I just hate playing the airfare game...
 

I have been looking at flights to Turkey (IST) and the flights are now $100 cheaper than they were two days ago, I'm assuming due to the recent events in Istanbul. I want to purchase; DH wants to wait a few months (he doesn't feel the need to book airline tickets too far out). Flights to IST can be on the pricy side and I'm worried that the prices are going to go up again soon.

Ugh, I just hate the guessing game. Do I book, don't I book? It's always a gamble and one I hate to play. I seriously need to start accummulating more FF miles!

Okay, I'm done!
Tracy

Hi Tracy.
I started checking airfare to Nice in January.
The price from my home town airport was and always has been $1500+. It never did go down.
I even tried piecemeal trips. You know flying from X to Y and then a low cost carrier or the train.
I couldn't even get a break with that as when I added up all of the pieces it was still $1400. Because most of these connections required at least one night on either end in a hotel.

Good Luck is all I can say.

I hear ya. I always probably pay too much in the name of timing and convenience. Make sure you clear your cookies when doing searches, some days and even times are definitely cheaper due to some mysterious calculus the airlines got going.
Where are you flying from and when? Fodorites could probably give you an idea of good prices (though I guess all bets are off these days).
I got an outstanding deal on Iberia this past spring (less than 800!), from east coast US and only a short layover in Madrid. I will definitely be checking for their sales from now on.
Another good thing: intracountry flights can be quite cheap, so if you're planning on flying to Cappadocia or the southern coast you don't need to worry too much about that.

If the collective effort people spend to save a hundred bucks on plane tickets was allocated to trying to save a hundred bucks or more on hotel bills, or rental cars, or rail tickets, or museum passes, or bus/subway/tram oysters... I bet you'd find that the benefit:cost ratio would be vastly changed.

I'm not saying don't be a prudent consumer of airfare, far from it. But they <i>do</i> change fairly frequently, and being a Monday morning quarterback, or trying to time the stock market, has been and always be a fool's game. Take your best shot and then move on, is my suggestion.

I agree with gardyhoo, once I book my tickets I NEVER look at pricing again.

Gardyloo - That's a great way to think about it. A few weeks ago, I purchased British Airways tickets to London for September and I just learned that the price has gone down by $200 per ticket. I called BA and they don't compensate you for the difference like some airlines. ugh - what a feeling that I could have saved $400 and I can't do anything about it now. But, maybe I'll try to look at it from your point of view and try to save money in other areas of our trip to make up for it. Thanks!

The only thing about looking back is that if there is a significant difference on your exact tickets at a later date, airlines used to issue a travel voucher.
But I really do not know if they do that anymore.
But I agree. Take your best bet and file the price away.

I bought my ticket to Milan for the beginning of June in January - $1300. By April it was down to $1000 on Alitalia. The flight to Milan was a quarter full. My ticket to Athens for September is only $1000 - go figure.

I would have liked that extra $300 for my my trip - yet $100 either way doesn't bother me as much - I'm not trying to sound cavalier or indifferent.

If my ticket had been $1500 and it had gone down to $750 I would have been exasperated and kicking myself.

For me, convenience and when I want to fly are my deciding factors.

I think the price is a pretty good deal....however it is out of NYC and we live in Charlotte. The price two days ago was $820, leaving February 14/returning February 21. Now the same itinerary (on Iberia, with a long day layover in Madrid, which is fine because I haven't yet been to Spain) is $715.

We have a credit that has to be used by February 15 but its on AA and there are not many AA flights out of CLT (and the ones that are on AA are expensive) so we thought about using the credit towards flights from CLT to NYC to catch the flight to IST. So...we would have to watch those flights as well.

I like the idea of booking flights and then not looking back at the prices...I would probably rather not know if I could have gotten a better deal or not.

yorkshire, I think you just went to Turkey, correct? It sounds like a wonderful place and I have been aching to visit!

Tracy

I think anything approaching 1000 is fine, but having to get from Charlotte is certainly a consideration.
Yes I just visited in Spring, and being a Croatia-phile like you, I'll make some comparisons--I think you will love Turkey too:
It has the combo I love: culture (history, architecture, etc.) and nature, more exotic than Croatia of course, but very modern in Istanbul. Istanbul is fabulous like London, so take time outside of the historic sites to explore. Cappadocia is a must (think the wow factor of Plitvice, but with rocks instead of water--though to get geeky, the magic of Plitvice is in minerals too). The region deserves as much time as you can spare.
I knew I would love the food, but was surprised how great the seafood was in Istanbul (after getting hooked on grilled fish in Croatia).
I've been to Croatia 3 times and plan to return, and Turkey is definitely in the same category of those places you want to return to again and again. Just too much to ever fully explore with a couple weeks a year of vacation!
Spain is too, for that matter. I had a long layover in Madrid on the way home and took advantage to pop into the city.

yorkshire, thank you so much for the comparison! I too love a nice mix of history, culture and beautiful scenery. Istanbul has been very high on my &quot;must visit&quot; list for awhile, an I am interested in so many other parts of Turkey as well. We unfortunately don't have a whole lot of vacation anymore since we both took new jobs when we moved to Charlotte but I would love to get a taste with the assumption that I would go back.

We have a trip planned to Costa Rica for next month that we are going to cancel, which is why we will have the credit. The credit won't be too high, but it should be enough to get us to NYC on AA. Then we would book our IST flights separately. I have been watching flights to IST for awhile and $715 seems very reasonable. Of course from Charlotte it would add another $300!

I'm a little worried about the weather in February but prefer to travel off-season (less crowds) so it should be fine. And I do like the idea of being able to spend part of the day in Madrid...nice way to break up the flights and see something new!

Hmmm...I guess DH and I will have to discuss if we should book or not. Maybe I can talk him into it! ;)

Tracy

I'd book it now and forget about it. My only other thought is to make sure you check-if you haven't already- what the fare would be if you connect through Paris on Air France. Much as I hate CDG, we did find it shaved a few hundred dollars off the price of our tix when we did it this way (NYC-CDG-CDG-IST) last July. Good luck!

No comment on the flight price and whether or not to wait. Here's our history. One year ago we got around $800-$900 (can't remember exactly) three weeks ahead of time for a May trip.

My real comment though has to do with the weather in Feb. I really don;t know if it will be the best. My guess is you could have snow in Cappadocia, and Istanbul may also be pretty iffy.

julies, thank you for your comment on the weather. I am a little concerned, not so much in Istanbul as in the countryside because we usually rent a car and drive ourselves around. I'm trying to think of locations that are a) cheap to fly to and b) cheap because they aren't on the Euro. At $1200 per ticket, my first choice of China is not open for debate at the moment.

I'm going to have to do a little more research on Turkey and the weather and a possible itinerary. Given that we would only have about a week, we were thinking of Istanbul plus maybe some of the historic towns along the Mediterranean because they seem to be much closer. Decisions decisions...

Thanks everyone for responding...and I wish the best of luck for those looking for airfare!

Tracy

Wondering if you purchased? It doesn't seem likely that air will decrease these days except for that rare 4 hr window they at times, post. I've tracked several routes, in Europe and the US and everything goes up.

Nope, never purchased. It's the weather comments that have me nervous. I looked at the weather stats and they are just okay, but not ideal. I assumed, before I did my research, that it would be warmer.

Now I'm looking at possibly Morocco or Spain...and of course still wondering how far out I should book!

Tracy