Best time to buy tickets? (airlines, airports, price, flights)

[mauigirl6]

We are making a big move from Hawaii to Oregon in November. I have found one airline (ALaska) with semi-decent one way fares to our destination (Medford).

We are debating purchasing them now or waiting until the begining of OCT. We would like to hold off to be more sure of our dates.

Is it better to buy ahead of time or last minute (say 2-3 wks ahead). Do the fares get higher or get slashed closer your travel date?

thanks!

[cb at sea]

If they've got a price you can live with, go ahead and book. The closer you get, the higher the prices will go. Between 6-8 weeks seems to be the low point for prices.

[Charles]

We are flying from Huntsville to John Wayne (Orange County, CA) in March. Cheapest RT tickets are about $314 total. Should we wait longer or buy these now?

[JerichoHW]

Originally Posted by Charles

We are flying from Huntsville to John Wayne (Orange County, CA) in March. Cheapest RT tickets are about $314 total. Should we wait longer or buy these now?

Depends, have you tried all your airline options. I would go to the airport website, and see what airlines depart from Huntsville. If yours is indeed the cheapest after another search then go for it.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by JerichoHW

Depends, have you tried all your airline options. I would go to the airport website, and see what airlines depart from Huntsville. If yours is indeed the cheapest after another search then go for it.

Yes, I've totally exhausted all acceptable (no red-eyes for example) options including Birmingham, Nashville, all the LA airports, Southwest's scheduling tool (not on Travelocity), variable dates. There are six of us including four small kids (one is under 2 so only buying five tickets).

What I'm trying to get at is, is there are reasonable chance that ticket prices will go down between now and March, and should I hold off buying now?

[toobusytoday]

They probably won't go down on Southwest. For that particular airline you need to book when they first post the dates which is six months out. At that time, they usually have web only specials that are great. The closer to the date, the higher the prices go.

[tande1n5]

Southwest doesn't usually play "the game" as much as the other carriers - you can usually see if you're getting a deal or not based upon what your fare is called: "Full Refundable", "wanna get away?", "Fun fare," etc. The full, walk up fare (refundable) is relatively constant, so if you're paying way under that (you can see on the booking screen), the better deal you're getting.

As far as the other carriers go, usually you can say that they'll get higher with time, BUT, it's worth mentioning that many fares are lower these days closer to trip date due to the airlines' bookings being lower than anticipated. This was especially seen around the Thanksgiving travel time, where last minute bookings ended up a bit cheaper, as the difference between anticipated figures and actual were realized (down 10 percent industry-wide).

Therefore, these days, it may be worth it to you to see, but it's a gamble. For peace of mind, if you can live with the fare, you may just wish to lock it in, but, your call.

[jessiegirl_98]

On Southwest, you can book a flight and change it later with no fee. If it's cheaper, they will give you that fair difference in the form of a credit (I was traveling a lot between FL and IL this past year and did this more than once).
You can also use Cheap Flights, Airfare, Airline Tickets, Cheap Travel which tells you if you should buy know or wait.