<p>If you were locked into a specific date AND a flight, I’d buy the ticket now and have a peace of mind! IMO, you will definitely not see a $200 price drop on or after that date, unless you are looking at flights with plane changes . 
JetBlue does not have a grid on their site, so I used Alaska in the example, but out of curiosity I checked OP’s preferred departing flight on JetBlue - it is priced at $286 and higher all the way into mid-July. Local schools get out the third week of June, and summer family travel picks up where college kids left a void. Airline cash heaven!</p>
<p>Hate to be a debbie downer, but look for jetblue & musical instruments, carry on & damage.</p>
<p>There are various services you can monitor or subscribe to if you want notice of fare deals. If you are leaning Jet Blue, you might check their twitter feed - <a href=“https://twitter.com/jetbluecheeps”>https://twitter.com/jetbluecheeps</a> – there is nothing there yet for the time frame you are looking at, but looking over past sales I think you’ll get a sense of when the offers come out, and for what time frame. </p>
<p>It looks like the instrument horror stories are about the same regardless of airline. How the cymbals fly is still ‘up in the air’ - could be inside other checked luggage or in a hard case, but it looks like no airline has a particularly great record RE predictability and care. At any rate - that still makes a nonstop better with less loading and unloading. If they go in checked luggage they will get thrown from on high half as many times. ;)</p>
<p>But Sea-Tac, Washington is such a small town. LOL. Yes, there is a suburban Seattle burg called ‘Sea-Tac.’ An awfully dumb name in my opinion.</p>
<p>I thought of this thread last night. There was a story on our local news about a study that determined the optimal time to purchase tickets was 54 days before the flight. I’m not sure if I am permitted to link one of the articles that details the information for Europe, Asia, etc. If you Google, “best time to purchase airline tickets 54 days” an article in the Huffington Post should be one of the first hits. </p>
<p>I saw that too - the funny thing was that the price of my target flight went back up again yesterday so now I know that it will come back down again soon. I did check the seat map and there is lots of space, so I will sit for awhile. Thanks again for the tips.</p>
<p>Update: I did end up purchasing the nonstop flights that I wanted not long after my last post for $522. Now that we have reached that 54 day golden window the price is up to $660. I’m glad I went ahead and got them. Thanks again for the feedback. </p>
<p>We do a round trip from BOS to SEA several times a year. It is never cheap, unfortunately. There are two airlines, Alaska and Jet Blue, that fly non-stop. Jet Blue is usually cheaper, but not by much. We usually end up paying 400-600 per person RT no matter how early we get the tickets or what time of year we travel. Alaska charges for checked bags, so watch out for this! We bought my mom a ticket to visit us (SEA to BOS) at the end of June, and we paid over $500 for her ticket on Jet Blue, so what you’re seeing is pretty typical.</p>
<p>I have $522 for Jet Blue - it was cheaper that Alaska and will save another $40 RT for the bag</p>
<p>Just wanted to add that if you ARE flexible and/or willing to do a 1-stop, sometimes it can be cheaper to fly into Manchester, NH. There is a shuttle bus that runs back and forth to Boston.Providence, RI can also be cheaper. I am from NH and I grab whatever flight is cheapest when I go back.My H will only fly non-stop because he hates flying and just wants it over with. I am not so picky.</p>
<p>Thanks! I was really particular this flight as it is Saintkid’s first cross country solo with particular baggage. I have a friend who is in Boston and will retrieve him as well, so I wanted him to arrive mid afternoon Saturday rather than 11:58 pm or something 
</p>
<p>Is he flying overnight? When D was younger we’d do the JetBlue overnight then take the bus into NH. That only worked when she was willing to sleep, though. Now it’s daytime all the way for me.</p>
<p>Manchester is soooo much nicer than Logan! :)</p>
<p>No - I didn’t want a red eye as he needs to be fresh when he gets there . . . so picky, I know. ;)</p>
<p>UPDATE: Saintkid is winging his way to Boston as we speak and everything went smoothly. He walked right on to his jetblue flight with his instruments and they fit in the overhead nicely contrary to all reports! His larger bag was safely packed and TSA locked just in case it was gate checked but he just breezed on. :-bd </p>
<p>Awesome! Safe travels to him. </p>
<p>Just touched down and taxiing to gate . . . I love flight tracker!</p>