airline pricing--more questions
 

Here I go again---more questions on airline pricing!

I've been keeping an eye on pricing from the US mainland west coast (LA and San Francisco) to JRO. In the past month it has dropped from an average of $2,000. to $1800. --not much, but I'm paying for 3 tickets, so I'll take any savings I can get.

I'm just wondering if this is as good as it's gonna get? I feel like I should jump on these prices, but would hate to find out that the usual price is much lower and I should have waited a bit.

Does anyone know of a website that provides average airline pricing for the past year?
Or better yet, can anyone share what they paid for this flight? I'll be traveling early October 2012.

Thanks!

The $1800 doesn't sound too bad to me. Have you checked kayak.com and expedia.com? I checked quickly and saw some prices from SFO to JRO at about $1700 and slightly above. Is it as good as it's going to get? Who knows? But if you do wait keep an eye on Ethiopian Air who have some good sales and who are now partnered with United, which should help on routing.

A very good price, as recently saw a post for that amount only from JFK to JRO on KLM.

While Ethiopian has competitive fares, it's a matter of gettigng to IAD (Dulles, VA... outside Wash DC), so unless you get a non-stop from LAX or SFO to IAD, I'd avoid a puddle-hopper with more stops than required.

Also, as ET stops in Addis/ADD to change planes, if for some reason delay and have to stop/stay in Addis, you will require Yellow Fever inoc and proof of same for entry to Tanzania.

All depends on how long you wish to wait, be assured of a lower fare or even seats being available.

I bought tickets for October flights about a month ago. I use Yapta.com to track flight prices. My flights are Delta from RDU through Atlanta to JBurg (SAA) and back. They were $1140ea, so I snapped them up. I've been tracking them ever since and watched them climb to $1848 today. This could be due to oil/gas prices. I don't know that we will see them go down. If you see them at the same price leaving from the West Coast, you may want to take them.

Do not compare prices to JNB/SA to those into JRO. Fares to SA always seem cheaper and more specials. Don't believe KLM has 'special' in their vocabulary... but one can be surprised.

Strange, very very strange


Just went to the Yapta site to check fares JFK/JRO return for end/May... coming up with fares of about $1250 on KLM. The site is much the same as Kayak, and I already get notices from them and other such 'advising' of fare chages.

Then, as KLM allows for open-jaw, in one airport/out another... wow, some strange results with KLM not appearing till fares got into the $2K and up. Starting fares were from $1,800 and up... now, that's crazy, when it's almost always that the flights to/from NBO are at least $400-500 less than to JRO. Didn't bother to check arriving at NBO and departing JRO as this first stops at DAR before heading to AMS. There was even a fare that would get me into LGA which is closer to home, but flight arrives at DTW (Detroit) before connecting to LGA and it was an overall shorter flying time.

I prefer uncomplicated, so just go with the fare I want, regardless the carrier with shortest flying time, least number of stops/reconnecting... besides belong to all the FF programs, so accumulate miles somewhere.

So, You simply do not know from day-to-day. week-to-week. It's a game and you have to learn to play if you have the time.

Thanks for all of your comments and suggestions--much appreciated!

When I first started looking, I was getting super frustrated because I was comparing prices to flights to Nairobi which are much cheaper. I finally realized the error of my thinking---DUH!!! Oh well, funny how a price I initially thought was too high is all of a sudden very appealing......

You really need to decide what seems to be a good price that you will pay for a flight - and a schedule - that fits your desires the most closely, and take it when you see it. Then, don't worry about it anymore. You just build your budget from there and be happy with what you've got. Much better than working, it's your vacation :-)

sdb2, sandi and uhoh_busted ---your comments and advise are much appreciated and well taken.

Especially after a stressful day at work then coming home to check airfares (Why oh why do I do this to myself)???

I've come to the realization that IT'S NOT WORTH THE ADDED STRESS TO SAVE A FEW BUCKS!!!!

mahalo plenty for helping to make me see that!!!!

$$$ are important for me but so are departure/arrival time of day each end and the length of any layover. I almost always trade some $$ for more convenient departure times and shorter layovers.

Also consider arriving Africa a day early and spending day chilling out, resting, getting use to time change (9 hour for me, USA LA). After leaving home (and spending 30 hours traveling having whole day around JNB hotel doing nothing but relaxing/napping feels real good. Many hotels very close to JNB with shuttle service for around $125 per night. That early day also gives you cushion for flight or luggage delays.

regards - tom

Be sure to clear the "cookies" on your computer. It seems to me the airfare never gets lower no matter how many times you check it unless you clear the cookies. Then I can see the original low fare I saw in the first place.

So true, Tom, about trading $$ for more convenient departure times and shorter layovers. Also prefer to go with KLM rather than Delta, so that might add a bit more, too---but oh so worth it! I would love to have a day of leisure upon arrival but due to work demands will opt to add that extra day of relaxation when I return home, since I'll have to head back to work (so I can start earning the bucks for my next African adventure!)

Excellent advise, sundowner! Actually, Sandi and atravellyn suggested the same in my previous posting. Sandi had to educate me about cookies, and atravellyn was kind enough to walk me through the process---what a great resource this forum is!!!