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Booked a tix on Lufthansa for travel in March 2012 LAX-BLR-LAX for $1515 ouch! I usually never book this early but could not resist the urge to book it already as I was excited about the trip! I booked this flight primarily because it's super short - 20hrs going, 21 hrs coming back. There were flights $300 cheaper but they were ridiculously long and had 2 or more stops.
Now I see I should've waited Emirates has a similar flight for $150 cheaper on their website ($1350) but it wasn't showing up in Kayak so I didn't check. I also discovered from reviews that Lufthansa is a pretty crap airline.
Ah! wish I'd done more research, live and learn...moral of the story, as in any case, don't let your excitement make you make ticket choices too quickly
I've found that flights usually are best priced 1-2 mos ahead, any longer than that and you may overpay.
So do you guys keep monitoring fares after you're done booking? What is the most you've "lost" by booking too early?
I've found that flights usually are best priced 1-2 mos ahead, any longer than that and you may overpay.
Usually true. But you have to balance it with seat availabilities. Its always a gamble but I've never had it change for more than a few hundred dollars. Usually as it gets closer to the flight day the prices go up and the flight choices go down due to lack of seats.
For the most part you are right, if you look too early for a flight 5+ months then you will 90% of the time end up paying more than you would have if you waited a little bit. I feel once you get into the 4 month region, the deals will start to pop up, but at the same time it isn't anything you have to feel the need to hop on. As long as you buy a month in advance you will typically be able to get a decently priced ticket if you jump on the deal at the right time.
Lufthansa is very good about running big discounts too! But I understand how you feel about just getting excited and buying the ticket, I do the same thing and have to fight very hard to hold back. I usually just remind myself that I'm actually a poor guy and bring myself back to reality and it helps me!
Booked a tix on Lufthansa for travel in March 2012 LAX-BLR-LAX for $1515 ouch! I usually never book this early but could not resist the urge to book it already as I was excited about the trip! I booked this flight primarily because it's super short - 20hrs going, 21 hrs coming back. There were flights $300 cheaper but they were ridiculously long and had 2 or more stops.
Now I see I should've waited Emirates has a similar flight for $150 cheaper on their website ($1350) but it wasn't showing up in Kayak so I didn't check. I also discovered from reviews that Lufthansa is a pretty crap airline.
Ah! wish I'd done more research, live and learn...moral of the story, as in any case, don't let your excitement make you make ticket choices too quickly
I've found that flights usually are best priced 1-2 mos ahead, any longer than that and you may overpay.
So do you guys keep monitoring fares after you're done booking? What is the most you've "lost" by booking too early?
That sucks! Personally, I don't look after I've booked the flight because of what just happened to you. I don't even want to know if I got screwed or not! I book usually 3-4 months ahead of time and never look back! =)
Location: The Chatterdome in La La Land, CaliFUNia
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Originally Posted by Seattlephil
That sucks! Personally, I don't look after I've booked the flight because of what just happened to you. I don't even want to know if I got screwed or not! I book usually 3-4 months ahead of time and never look back! =)
Try it!
Yeah ... What's the purpose of torturing yourself by looking at prices after you already have paid your airfare?
I do agree with folks about not booking your flight so far out in advance. Also, don't just look at the travel sites such as Kayak, Expedia, Orbitz, etc but actually search the airlines sites ...
Sometimes I've found cheaper fares on the airline sites AND they are more likely to work with you if you purchase directly from them versus from a third party site. This happened when I booked a flight directly from Alaskan Airlines 3 years ago, which showed a cheaper price than the travel sites I normally booked from at the time. After booking the flight, I realized that I needed to arrive at my destination early. I called the next day and spoke with a rep to find out what is the best option for me to change my flight time. She advised me that since it was still within the 24 hour window, I could change the flight at no additional cost. The only fee I had to pay was the difference in ticket prices as the one I wanted was 35 dollars more.
That experience taught me the value of purchasing tickets and hotel rooms directly from the airline/hotel chains versus using third party sites. Now, I only use the travel sites if the prices are significantly cheaper (as the 150 round trip flight I once booked through Orbitz whereas all the other quotes were 300+)
$1201 for the same flight today...the pain only gets worse! damn the advice by experts to book early...seesh! so now i'm out $315 for my haste, torture...live and learn I guess, next time I will wait it out
yeah, I know...just saying that it is very painful to lose such a large sum of money ($300+) just because of a reckless move on my part (booking so early). Now I need to find a support group for this to share the pain of this loss with others...
$1201 for the same flight today...the pain only gets worse! damn the advice by experts to book early...seesh! so now i'm out $315 for my haste, torture...live and learn I guess, next time I will wait it out
hahaha Elina you are evil! Although a lot depends on the prices of the taxes!
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I booked this flight primarily because it's super short - 20hrs going, 21 hrs coming back. There were flights $300 cheaper but they were ridiculously long and had 2 or more stops.
Emirates has a similar flight for $150 cheaper on their website ($1350) but it wasn't showing up in Kayak so I didn't check. I also discovered from reviews that Lufthansa is a pretty crap airline. 
