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When to book travel?

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MustangGal

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We''re going to fly to Seattle for a wedding on May 1st. I''ve been keeping an eye on the flight costs for about 6 months now, and there hasn''t been much change until today. It just went down about $25 per person. Should I book it now, or wait it out in hopes it goes down more? It''s about $250pp round trip at this point...
 

princesss

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Book now! Prices almost always go UP - I''m currently crossing my fingers hoping that the flight I want to the PNW in September stays the same for the next two weeks so I can pay cash and not worry about it anymore.
 

MichelleCarmen

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Don''t prices go up the closer you get to the vacation time? Once we tried to book a trip to Vegas two days before that particular weekend and the price was over $1500! lol

Anyway, have fun at the wedding wedding and enjoy Seattle!
 

rockzilla

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There is a site www.farecast.com that predicts if fares are going to go up, down or stay about the same (it even gives you a % chance) if you input your desired flight information.

I have found it to be pretty accurate.

Also, another tip that I have tried out and found to be true is to book on a WEDNESDAY. Lots of people book first thing on Monday when they get into work, on Friday to get it done before they leave for the weekend, or over the weekend if it is a personal trip. Wednesday tends to be when they drop fares the most frequently.

Good luck!
 

rockzilla

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PS the other magic numbers are 21, 14 and 7. As in, # of days until your trip. These are when many "special" fares expire...a few times I have kicked myself when something went up $100 from day 21 to day 20. So, if you can, book at least 3 weeks in advance.
 

MustangGal

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Thank ladies! I''ll check farecast, and maybe I''ll wait until tomorrow. I need to call the 2 hotels I''m considering anyway to see if they have cribs... Flying with a 15 month old is sure going to be an experience!
 

panda08

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I think the optimum time is around 6 weeks before the trip. That was my experience last year, when I booked airfare for four trips in the spring, summer and late fall. I used www.kayak.com and www.farecast.com for fare predictors but didn''t find them to be as helpful as I hoped. Sometimes, they''d drive me insane with their email updates. One day, it would be "buy, fares predicted to go up!" and then the next day, it would be "wait, fares predicted to fall." There seemed to be little rhyme or reason. I basically did a historic price search for the past year for whichever place I was traveling to and whenever the fare got close to the historic low, that''s when I bought and it was generally around 6 weeks out. I absolutely LOATHE the airline industry for its hide the ball pricing.
 

Kunzite

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Date: 1/19/2010 2:43:03 PM
Author: panda08
I think the optimum time is around 6 weeks before the trip. That was my experience last year, when I booked airfare for four trips in the spring, summer and late fall. I used www.kayak.com and www.farecast.com for fare predictors but didn''t find them to be as helpful as I hoped. Sometimes, they''d drive me insane with their email updates. One day, it would be ''buy, fares predicted to go up!'' and then the next day, it would be ''wait, fares predicted to fall.'' There seemed to be little rhyme or reason. I basically did a historic price search for the past year for whichever place I was traveling to and whenever the fare got close to the historic low, that''s when I bought and it was generally around 6 weeks out. I absolutely LOATHE the airline industry for its hide the ball pricing.
Ditto, I love farecast and kayak. Where are you flying from? I live in Seattle so I know very well that $250 is a great price to most anywhere from Seattle. I have a $300 travel voucher with Alaska Air so I''ve been looking for somewhere to go for about that price and haven''t found much.
 
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