When to buy airline tix for christmas?

Lisettemac, my crystal ball says buy them now, many flights will be cancelled in the fall and it will give you a "leg up" to already have a reservation. I seriously doubt that any airline prices will go down regardless of oil prices. I have purchased all the flights I think I will need in 2009 that I can already. If they go down, so be it, but I know I have what I need and if the proposed cancellation of many flights becomes a fact, at least I will be rescheduled before new tickets are sold. I also saw a prediction that fall prices will be 40% higher than they are now. It is a gamble.

I already bought my Mother's ticket for her Christmas visit. I DON'T think prices will be going down, and most airlines are cutting back on the number of flights.

~Liz

Just bought mine last week.

I agree with others -- flights are being consolidated and prices during a peak travel time won't go down.

Am going to buy this week ticket for dtr to come home from college.

My crystal ball tells me to try to book non-stop, even if it costs a bit more. Besides reducing the number of airports one would have to deal with winter weather in, it also halves the number of flights that can have time and schedule changes.

You need to buy tickets before the college kids buy theirs (often as soon as their class schedule is set). I think waiting is only asking for higher prices - and less availability.

I was pricing tix for december 27 through Jan 3 (granted to FLA) and coach tix on delta were 800 when i started looking several months ago. they are now 1200. I say book it.

Honestly the best time to buy tickets for Christmas is the February before. They just go up after that. Buy them now!!! We just bought ours last week too. Hurry. I think a lot of people are taking all the cheap seats.

Where are you flying from/to? Maybe someone can help you with a cheaper alternative.

We fly to Florida every Christmas and tickets never go down.

Tickets are already bought in our family ... I wouldn't wait.

I was waiting for tix to NYC (1 hr. flight for us) as gas prices were rising. I waited and they kept going up. I freaked out and bought them and then they went up $50 more/ticket. I looked again last week as gas prices went down. The tix are $100/tix (or 20%) less. That's times 3 for us. If it were me, I would wait until after Labor Day as you are thinking, but then I am feeling pretty bad about my loss.

I suggest that once you buy them, don't go back to see if they go up or down!

Good luck!

Claire - was your ticket to NY at Christmas time? In my experience, that time period never goes down.

I recommend using the website www.yupta.com I bought tickets to Florence three weeks ago and afterwards had yupta track the flight. They notified me this morning that tickets had gone down $130/piece (x2) and I was able to call the airline and get a voucher for the difference.

my mistake. its yapta.com

Claire - I think that is something you can do. Get a voucher for the difference if airfares go down. Call your airline to check.

Some airlines used to offer vouchers. Not sure if they do any longer. However, you had to rebook your flight, it had to be the "EXACT" same flight and you had to pay the change fee. THEN if there was any money to be had, they would send you a voucher for the difference.

We have already bought for our family vacation to Florida in December. Saved about $200 per ticket. I read in the NY Times that many, many flights are being pulled by airlines this fall and into the winter season. Fewer flights = higher prices. Our tickets to CZM for February are exactly twice as much as we paid last year and they're still going up.

Have been watching tickets on Yapta.com for a trip to Toronto. Started at about $500 (I didn't buy), jumped to over $700 (I couldn't buy), had a four day slump back to $550 (I thankfully purchased), one week later prices are back up to $706. What a roller coaster.

This past March we bought three R/T coach tickets Washington-Miami for 26 Dec with a return on 3 January 2009.

the total cost was around $1200

Those same tickets on the same dates and on the same flights are NOW pricing out at almost $2800!

I think you know what to do, right?

United does not charge any fees to receive a voucher. When I bought the tickets they were 970 and then dropped to 835. I called United and it took 5 minutes. I expect to get a voucher for 135 in about a week. Yapta.com has a chart that shows which airlines charge fees and which do not.

Thanks kellie, but I had already called Delta because they do give those vouchers, but one has to cancel the flight and rebook it. The cancellation fee is now $100/ticket.

I'll add that May 2007, my tix to NYC were $250+ so the current $400+ price tag is a substantial increase even at the current fares ($100 less than what I paid). The problem w/airline tix to NYC is that one has to get theatre tix, etc. in advance, so that one is tied into a time frame if not exact dates. I could have been more flexible if that weren't the case for my trip, or I could have chosen to go somewhere else, but I really wanted to go in the fall. I love NYC in the fall, so I can't complain too much.

It is true that since I don't live near a hub, but fly out of a small airport, our other daily flight to NYC was cut. I do wonder if they will add that other flight back in if there is a demand for it.

I guess there are a lot of factors to consider. I think a little flexibility can go a long way especially if you are still three or more months out when you purchase the tix, but it depends on your situation/plans.

We booked Christmas tickets for our family of five last month, can't imagine them going down or having the availability for five together much later than September.

Christmas is a different animal than other times of the year. They know they have a captive audience.