Mapper71

I plan on flying from Madison, WI (or Chicago if cheaper, but hopefully Madison) to Seattle sometime in late September or early October. Right now there are prices as low as $310 if I were to buy today, but I won't have a definite time frame until August and by that time I'm afraid they'll be pushing $450 or higher. Will there be more air fare sales or promotions come August for fall travel or is all hope lost if I don't book now?

dfr4848

Who knows. Seriously. I think it will depend on how busy the summer is (and obviously what oil does). If it's not, my own opinion is that the airlines may offer sales to get people on planes. But $310 isn't a bad price, and I'd probably take it now.

dutyfree

Sure and gas will go back to $2.00 a gallon.........

Keith

Midwest Airlines had some good fall specials that just expired on Monday.

Keith

clevelandbrown

Most of the deepest discount tickets are sold well in advance of the date of the flight, which means buying a ticket in August for a September flight would preclude getting a deep discount ticket.

On the other hand, I get a weekly email from Continental offering specials for tickets to certain destinations, but these are limited. The email I got this morning offered flights on Saturday, returning on Monday or Tuesday. Lexington (where my son lives) is not usually on the list, but was on the list today. We called to see if we could visit, but he will be working this weekend, so we will have to hope they make this offer another time.

I suggest you look at the change fee involved with the #310 ticket. When you change a deep discount ticket, they usually charge you a fee, and the current fare on the leg you change. Its possible that if you guess wrong on the dates when you buy the ticket, you could still save money by paying the change fee and the new fare for one leg, for example.

Another possibility would be to pick all-encompassing dates now and use the extra time in Seattle as a vacation.