I've been tracking the flight below for almost 4 weeks and the fare hasn't changed, so I wonder if there's any risk to waiting just a bit longer to see if it drops at all. I've read some things about price decreases and new deals tending to appear in January. Is there any truth to this, or are airfares just as likely to go up as they are down after the calendar turns?
The fare has been steady on Delta's website at $885/pp (including taxes & fees) for:
4/22 JFK to VCE (nonstop)
5/6 NCE to JFK (nonstop)
One reason I've waited this long is that when I first looked at the reverse trip for the same dates (starting in Nice and returning from Venice) the fare was much more expensive, about $1050. Then one day it dropped to $864 and it's remained there for several weeks now. I've been hoping that my trip would drop too but it hasn't budged.
I know that the price is very good for the time of year and cities involved, but I don't want to book today and then check on January 3rd to find that it's $150 cheaper. Thoughts?
Booking my flight now vs. waiting until first week in January - risk/reward?
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Unfortunately there is no easy answer to this question - price changes depend almost solely on how ticket sales are going so far, and that is hard to predict from year to year. Personally I would probably go for it - I've seen too many good fares go up suddenly!
Are you saying you only want Delta, and you only want nonstops? I think your itinerary is so specific that you run a good chance of the price jumping. Does Delta issue vouchers if a lower fare comes along and you bring it to their attention (AA and United do this, with conditions)?
I've had fares go up right before I bought my tickets and sometimes by as much as $100. I've often wondered if the airlines somehow track our inquiries and when they get a lot of hits on a certain flight they decide to raise the ticket price.
Does anyone know it this is possible?
I just checked Vayama and they had the same dates on Swiss for $756. But it wasn't non-stop (or Delta).
Sounds like a great trip!
Regarding Efoss3's comment, I have heard that you should clear your cache and cookies when repeat-shopping a site because they do indeed track your interest and raise prices on items you have been checking out. This wasn't specific to airlines, more to retail-type outfits, but I certainly wouldn't be surprised if airlines did it too. Probably one advantage to shopping prices on third-party sites like kayak.com, who just report available fares but don't sell them - they have no incentive to raise prices on you since they don't sell airfares.
Yes, I would prefer a nonstop which makes options quite limited - all things being equal I'd actually rather NOT fly Delta. Swiss Air would be great but adding a stop (and the risk of bags being delayed) and only saving $130/ticket may not be worth it.
I'll ask Delta if they'd offer any kind of lower fare voucher.
Kathy, thanks for directing me to Vayama - I found the same dates on Swiss Air but switched the return city to Geneva instead of Nice, and found this trip for $760:
JFK to VCE (1 stop: 2 hrs in Zurich)
GVA to JFK (nonstop)
This is a nice option because we were planning to take the train from Venice to Geneva and stay in Annecy for the middle 3 days of our trip anyway (before heading to Nice). Instead, we can go from Venice to Nice and then do Annecy last.
This would save $250, allow us to fly Swiss instead of Delta, and still give us a nonstop flight home. Not bad. Also, I wanted to take the Cisalpino train from Venice to Geneva, which has no overnight option, but this way we could take the overnight train from Venice to Nice for about the same price. Has anyone done that ride?
I'd also be curious to know if anyone's had trouble with delayed luggage on Swiss Air.