Ticket Prices
 

Hello,
As I'm traveling next spring (yes I know it's a while away), I was curious:
Should I try to purchase airline tickets as soon as possible?
Or wait till later in the year, after election time, in hopes that maybe prices will go down?
Suggestions anyone? Thanks!

Trying to figure out when or if airline ticket prices will rise and fall is the proverbial $64,000 question. The general concensus is that purchasing your ticket too far in advance probably won't save you money and could "cost you". Airline ticket prices fluctuate for a variety of reason (fare sales, fuel prices, higher or lower than normal bookings, etc., etc.) so your best bet is to start watching fares to get an idea of the going rate for your trip. Then, when you see what looks like a good fare, book it. It can happen now, a few weeks from now, a few months from now of perhaps never - the point is no one knows for sure!!!!

You can "sign up" your particular flight intineray with your preferred airline(s) and they will notify you if and when they offer discounted fares to that destination (sometimes these fares carry restrictions on travel dates). you can also use websites like kyack or yapta that will alert you to lower fares.

Good luck.

Probably more like the $64 or $640 question - but that is hard cash.

Expedia has a 'Fare Alert' function - so do others. "when your best fares become available, we’ll send them right to your desktop." ((*))

One of my r/m's got an "alert" today....Itinerary from Charlotte to DFW, $350.00 one day trip not over Saturday night...On ATA......duhhhh....Beware...

When the planes are half empty, they will drop the price and put on seat sale. that's the best time to buy and it is usually 30 to 90 days out.

I have just done that recently and saved about $50 a ticket (about 30% off regular fare before tax). With that said, they started charging a fuel surcharge so I eneded up paying about the same anyway. If there were no fuel surcharges, then I would have been ahead.

I usually flew on the same airlines and I subscribed to their email service where they send me their seat sale info. The email came usually every week on Wednesdays and there are time limits on the sale (one day only), eligible travel dates (book by and travel by) and what destinations.