mgkdj1

Traveling to Dublin Ie. the 1st week of Sept.
When is the best time to purchase airline tickets ?

simpsonc510

My best advice (and I'm a VERY frequent flier) is to start watching prices. They do go up and down (usually not by a lot, but sometimes it can be a pretty good drop/rise) and when you see a price you can live with, jump on it. I typically am buying my tickets about two months out for travel to Switzerland (twice a year or more, in my case).

eliztravels2

I've read that 4-5 months out is a likely time to get a reasonable price for an international destination, and that has proved true for me a couple of times. But you never know. Airfare pricing is so complex and unpredictable your best bet , as simpsonc says, is to get a sense of what the price range is and when you see something attractive, go for it. Then forget about it. What if you checked and found that if you had waited a week you could have saved a $200? That doesn't do anything for you except annoy you. Once that major expense is taken care of, you can put your attention into planning and looking forward to the rest of the trip.

trafaelwyr

I've been watching the price of a roundtrip ticket from Dallas to Athens (with one stop - there are no direct flights). It seems that the lowest price I've seen has been about $1,390 on US Airways and that was last month. Now I'm seeing the price at over $1,700! Kayak.com has been the one site used to check on prices. As of the other day, there's been a flight out of Canada (DFW to Toronto and on to Athens) that's been priced at about $1,400. I'd really like to fly US Airways as the route is DFW to PHL and then to ATH - but that's the route that's now over $1,700. Question is, should I bide my time to see if the fare goes back down?

suze

If there was a definitely answer to this kind of question, we'd all be rich from the stock market

trafaelwyr

The fluctuation of plane ticket prices is really annoying! Ok, so that $1,700 fare went back down to $1,390. It's the route I wanted, so I bit the bullet and bought the tickets.

2alice

We usually do the homework and start watching prices soon. (family of four, difference in 100$ per tickets translates in 400$ per family). It is easier to earn this in airtickets then on a stock market at least for me. We travel 3-4 times a year different destinations and we are flexible, looking for a bargain, avoiding peak times, where nothing will help.

There are number of guidelines we follow:
- we check at www.edreams.com or www.kayak.com or similar to get the idea where and when
- we check airports to get schedules and companies
- direct reservation at the company website is usually cheaper than above one
- it is easier to follow prices on direct website like www.rynair.com To Athens you should never ever pay more then 70€ from London. If you want to travel cheap.
- Air guys are changing and allocating low cost seats and this what you should go after, because after these seats are sold out the higher price will apply until the new low costs seats are again allocated by machine or human. Depending on the bargaining season.
- we move the timeline to figure out when the time might come.
- and just in case delete cookies, because they can follow you.
- I just got an Air France discount “special” Valentine's day offer. I have never used this, but it could work for you.

That’s enough, it is possible believe me. There are some sites explaining everything in more detail like http://www.cheapair.com or http://www.freeholiday.info/airline-tickets.html or http://www.wikihow.com/Buy-Cheap-Airline-Tickets

But nobody will tell you exactly when is the time, because just like my kids I have to do the homework, if I want to go cheap.

I do work in DWH algorithm business, so observing algorithms is pure fun for me. If everything fails we go someplace else.

Bamaman

You've got plenty of time to arrange flights. Who knows what's going to happen with airfares in the coming six months with the American/U.S. Air consolidation. I'm hoping to see some one day sales with some of the other airlines trying to pickup market share.

When I go on a trip, I'll begin looking @ http://matrix.itasoftware.com/ trying to come up with a baseline airfare over a period of time. I'll watch ITA Matrix every few days to see if there are any airfare dips.

I'll most often be looking for Tuesday-Wednesday flights as the lowest demand days. September is just after Summer's high season ended, so you'll be in a medium priced month.

Since I'm located in the Southeast, I watch the Atlanta Journal Constitution Travel section daily, as they monitor airfares closely for one day sales. ClarkHoward.com also shares the same info.

I recently picked up tickets to Budapest and home from Prague 3/25 and 4/8 respectively for $728--down from $1,050. I saw fares @ $850 one day, and have seen airfares recently @ $950 for a day or two. It's all supply and demand.

Aer Lingus flies to Dublin from Chicago, Orlando, San Fran. and JFK. American flies from JFK and Atlanta to Dublin.
United flies there from Dulles and Newark, and U.S. Air flies from Philadelphia.

Good luck in your search!