We just book plane tickets (for the return leg of our trip) about 34 days before the trip.
It costs us slightly less than $200 per person, one-way, coast-to-coast. (Jet Blue, Direct flight, but not between two major airports.)
According to this article (from Huffington), we book our tickets too late:
"Finally, there’s a scientific answer to that magic number of days before a flight when tickets are at their cheapest.
The answer? Are you ready? Are you reeeally ready?
Fifty-four days before takeoff is, on average, when domestic airline tickets are at their absolute lowest price. And if you don’t hit 54 days on the head, you should usually book between 112 to 21 days before your trip — within the “prime booking window” — for the lowest possible prices. In this window, ticket prices typically hover near the lowest price they’ll ever reach.
At least that’s what the data from 2015 tells us."
How far in advance do you book your non-business related trip?
Is there any reason you didn’t book a round trip fare initially? It is often, but not always, cheaper.
I usually book anywhere from 1 to 3 months out. In years past, I think it seemed to be cheaper with more lead time but I don’t think thats true any longer.
Booking the tickets only 2-3 weeks out would make us nervous. I think it is slightly too late. (But how would I know?! This is because, as I said, I do not have much experience.)
Not many good seats are available for our flight, unless we pay more. We have a choice to sit in the middle seats but not far in the back, or on the ail but far on the back (likely close to the noisy engine on the tail – if the engine is there.) We chose the latter. It would be not fun for such a long flight.
For us, it varies. We usually wait until we are pretty certain about our plans, since change fees are expensive. I tend not to book much more than a month ahead because things can arise.
I tend to find prices better when I buy on Tuesdays than other days. Weekends tend to be most expensive day for purchasing, in my experience. I tend not worry too much–you just buy when the price seems decent. If you look, you can find higher and lower prices, but why make yourself crazy?
I also nearly always only fly nonstop flights. Those cost more but our convenience and peace of mind is worth it!
$200 one way from East to West Coast sounds very reasonable to me.
There’s no consistent “magic” number of days of lead time. It all varies by seasonal demand, holidays, even the day of the week (tue & wed are low demand days, as is satuday for domestic trips only).
Generally, the earlier you book, the cheaper the fare…
The engine is in the tail for MD90s and for small regional jets. Just bring cheap foam earplugs. I always bring them when I travel.
Just look it up. The plane seems to be Airbus 320, because I heard there are 3 seats on each side of the the ail.
So the seats are very close to two restrooms on the back, not close to the noisy engine like on an MD80/82. It is Jet Blue, not AA. (the latter seems to have a lot of MD80s.)
Many passengers will likely stand next to where we sit, waiting to go to the restroom. It is easy for me to get to the restroom though.
According to the TV show “Lost”, we will be on the less safe side of a plane. (Anybody believes this? I do not not. But whoever sits close to the tail will likely have a bumpy ride, I think.)
Because I have to talk with airline disabilities desk after booking my flights, they always confirm my seat and that of my companion. That and boarding early make flying a little less stressful.
Most airlines DO eventually have someone answer the disabilities desk phone. I try to call shortly after purchasing tickets, just to be sure everything is set. Usually I am not on hold very long. If the wait is too long I call back or put the call on speaker phone and do something else while I wait.
Actually this strategy works well, as long as I have a speaker phone handy for most calls where I’m on hold. With calls to the fed govt, I’ve been on hold for 45 minutes or longer at times, IF I even get thru!
I’ve learned to be patient and listen to the speaker phone with half an ear. ;). I’ve been struggling with the fed govt for many, many months! :-S =))
Well, I am one of those that books as early as I can. I just don’t feel comfortable making hotel reservations and planning my trip until I know for certain about the dates.
It depends. If the flying time is during prime time when many people fly in a short window, like thanksgiving, or between Christmas and New Years then earlier is the best. For times with high demand but broader ranges in dates such as around summer months or the week or 2 before Christmas, then usually when I’m planning the trip. But if it’s any other time, then 4-8 weeks usually is when the airlines start dropping prices on domestic flights. Tues, wed and sat do seem to be the cheapest days to fly. Mon night and tues night seem to be the cheapest days to actually make the reservation on the websites (domestic). Since everything is computerized, the computer drops and raises prices pretty much due to supply and demand so prices vary and there is not such a thing as a set routine, but these are just guidelines that I go by.
Yes, 200$ ow is a pretty good price.
Also, these days, I find that RT does not give any price cuts compared to OW when flying domestic.
You guys are much better planners than I am. For leisure travel I tend to do it on a whim especially if I am not traveling with my children. I will sometimes book a week or ten days before my expected travel date. Last month I got so sick of the cold/snow that I hopped on a plane and visited my D in Boston where the temps were very mild. I booked that trip about 6 days before my departure date. Prices were about what I usually pay.
My international travel is way down due to global unrest - those trips were always planned at least a month in advance as for leisure the children were always with us. Had to work around their schedules.
We usually book about six months out for our two vacations each year. If its somewhere that SW flies, I wait until their flights come out to determine if they are cheaper (usually they are) and book that day. When my S waits until the last minute (within 3-4 weeks) to go away his flights always seem to be outrageously high.
I just went through this and booked yesterday. East Coast to West Coast, major airports for 2 adults. I played the “52 days out” waiting game, constantly looking at fares on 3 different airlines. My preference would have been Jet Blue, since I like their planes and their service. I don’t like the legacy carriers generally, but booked on Delta because it was the least expensive and then actually did something I’ve never done before and never had thought about. I took advantage of the option to cancel the flight within 24 hours without penalty. I re-booked on Virgin America, leaving from a different airport in my metro area. That was less expensive than Delta and I think the plane will be nicer with more amenities. We are flying out on a Friday and taking a red-eye home on a Monday, certainly not the least expensive days to fly.
We are paying more than the OP, perhaps because we are flying on more crowded days. DH wants to know “what happened to the $99 each way fares from coast-to-coast?” You can see that he doesn’t get out a lot…
I will continue to watch the airfares, just to irritate myself…
We have booked some very last minute airfares that have not been too costly. We have booked far in advance and paid a fortune. Much depends on what is happening during your travel time.
For example…I want to fly to Cleveland during July…but that’s not going to happen…at least not around the two main events…one happening there and one happening in Philly. The airfares are outrageous, and the only seats left are expensive ones.
Same with a wedding we are going to in October…it’s Columbus Day weekend, so we will book…soon. Because we know that isn’t a cheap time to fly.