When is it best to book for holiday travel, will air fares come down???
 

I booked a cruise for next April out of Fort Lauderdale FL, but unfortunately didn't realize it was during Easter . Looking for air fares with Continental and the cheapest flight I'm finding for my dates is $606!!! Thats pretty expensive to fly just to FLORIDA even during a peak travel week. Many of the other airlines have a little bit cheaper fares, but not too many direct flights from Newark NJ. I can't see making stops for a flight thats only 2.5 hours.

How long is it safe to wait and keep checking for lower fares for travel during a holiday week? I mean it's only October now that I'm checking fares, but wondering if the fares will come down maybe in January or am I pretty much going to be stuck paying these high fares because I choose to travel during a holiday? I'm kind of looking forward to this cruise, but don't want to spend a fortune on air fare. Since Fort Lauderdale is a cruise ship port, flights will fill up.

Thanks!

It's too early to see fare sales for a holiday weekend in late Spring, but the prices may not ever be as low as you might want (though I can't predict).

Did you check JetBlue? How about Spirit? Airtran? Would you be willing to fly from JFK or LGA, where there will be other options? Also be sure to price flights to MIA. It's not that much of a hardship to get to Fort Lauderdale from there.

I think you can do better than $606, and it's likely that you'll see a sale, but perhaps not until closer to Christmas. But the moment you see an acceptable fare, jump on it. I think the days of $149 round-trips to Fort Lauderdale from NYC may be over, so you do need to give some thought to what you are willing to pay ... $350? $299? But I don't know that you'll be able to fly on Continental.

This is a question that is often asked about air travel and in my opinion there are too many variables for any one answer to be correct.

Technically the base airline fare is cheaper for a given route when you purchase your ticket at least 21 days in advance. However, I would not feel comfortable waiting until 3 weeks prior to a cruise to purchase a ticket.

If you are traveling during a peak travel season like "Spring Break" which now covers several weeks expect to pay higher ticket prices and don't expect to see too many airfare sales especially if you want a non-stop flight.

I think the correct approach is to determine a realistic amount you expect to pay for your airfare. For example, consider your price range relative to the cost of your cruise. When you find a ticket within $50 of your price range buy it and forget about gambling with your vacation plans. Sign up at Travelocity or other travel websites and they will notify you by e-mail of any airfare sale to your particular destination.

Unfortunately, airfare sales seem to work only if your travel plans are flexible. Going to FLL a few days early may save you on airfare but then you have to pay for hotel and other expenses.

Although it would be nice, $200.00 roundtrip to Florida is not a realistic price. I think $350-500 is what you can expect to pay during Spring Break and I think this will require you to fly out of LGA where there is more competition to Florida. I recommend you fly down the day before and book a hotel in advance to avoid the stress of same day travel.

Good luck with finding a great airfare. Please post your final price, I think it would be helpful to others in your situation.

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If you are flying to Florida you AlWAYS need to know the "season" for the place you need to go to. Did your cruise agent offer an add on flight to FLL?
Continental would be your "hub". Just keep checking. Might try bidding on Priceline for the day before as someone suggested an early arrival and a hotel room.

Spring break from NY to FL is always very high demand - many people know their plans 6mo in advance and book all the cheap flights. Ditto for winter break/Presidents day.

I would not expect fares for Fri/Sat at the start of the week to ever come down, and cheaper fares for Thu, Wed, or even Tue will be gone if you wait too long.

You should also check Miami and not just FLL.

What dates are you looking at? I'm seeing EWR to FLL on 4/23 for $217 non-stop, returning on 4/30. JetBlue.

Don't have any specifics to add for RT to Florida.
Just some general info...I go to Wyoming to be with my lonley Dad every Xmas and this year teh fares are HoRRENDOUS. Already at 668.00 and even last year I was able to book at this time and get 450.00 or so. So my observation is airfares are going up..alot.
We paid alot on Southwest to go from San Diego to OAklnad over T-Day almost 500.00 apiece (their good fare are already gone)

In recent days I have seen some good fares: but they have been special announcements on smartertravel, airfarewatchdog and Kayak.
Today one day only there were some special $39.00 day fares (airfare war with Air Tran)east coat.
2 days ago I got a special annoucement eamil Jet Blue had 99.00 RT fares to carribean for winter one day too.

My help is to sign up for all the Southwest, Jet Blue, Virgin america, Air tran info.
Then research Kayak, Airfare.com and sign up fpr their emails too for trips from your nearest airport.
Then sign up for the remaining regular airlines...and research them carefully. You find "deals" but IMHO, you have to do ALOT of research anymore....AND you have to JUMP on them immediately.

My travel dates are Thursday, April 14th- Sunday , April 24th 2011, with Easter Sunday being on the 24th. The cruise returns back on the 24th, and really can't stay past the 24th.

Checking Continental today and they are still posting $606 as the fare for these dates. But when I check the seats for the flight I want on these dates, ALL the seats are still available on these flights, so no one is booking at these prices , yet.

My maximum fare would be like $475 RT for Fort lauderdale, but $606 is really kind of ridiculous. I've flown to California cheaper than that. But you're all correct, its prime peak season in FL, they are gonna get the prices they want to charge because they know they will fill the seats.

Anyway, I'm looking at car rental now too for just 4 days we are staying pre cruise, and HERTZ is charging a whopping $100 PER DAY !!! Even with AAA discount, its going to cost me $400 for a long weekend rental.

I'm starting to think I seriouly picked the wrong weekend to book a cruise, but will keep checking prices and hopefully will find something that won't cost more than the cruise.

Thanks!

Have you checked Southwest?

Southwest is going to fly in/out of Newark but I don't think it's until March 2011 & there will probably not be a non-stop flight to Florida. Alamo and Thrifty usually have better car rental rates than Hertz.

But Southwest does fly in/out of LaGuardia if that is a viable alternative for the OP.

Regarding rental car rates, you can do <u>way better</u> with just a little searching. For example, I see FLL rates as low as $25/weekend day on Thrifty.com using corporate discount # 004M001010. This is the Orlando Magicard discount, but it works in other cities too.

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Vic's travels: http://my.flightmemory.com/vogilvie

I see Newark to Miami on those dates for as little as $330, non-stop on AA. As low as $250 LGA to Miami.

Since you're renting a car anyway it doesn't matter which airport you use.

If you're staying in Miami Beach upon arrival, consider just taking a taxi from the airport (flat rate of about $35), then renting a car locally for the few days you need it.

For rental cars I see several different companies offering $30-40/day rates using www.kayak.com.