danandmelissa

Hello!!

My husband and I are booked to stay at Garden By the Sea on STJ during President's Day week--also known as school "can't get a reasonable flight" vacation week!! We went to STJ last April and obviously found cheaper flights (we are travelling from Boston) since it was at the beginning of the "off-season."

Based on what I have read, in order to get more reasonably priced flights, we need to wait until 4-6 weeks before we are scheduled to be there. However, I keep panicking every time I look at flight prices because they are still so high from Boston to STT, and I am worried that we might not find something or that all the flights will be sold out by the time the 4-6 week period gets here. We have never waited this long to purchase tickets and as a result are pretty anxious.

Any advice will be welcome, even if it just to say that we need to stop looking for flights until January!! This forum has been invaluable in planning several of our past trips, and as usual thanks in advance for the help!!

Melissa

Tuxedocat

We have friends who try to come down on President's Day week each year and have waited until a month or so beforehand. They were successful the first time, but the second time they had to use frequent flyer miles. I don't know what to tell you since it seems to be one of those things where it is a matter of chance which way it goes. You might try another airport.

ccrosner

We go to STX every February school vacation week from Boston and I can tell you that it is getting harder and harder to get frequent flyer tix. So hard that I thought about purchasing tix this year. Until I saw the prices!!!

A suggestion or two. Don't even think you will get ff tix if you can't purchase them in January. They just aren't available and they will not be releasing more seats as they get closer since there are no seats to be had.

I would check each flight you might take to see how many seats are left. I know that on the Friday and Saturday outbound flights to SJU there are a handful on each flight (if that).

The best way around the problem is to fly Wednesday to Wednesday or Thursday to Thursday. The flights are about 1/3 the price of the weekend flights.

HOpe you have some flexibility in your scheduling. I don't mean to be negative but better safe than sorry.

danandmelissa

Thank you both for your quick responses! We do not have the option of using frequent flier miles since we don't have any, we would have to purchase the tickets outright.

Any other advice? Thanks!!

Melissa

cdt

We vacationed twice in the Caribbean during President's Day Week and paid premium prices for airfare.

My personal opinion is that for that particular week, waiting for prices to come down is probably an exercise in futility. You might as well see what you can arrange now - flying on a weekday, going through San Juan, etc. etc. - and just book the best deal you can.

Unless, of course, you are seeing absurd prices now (like $900+), in which case it might make sense to wait a bit and hope for an improvement.

We had to pay $710 RT from Newark to Aruba for Prez Week; $757 Newark to STT. And that was before fuel prices went nuts. Ugh.

DOCROX

We booked for that time period but are flying Wed. to Wed. I watched as prices went up from $600's to $800's. Went ahead and booked because we didn't want the 9:59pm arrival time. Paid $870! Now prices dropped to $640. American (domestic) will give a travel voucher (minus the $100 change fee). International they just reimburse.cont.

DOCROX

Cont. -Can anyone tell me how to post a longer reply? It limits me. Anyway, now the flight we are booked on with the nice early arrival time doesn't show up so I'm assuming it is sold out. So if there is a particluar flight you want, you might want to snag it.

danandmelissa

The flight prices at this point are so high that I don't think we have a choice but to wait until it gets closer with the hope that they go down--unfortunately we may have to cancel altogether if prices don't come down. We are looking into alternate airports--Manchester (New Hampshire) is fairly close and the prices are a little lower with USAir flying out of there.

This is a disappointing because we have been researching flights since Sept. and instead of going down, they have steadily gone up (thought they were high in Sept. in the first place!!), most likely because of the fuel issue. Again, all advice is very appreciated!!

Melissa

mom929

My advice is to be more flexible about the island. Is your hotel reservation cancellable?

I'd check sites like cheapcarribean.com or travelzoo and jump on any good special you see. Booking hotel and flight together might help the price. It may not be STJ, but you may get a great getaway in Mexico or the Bahamas that's within your price range.

We are going to San Juan on President's weekend. It might not have been my first choice, but we got a good flight so I went for it.

annikany

Ask yourself if paying a higher fare worth your piece of mind? Sometimes for me it is. I'll pay a higher fare to have a better choice of flight departures and arrival times. Also to assure a seat next to my husband or window, etc. Then I forget about about the extra cost completely and relax knowing I'll get where I want to go- when I want to go- sitting next to whom I wish to. Sometimes it's just worth it.

Laby

Trying to time the right moment to buy airline tickets, especially to the Caribbean, is a lot like trying to time the stock market - some guess right but many others guess wrong. You just don't know. The airlines have announced their winter sale so it is unlikely that they'll be offering any more great deals for Presidents' Day week. If you can get a roundtrip fare for under $800, I'd book it because you probably won't do much better than that.

ejcrowe

Go ahead and book the tickets now. I think someone above mentioned this...buf if the prices go down between the time you book and the time you fly, by more than $100 per person, you can get a credit voucher from the airlines. There's a $100 change fee involved, so the flight difference must be at least $100 to make a difference to you. If the price comes down substantially, you'll have a voucher for future travel. If the price doesn't come down at all, or comes down less than $100, than think of that as buying your peace of mind that all of your travel arrangements have been made.

danandmelissa

ejcrowe and DOCROW,
That is good info about the credit vouchers since I was unaware of that policy. If I could find a flight for $800 round trip, that would actually be a GOOD price right now, because USAir flights are going for $1100 each from Manchester Airport to STT if we fly Sat. to Sat. during that week. Again, our dates aren't too flexible because I work at a school and that is the only week I have available to go.

We can cancel the reservation and won't lose money if we do it 45 days before we are due to arrive. I suppose we could cancel and go elsewhere, as Mom929 suggested, but it would (again) be disappointing since we have both a car rental and a day sail planned for that week. I think the dilemma is that we are staying at the B&B because of the reasonable prices (compared to a villa rental) and it seems insane to pay double that just to fly there.

Melissa

ccrosner

I'm sure you have your heart set on St. John (for good reason) but you may want to think about booking a charter out of Boston to another spot. Saw some good deals in a flyer I just got this week from GWV (or something like that) agency to Barbados. Included airfare.

I know how enticing a break from our lousy winters is....but you might want to consider going during your April break. You'd save a ton.

jeannetb

You might want to check out Spirit Airlines. They fly out of Providence and you generally have to fly mid-week to get the best prices. They were having a great sale last week but I'm not sure what their fares are like right now.

tess53

my sister lives in the boston area and many times she checks flights out of providence ri or manchester nh and has had to fly out of either one.. but it beats not going at all. you need to check the airlines DAILY !!things can change quickly!!!! with a small window to jump through !! good luck..

danandmelissa

Thank you all so much for your help---we have changed our plans to go during the April school vacation because we are able to fly from Friday to Friday and got a MUCH better deal on airfare. Fortunately, we were also able to find space at the Estate Lindholm B&B, so we are all set!!

As always, this forum has been very informative when planning our trips and it's greatly appreciated, Fodorites!! Will post a trip report when we return...

Melissa and Dan

ccrosner

Dear Melissa,

I think you made the right call as this way you can really enjoy yourselves in April and not worry about every penny you spend! St. John is gorgeous....enjoy!

Tuxedocat

Oh, well, you have to wait a bit longer. Actually, April/May is my favorite time to go. The winter swells have subsided meaning calmer, clearer waters and the weather is wonderful. Have a great time.