T&C Airfare Volatility?
 

Hi,
A neighbor planted the Turks & Caicos seed this past Easter Sunday, and after finding reasonable airfare for our extended family of 7 travelers for a MSP-PLS round trip in February 2015 ($315 on US Airways), we were excited to pin down some details and book flights the following day. Mistake. Tickets were $450 by that time. We watched and waited. Now four days later, the same tickets have climbed to over $900. Discouraging -- I have never experienced this type of volatility. Maybe a US Airways thing?

Regardless, I plan to wait out the storm and book when prices are reasonable. What is reasonable or average airfare for a February round trip from Minneapolis to Provo?

reasonable for Feb is $650-$700

$315 had to have been a "flash" sale

$450 was a bargain

check for best prices

matrix.itasoftware.com, continue to matrix Delta usually best prices, followed by AA, but love the flights on USAir more

You have learned a valuable lesson. - when you see what looks like a good or bargain airfare don't hesitate - book it as it will probably be "here today, gone tomorrow.

Now your only alternative is to sign up for airfare alerts on airline websites and places like Kayak or the one mentioned by blamona. Then monitor prices and when you see a fare you can live with go ahead and book it.

Thanks so much for the good advice! I am confident we will find something that works, and will pull the trigger a little sooner this time.

Just realize that the prices might have changed 30 minutes later rather than the next day. Airfare searches will get you the price at the moment, and on some occasions when you are ready to press the BUY button, the price disappears by the time you do.

Check sites like Airfarewatchdog.com to get a sense of the historical prices. And be sure to check the prices on JetBlue.com, which are sometimes better than others (and sometimes not). But their flights don't show up on all searches.