when to purchase economy and busclass tickets for india feb2012
 

need advise re both economy and business class tickets to go to india nonstop for february 2012. See fuel surcharges last two weeks. Really not ready, but wonder under 'normal' circumstances when is an ideal time to purchase such tickets: 4 months before or 8 months before?

www.yatra.com

makemytrip.com

usually best deals

airawards.com

airbrokers.com

airtreks.com

consolidators sometimes can save partularly Biz class.

Prices do tend to drop in the fall with sales.

but it is never too early to begin.

I have found the business fares rarely drop.

i suspect you are right

I'm planning to buy tickets ny - delhi at the end of December 2012 returning mid-January. I've been told in earlier posts that it's fine to wait until 3 months or so before the trip (I'm not sure when I'll be free to go yet), but I've noticed on Kayak.com that flights at that time list the # of tickets that are supposedly left, and it appears that there are only a few left. How real are these numbers? Should I be concerned about waiting till the fall to purchase my tickets? I'm looking at the United nonstop flight as I would prefer to avoid stopovers.

Those numbers aren't "real". If you want to see seat availability, go to united.com, pick your flight and then click on "view seats".

Thanks, Craig. I ended up doing that after I posted and felt reassured. I also felt a bit like telling myself "Duh"!