<p>for Christmas already 
Anybody else buy them this soon? Right after the finals week is over get on the plane boys LOL.</p>
<p>Actually I’m looking at this seriously here, too. Unbelievable. But we have to fly a kid home from California to New York. I can’t decide whether to nail the tickets now at bargain rates when there’s a good choice of flight times, or wait until he has a better sense of when his actual courses will require him to stay in place during the finals week. Maybe he’ll know more precise travel dates after he sees his syllabus in September.</p>
<p>Sometimes they finish a day or two early within the exam week, depending on their particular courses.</p>
<p>Or maybe, since it’s California and these plane costs are significant, I’ll just have him stay in place through finals week and rest up after his last exam before travelling.</p>
<p>My older two, who schooled much closer (4 hour drives), liked to tear home a.s.a.p. after their last exam, but always arrived exhausted since they did so many all-nighters right up until the end. Gasoline and greyhound tickets always cost the same, however, whether it’s a Wednesday or a Thursday.</p>
<p>So you’re not alone with this crazy off-season thought! If I buy tickets now I can find roundtrips for around $200, but If I wait long, I’ll encounter $350 RT.</p>
<p>I would do it if I was using frequent flyer miles or if the fare was at least $100 lower than usual (because the airlines usually charge $100 change fee).</p>
<p>we bought son’s tix home and back to chicago last week.</p>
<p>It may depend on destinations, but at least for my kids flying in & out of major airports (NY to SF) - it never made sense to buy tickets too far in advance – the prices are usually better closer to the time of the reservations. I know we have had problems sometimes with reservations made too early when schedules are later changed – I don’t remember the exact circumstances, but I do remember a problem once when my son was notified by the airline that the flight he had booked was canceled and he wasn’t given very good options for changed flights – I think he ended up having to fly to his college a day earlier than planned, with no place to stay when he got there because he could not move into the dorm until the following day. I just spot-checked online, and roundtrip prices for December/January are well above what I’m used to paying… so I suggest waiting. </p>
<p>Again - my experience is with major hub airports and direct flights – it might be a very different situation with smaller airports and fewer flights overall.</p>
<p>We often book flights a year in advance, Not many options in and out of VT.</p>
<p>We will be booking the return flight in Sept AND the winter vacation round trip at the same time…tomorrow. We did this last year as well, and DD just had to stay until the finals period ended. It was much less expensive than waiting, and the variety of flights was much better.</p>
<p>Well, we just booked Thanksgiving roundtrip. (I sound pretty late for most of you guys!) We were haggling over it for days and I finally just said to son, “Please just book the latest plane possible on Wednesday and that way you’ll be sure to make all your classes.” I don’t mind an airport run at midnight, since that’s likely the only time the roads may not be jam-packed.</p>
<p>With my daughter, the best choice was flying Southwest and booking one way as soon as they open up (three months out, I think). That way when or if she changed her mind, it would not cost any more.</p>
<p>My family tends to buy plane tickets a week or two before (sometimes a day or two before, or sometimes I go standby). </p>
<p>The only thing to worry about with buying them now is that your son doesn’t know his schedule yet. His finals may all be over the second day of finals week, in which case he’ll probably want to fly home early.</p>
<p>For both our kids, we tend to book early for Thanksgiving since that travel window is much smaller, prices go up earlier, and we have less flexibility in terms of when they can leave/return. For the Christmas holiday, it seems more open, and stays cheaper longer.</p>
<p>I’ve booked as early as April in some years for T-day week. The advantage is that I usually get lower fares and the better times/dates for travel.</p>
<p>Normally, we have the kids’ academic schedules by late spring and both their colleges post their final exam schedules online so we can calculate when they’ll be done for xmas.</p>
<p>It’s difficult to book a flight for Christmas vacation way in advance because you would have to assume that your college student has a final exam in the very last final exam time slot, and schedule a flight for after that.</p>
<p>But this may turn out not to be the case, and your kid could be sitting in his dorm room with nothing to do for days after his last exam.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, you had better do it. Back when my sister and I were in college, she had a friend who stayed at our house one year on December 24 and 25. The reason: he waited too long to get his plane tickets and couldn’t fly home until the 26th. He missed the holiday with our family (and it couldn’t have been too comfortable sleeping on our living room couch).</p>
<p>Christmas is not usually the tough one. It’s Thanksgiving! Buy now!</p>
<p>I have to buy the seats now–they get booked and the leftovers just go up in price.</p>
<p>I’m new at this, and I never would have thought to buy plane tickets already. But thanks to this post, I just purchased JetBlue flights for my daughter for Thanksgiving. Fares are good, although I’m having her fly back to school on Saturday, not Sunday, to save $120. I’m not worried about Christmas. As others have already said, it’s a bigger window. She has three weeks off, so she has time to take the bus eight hours in each direction. I’ll let her handle that. Thanks to all!</p>
<p>After freshman year, it seems most kids don’t come home for T-day. S’s school has a big dinner on campus.</p>
<p>I like to book in advance, but S doesn’t. However, he is willing to go one-stop to save money on last minute flights.</p>
<p>I booked Thanksgiving a few months ago. Holding off on Xmas until my son got his schedule so I could see when his finals were - but thanks for the reminder!</p>
<p>Those days after finals and before his plane flights were some of my son’s favorite days. He had a campus research job and it gave him uninterrupted days to go in and work on his projects. </p>
<p>As for Thanksgiving, if your kid is more than a few hours away, consider going to them for Thanskgiving instead of parents weekend or whatever big deal weekend the campus offers. Hotel rates are cheap, the pressure is off, and not doing all that Thanksgiving cooking and so on can be very relaxing.</p>
<p>kathiep, I agree with you whole-heartedly regarding Southwest. Not only will you not be charged a rebooking fee, if the price goes down (on a DING fare for example), you get the credit. I realize that not everyone lives in a Southwest market, though. A head’s up for those parents new to the college thing. Book your hotel reservations for parent’s weekend now. Any parents who have other than an incoming freshman have most likely already done it; those hotels fill up fast! I feel like I’m behind because I haven’t booked for my daughter’s college graduation next May!</p>
<p>I was just thinking about the title of this post. If I waited for my husband to buy tickets to get the kids home, well, I’d never see my kids. Any other moms in charge of all this stuff?</p>