i find for best pricing to buy about 3 months in advance..

depending on your route the availability can vary..

i find oct-dec to be the best time in india

Thanks for the info. If 3 months out is good, then I'll be fine waiting till September or so to buy tickets. We're flying NY (or Newark) to Delhi. I'm looking at United for their nonstop flights. I'd rather pay for these tickets than lose traveling days.

I'm teaching this fall, so I'm not free to travel until the term is over. The earliest I will be free to leave will be the Christmas and/or New Years holidays.

What would others do?

Paule

Remember that Christmas to New Years will be the absolutely most expensive time to travel. Even if you get a great deal on flights, hotels will be more expensive than they will be after Jan 1.

Kathie,
I appreciate the costs, although if I am teaching that extra class, it'll make up the cost of travel. It's the tradeoff. I have a full-time job plus I'm teaching, which limits my time to travel. I'm not a kid either (late 50s) so I'm trying to maximize when I'm able to go.

Most of my travel will be after January 1, so I'm not really concerned about the costs. My ideal travel period, given my job & teaching, would be leaving on Dec. 25th, returning January 14th. But I'm not free to book that now; I may be able to leave then or I may not, but this will depend upon staff coverage, and this conversation doesn't happen until the fall - at the earliest.

A few years ago, I was told by a travel agent in India that the prices at hotels do not drop until Jan. 10. From Christmas until Jan. 10 were the most expensive holiday rates. You might want to check with a TA to see if this still is the case.

Well, you never know on airline tickets, but I often watch them for a while, then buy maybe 2 months (or less) before I go. I have never regreted waiting. of course once I am ready to buy, I usually check the prices at all hours of the day and night for about a week or two. I find usually bigger differences in price on a day-to-day basis than monthly.

I'd wait till you have your schedule before buying. That will eliminate the need (and cost) to change your flights, and also will allow you to make the most use of whatever time they allow you to go. You might be able to negotiate an extra day or two even if they are are short handed, vs being "safe" now and booking from when you know you can go.

Thanks,lcuy,
That's very helpful. Part of this us my desire to confirm plans imnmediately, and patience is not my strong point! This will most likely be the one and only trip to India,so the costs of hotels & travel are less critical than having the time. We tend toward the budget- moderate places, and will just deal with the prices as the given of such a big trip.

Oops, iPad typo..." is my desire", not " us my desire"

I understand. I did my "once in a lifetime" trip to India in August of 2005.

I'l be back for the sixth time this June.

Here is my advice:

1 - Buy your airline ticket as soon as you can because prices are increasing and most airlines will provide you will a refund if in fact the price of your ticket does decrease once you have purchased your ticket. Just check their policy before getting your ticket issued. And remember your Indian visa starts from the day it is issued.

2- Go for as long a time as you can spar - 3 weeks is nothing in India and even if you have to change the dates on your airline ticket it is usually only a minimal fee before departure.

3- December around Christmas is peak season, but only for a couple of weeks and January is the best month for travel to India because it is when the weather is fabulous and the prices are alright (Monsoon season is over and heat has not yet infiltrated the South especially)and everything is open.

Lastly, I can give you this advice because I just purchased my airline ticket for my 5Th trip to India in 3 years as I now make India my second home. Hope it helps!

Oh, decisions! Mysticalindia, you've now made it more confusing! I had just decided to wait a few months, as others have recommended, but now I'm not sure anymore! I'll check out what the costs of rebooking are, and see if that will help me decide.

Changing the dates on your ticket will incur a $250 fee, plus the amount by which the price has changed. Not what I'd call a "nominal" fee!

And though 3 weeks may only allow you to see a small amount of India, I think it is a perfect amount of time for a trip to India. Traveling there isn't easy, especially the first time.

lcuy,
Your feedback is helpful and reassuring. I think I'll just wait for a while and see how things go. If the prices seem to begin to creep up again, I can rethink the decision.

I want so much to really start planning the trip, but can't really make a definitive plan until those tickets are in hand. I guess it will teach me some patience!

Yes, India is good at teaching patience!!

And I'm not even there yet!

Okay, my advice is diferent than nearly that of everyone else. Wait it out and wing it, buying tickets at the last minute. I started thinking about India and planning a trip about 6 or 7 months ahead of time. Because of some things going on in our lives where we were unable to commit to certain dates, we waited and didn't buy our tickets until 12 days before our end of February departure. I paid exactly the same as I would have paid 6 months earlier. The only difference was that we ended up an a different airline than would have been our first choice for accruing miles (no big deal). Granted this wasn't prime Christmas season, and I do know things can be a bit different then because I am also in your position--teach in a collge so have been restricted by an academic calendar.

