much about money!!

Thank Goodness there is much time to plan.

scott

[jenifermg0]

Try paying for flights from Alaska to Florida!! And this is not to minimize those of you who have to fly overseas!!! We usually try to use air miles andget at least one "free ticket". On our last trip we got 5 round trip tickets for $1350. We were pretty pleased with that!! SSSOOO, figure out what you can afford and when you find the appropriate ticket, jump on it!