Flight reservation question

I booked my air tickets Sept. 15 for a trip we're taking to England next June 20th. As soon as I book a tour I go onto various travel web sites and plug in my dates - then the web sites watch for good fares and emails me to let me know. I got a email from one of the sites late at night and went directly to my computer and booked. I believe I got a good fare of $906 pp from Los Angeles to Heathrow. I felt I saved some $$ so I was able to upgrade to a more roomy seat!

I never book with these web sites just use them or info - then once I see a fare that I like I go directly to the airline and book - I find on the airlines web site you can usually find better/more travel times and you're not paying booking fees for the most part.
Some of the sites I use are Hipmunk, SeatGuru (which is connected to TripAdvisor), BookingBuddy, Kayak, SmartTravel..and there are more!
Good Luck!

Plenty of time for the price to go up and down. The other thing to consider booking way in advance is that airlines will change their schedules and you need to keep an eye on what they do.

Thank you! I am signing up for some price alerts now.

I book my flight first, and do so as early as possible. Goid hotels fill up fast, sometimes up to a year in advance. I want to know my exact dates so I can reserve the hotels I want. For my Italy trip last month, I purchased our tickets almost a year in advance.

I booked mine for about the same dates in early September. Price was amazingly low. No reason not to jump on it, assuming you are sure of your dates and you can afford it now. Hard to tell if the prices will increase or decrease, but my instinct is that right now, early fares are very low and may well increase. Do keep an eye on any changes - airlines will likely change schedules a bit in that time, but you will be able to change it again if their changes don't suit you.

You have plenty of time to purchase airfare for the end of May. I typically would be buying in March as that's pretty expensive time to fly.
But I see you're in Pennsylvania. If you can fly out of JFK, you can fly on Norwegian Air Shuttle really inexpensively to and from London Gatwick Airport. They're flying brand new Boeing 787's out of the U.S.

It is not too early for you to book a flight. I book early. I've already made my reservations for next June. Only because I got a really good fare. And because I am certain (as one can be) that I will be able to fly on the dates I bought fare for.

That being said, I always make these arrangements early. When I travel, I like it that my entire trip (minus what I spend on the trip) is already paid for- before I even leave. I'm only able to afford one big trip a year. I commit early and don't look back.

If you are happy with the flight prices, book now as they are only likely to go up.

May is a popular month for travel here, as we have two bank holiday weekends and hotels over this time will get booked up, so you don't want to be booking in March. If you want any rail travel, book 12 weeks out for the best prices.

Book flights before your accommodation.

I wife recently booked an Alitalia flight from Heathrow to Serbia, which sadly she had to cancel. The flight was £147, and she got £85 back when it was cancelled. Only a part of the flight cost is for the airline, and the rest is tax... if you don't fly, you can have the tax refunded. I don't know if this is the same outside the UK. Book flight first always.

I always advise trip insurance. I use travel guard and have had a good experience getting reimbursed once. Haven't needed it other trips. Cancellation for things like layoff, illness, or death in family will be covered. Check the details for your circumstances, of course. You can also buy cancel for any reason - then you can get 50% back if you cancel for an uncovered reason. I only got that once where there was a very specific concern that wouldn't be covered. Didn't need it, luckily.

You may wish to consider buying refundable tickets. They are usually a bit more expensive, but it's better than a total loss if you end up not going on your trip. I have done this before, and was glad I had refundable tickets.

I have a trip planned for next May. I bought my tickets the last week of September. I always go ahead and book tickets early, so far this has worked for me. I go ahead and pay for premium economy and seat selection, it is worth it to get the area and seats I want. Only once have I had to make a change in reservation. I contacted the airline and made the date changes. It cost something like 250.00. It was worth the expenditure not to lose the entire cost of the flight. I find the price I am willing to pay and once the flight is booked, I never look back.

People have given you opinions and their practice but no data. The only study I have seen on this subject! by Expedia, says that for international flights to/from Europe the lowest fare is around 171 days in advance. But there is very little difference between that and 300 days in advance.

https://viewfinder.expedia.com/img/STOR-23513_White_paper.pdf

So go ahead and book now for next May, when you see a flight and price you like. Whatever you do, don't wait until 2-3 months ahead, as prices rise sharply.

Sasha, that's a very interesting study you linked us to. Thanks!

Sandra, I'd suggest you go ahead and reserve your May flights in the next month or so, as long as you're sure you will be making the trip and reasonably confident about the dates you want to fly. Using a search tool like kayak.com allows you to compare fares on different travel dates -- check the "my dates are flexible" box if your dates are actually flexible.

I doubt if fares will drop significantly in the foreseeable future. Although fuel prices are much lower than the airlines would have expected, some of them are locked into contracts to buy fuel at prices determined some time ago, and others are rejoicing in newfound profitability. Demand for air travel, at least from North America, is higher than ever and likely to increase as our economy improves. I think the chance of fares dropping are much less than the chance of them rising.

Also, remember that your cheaper non-refundable fare can still be used if your plans change. Even if you end up canceling the whole trip, you can still use the fare for up to a year later (with change fees, to be sure, a few hundred dollars). Hope this helps.

SandraL. I don't like to make a reservation more than 6 months in advance, but not for a cost reason. It seems like every trip I have made, the airline has had at least one change in flight schedule, (especially if you have connecting flights) and its usually not convenient. Sometimes more than one change. So I like to minimize the time I am possibly impacted.

Now I've got someone on yet another forum saying I should wait until December or January because airlines might run sales then. Oy vey! It seems the more people I ask, the more differing opinions I get.

Frankly, I'm glad to see air fare under $1000 from Newark to London/Heathrow.

I just returned from a trip to Italy that started October 1st. I bought my plane tickets July 1st this year. Got a good price, plenty of availability, no schedule changes. I never buy further in advance than that.