2Bbarefoot

Hello all,

For the last 10 years or so, I haven't done any international travel that required airline tickets. I am wondering if any of you will be willing to offer advice in getting the best price.

A little background: I am looking at various vacation homes and only need the flight to get there (for 2, the others on the trip can book for themselves). This is probably the nature of the beast, but it seems like we will need to book a house in advance, hoping that there will be decent pricing on the airfare at some point.

Right now I am leaning towards a house in the Dominican Republic, but have looked at some on Grand Bahama, as well. The "back up option" is possibly to book in the Florida Keys.

I am located near Harrisburg, PA, and usually fly out of BWI (except for the rare occasions that our home airport was actually cheaper). Any of the surrounding airports that can be reached within a few hours are options depending on the amount of savings.

The house I would really prefer to rent is near Puerto Plata, and provides pickup service from there, but I am not sure about the other airports on the island.

I have read that booking around 6 weeks out is best, but have no corroboration on it. Some people swear by Jetblue (and the like), but a preliminary search did not show much difference this far out.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

sparkchaser

Kayak supports multiple airport searches (up to four), just separate the airport codes by a comma.

For example: MDT,BWI for Harrisburg and BWI.

You will want to book your tickets at MINIMUM 6 weeks in advance. Personally, I am a fan of booking as far ahead as possible because you don't know what oil prices are going to do between now and 6 weeks from your travel date.

I can't help you with accommodations. Sorry.

J62

Cheap flights to Caribbean and March don't usually go in the same sentence... Simple rules of supply and demand. Spring break, school vacations, long winter in the northeast, etc. If you wait until 6 weeks before your trip you will be paying $$$$.

I think you should book flights well before New Year's, or as soon as you know your travel dates for sure in the fall - most anybody planning a Caribbean vacation will know their free dates well in advance, and I would expect fares will inch up steadily from the fall onwards - no late deals to be had.

If you have schedule flexibility then I'd say shoot for the 1st week in March - it seems to be that quieter period between Presidents week school breaks, and March spring breaks.

I prefer non-stop any day over a connecting flight.

2Bbarefoot

Thanks for the advice!

I had a feeling that there wasn't going to be any magic process to make the cost more of what I am hoping for. I'll just have to decide if the house is worth it.

(I think so, considering it comes with a housekeeper/cook and a "houseman" to assist in whatever we need during our stay, ...just have to convine the husband.)

2Bbarefoot

Would it be much better (opinions) if I waited until the second week of May?