When do you usually purchase your airline tickets / flights for Hedo?

[TheRaam]

Was doing some research on when is the best time to buy airline tickets and was wondering, how long before flying does everyone going to Hedonism book their flights in order to get the most inexpensive tickets?

I have come across a few articles that say that 'the earlier the better' was not necessarily true for 2012, with the sweet spot for international flights being somewhere around 81 days or 11 to 12 weeks out. I also saw an old thread from this board where someone said that if booking for the spring, try to book before the New Year's because they saw an increase sfter that.

Obviously this doesn't matter for those whose travel agents include flight in their package.

Just wondering how other frequent Hedo flyers do it! Last year when we flew direct out of FL I got decent price on 7/30 for round trip 11/10 to 11/17 at $297 per ticket with Jetblue (no checked bag fee woohoo!).

[mac_r_a]

We have friends in FL and they usually wait unless 3-4 months before. Us in Canada do it as soon as possible because the prices usually go up. We purchased our tickets for the end of April a few months ago and we actually had to do one flight in two separate transactions since they only had one seat left at the cheaper price.

[Brian&Terri]

You never know really. Airlines will have a price one week then higher the next then lower. I looked a year out or as long out as the airline would post prices. Alot depends on what flight you actually want or if you just want to get there anytime of day. If you don't care what time you get in you can find some good prices but if you want to get in early and really want that flight you can look at how many seats are booked on that flight on the airline web page. I booked ours in Aug and it's gone up alot the last time I looked. I would think out of FL you could find some good deals as those should be direct. To get ours cheaper we are leaving Nashville on friday afternoon and staying in Miami that night and leaving around 10:30 Sat morning on to Jamaica. It sounds crazy but I saved a pretty good amount so I went on and booked first class for the first time. But I would start looking now for some date next year just to see how it changes over the months to get an idea....but then again I'm a nerd and I do travel lol.

[tls87]

Seem's like anymore air price is all over the place,thought we got a good price out of O'hare 8 month's ahead on America Air Line if we waited 3 month's could of went out of Midway on Air-Tran for $400.00 less both non-stop....

[sabinaandscott]

Mac is right in that it really depends on where you are. We book direct from Toronto and find the price usually cheapest 330 days out when flight first come available. We've booked one ways, sometimes with same airline, sometimes with different airlines each way...round trips...all depends. Generally we find a price we like, if it's same as or lower than last year we book. Pick a price you're comfortable paying, book the flight and don;t worry about it. If you watch daily and buy at one price and find if you waited 2 months to save 30 bucks each, you'll drive yourself crazy. Flying mid week is also usually cheaper. This year originally we were looking at a Sunday return, found out thursday was much cheaper...we were flexible so the savings paid for about 1/2 the room rate for additional days.
Coming from Canada we prefer direct 4 hr flight. We can save $$$'s by flying through the US with layovers, and save a couple of hundred. But for us, not worth the additional travel time.
We'd love to live in FLorida...fares are much cheaper! and the weather is generally nicer than Canada.

[Ontario]

We are lucky enough as "sabinaandscott" stated above..flying out of Toronto direct is the best way for us... We booked out return trip soon after coming back from Hedo in Sept.. Now we are on the count down and April 2014 can't come soon enough. Total package, including flights, hotel, and transfers for us was $3078. I consider that a great deal for a week in paradise...

With our busy lives, I don't have time to wait to save $30 and drive myself crazy...we just booked it...

[The Travel Slut]

I have purchased airline tickets, not only to Hedo, but all over the world for many years and there is little rhyme or reason to prices as there are so many factors that are not controlled by the consumer.

Last year, I bought my Hedo tickets just 2 weeks or so before my trip and paid much more than I would have paid six months before.

Just a month ago I bought my last minute tickets to Europe and I did extremely well (thanks to airfarewatchdog.com). Others I spoke to on my trip had purchased their tickets months before and paid substantially more than me.

Whether it is oil price speculations, additional mergers (thus reducing competition) or time of day/week/year/ or location/events/etc.....airline prices can and will continue to fluctuate.

You should always check various search engines and then compare prices to the airlines actual website. Generally, 21+ days out seems to be the key factor in locking in the best price on many occasions.

[takemetonegril]

Yapta will track flights and will send you alerts when prices hit a certain amount you've predetermined. They also send alerts for refunds and it works, I got a $129.00 voucher on Jet Blue in Oct. on a flight to St. Lucia. It's not cash, but it's still a voucher that I'm using soon, so it is great.

Air prices are up, airlines (sports arenas and the rest) are going to a demand pricing strategy, meaning the more someone wants that seat, the more they are going to charge for it, kind of like a reverse auction. They are also reducing the number of seats in the air which drives the demand. I'm obsessive about my Jamaica trip and booked my April trip ($839) a month ago. $315.00 more than last year. We fall on Easter again this year so I get screwed kinda of....... Because I booked when AirTran first released the dates I could book a first class for just $39 more round trip. I've got the best seat on the plane. The ticket is fully refundable as well, so if a fabulous deal comes along, especially with AirTran I can cancel first class and ride cattle, which I probably would for $300. savings.

I check the prices of flights daily at AirTran and Expedia, really no movement at all so far which is unusual. My tip is look Tuesday after a long weekend. Everything that doesn't get sold over the weekend will sometimes (not this year so far)be discounted Tuesday morning. Also the Yapta alerts may only be good for a day of less, so if you get a text and you want that price, move immediately or it will change.

Good Luck

Cheers

[lauraff7]

We like to buy as far as possible in advance. For us it's not really about price, because it is too hard to predict when to the best prices will show up. Rather, buying far in advance tends to give us more choices of flights (because none are full), much better seating choices, etc.

[zork]

Bing Travel will show you a graph of how the prices have gone for the route in question and their forecast of what they think the prices will do. Not perfect but pretty good.

[kandb42]

Unfortunately, there does not seem to be a specific pattern to it. We have found though that as a rule, going about 4 months out seems to work for us. We paid ~$1200 US for our round trip, non-stop USA ticks to and from MBJ. Currently, we are 9 days out and the price is about $500 more for the same flight.

[HedoJoe]

We bought tickets for our February trip next year at the end of March this year and paid $422. I track my flight price on Yapta and within a couple of weeks, they were up to $440. They have never dropped to the price I paid for them and they are currently at $501. FWIW, this is on Caribbean Air, nonstop from JFK to MBJ.