But, there is one major problem with waiting until the last minute to plan an India trip, and it isn't the price of flight tickets. It is the availability of train tickets. If you inten dto hire a car and driver for most of the time, there is no problem setting that up last minute. I know because I made all of our plans very last minute. As far as I am concerned, waiting until you have more information this fall isn't at all last minute. If you know by October, you'll still have two months to make your arrangements. My advice it to do all of your planning now without making any firm commitments, and when you know for sure about the adjunct position, buy the tickets and make your other reservations.

India is huge and slow-going. Do yourself a favor and take a trip that is as long as possible.

Julies, I think everyone except mysticalIndia recommended that progol wait to buy the tickets until she knows her travel dates. Suggesting she wing it at the last minute - to book a Christmas/New Year week flight- is unrealistic.

Progol has limited time, and wants to be on the UAL on the EWR-DEL non-stop. It often sells out, especially when many Indian ex-pats fly home for the holidays. Waiting too long may mean she'll have to go a different day or fly a different airline. I try very hard to maintain Elite status, so that would be a real negative for me.

Sept or October will be fine.

Hi! Oct-mid Feb is good time to visit India.... After February u can start felling the onset of summers which is in peak in the months of April-June..... U can't really enjoy places like Kerala,Goa & even whole north & south india....
We have holidays in October (dusherra break) & from 21st dec-4th Jan...Avoid these days as our internal tourism is at its peak...hotels at this time are usually over booked & will not be bothered too much
As for as bookings in airlines cost is not much a difference as long as u r not booking 1-2 days ahead of ur tour....only problem is Indain Railways ,if u intend to take any internal journey by train....do it in advance...now u can book it 120 days earler....the fair is FIX but availability is a problem

I agree with most of what lcuy says. My first trip to India was Christmas through the third week in January. It was really busy everywhere until mid-January. The weather in January is excellent, but I would personally avoid the holidays if I could. We were booking months ahead, but even then we had trouble getting the hotels we wanted for the last week of December and the first week of January.

India is indeed a difficult place to travel, and the more budget-conscious you are, the more difficult it can be. It's the only country I've visited where I was profoundly grateful to stay at five-star hotels (where they existed) and have a car, driver, and guide. Three weeks will be fine if you don't try to see everything. Pick three areas maximum to explore. With limited time, I would try to fly between places if they are any significant distance apart.

And like lcuy, I thought my first trip to India would be my only trip there. I went back a second time and am eager to go again. I think India is a place I will return to as long as I am able to travel. I'll never see everything it has to offer. I fell in love with the country and the people. (And I still haven't seen the Taj Mahal.)

Thanks, everyone, for the comments.

Julies, I've followed your planning and your trip report very closely, and I do appreciate your thoughts on planning "last minute". But I do agree with lcuy and Marilyn that traveling during the holidays won't give me the option to be as flexible.

lcuy, thank you so much for nailing my "dilemma" on the head! I don't want to be stuck with a trip with layovers, effectively shortening my trip even more. And the only nonstop airlines at this point are United and Air India. So choices are few.

Manisha - given my schedule, I'm afraid I will end up traveling at least a part of the dusherra break. So when I finally do have my tickets in hand, I'll book as soon as I can.

Julies - about planning... not to worry, I've already sketched out several possible itineraries, depending upon the time frame and when I actually leave! I'm way too obsessive about planning, and yes, I've identified hotels, even the agent, I want to work with. However, until I have the tickets in hand, it seems a bit moot to really move forward (much as I'd love to!).

Anyway, thanks everyone! Very helpful to read what you have to say. It also allows me to clarify my own thinking. So I'm just going to have to have some patience. Not something that comes easily, I'm afraid!

Interestingly enough we took that United non-stop from Newark --booked last minute and we were also told this is always a full flight--, and it wouldn't be our first choice if we were to return. Our first choice would be to break the journey with a couple hour layover in Europe for a few hours so as to not have to have that loooooooooong 14 hour segment. Perhaps you live in NY though so this could be just a one-leg flight for you. Since we had to fly into Newark and then get on that flight, we have to take two legs no matter what.