The Problem with Buying Airfare Early?

If they change flights, you can get a full refund and re-book your own flights with AA or another airline. You do not have to accept their changes. It is one disadvantage of booking so far in advance, but you do have options.

Yes, that is the problem with booking airfare so very far out. Airlines will alter both their flight times and aircraft types due to operational needs; some more frequently than others. We usually START looking at airfares around 6 months out. After monitoring prices for a while, we tend to book at 3-4 months out for European flights.

If we end up with a flight change that is unacceptable, we try to work it out with the airline; but cancelling (with a full refund) and booking elsewhere is also an option.

I've had a very bad experience with flight changes specifically with American Airlines (and not other airlines), even though I hardly ever fly with them. So, obviously, the earlier you buy, the greater chance of (significant and insignificant) changes you may have to deal with. I would call them and have an alternative ready to go because they cannot change your flight drastically (approximately more than 2 hours or whatever their contract says) without giving you the option to ask for Plan B or cancel it outright. One time, I just got fed up with them and cancelled the flight (for free) and found another less expensive one using United. If that's an option, then consider it.

All airlines can make as many changes as they want, and most are insignificant changes (few minutes here and there). There is no "magic time" to guarantee either a "good" price (it's all relative) or schedule changes.

Dianne, American is notorious for flight changes. Most times when we have booked flights with them, there have been schedule changes, although in most cases not truly disruptive. I have not had that experience with other airlines.

We fly British Airways to Europe every year, and I book 355 days in advance because I use miles. While there have been equipment changes (different plane), and one cancelled flight ( a European short-haul flight) these were easily dealt with.

We usually buy airfare "early." We have flown Delta, KLM and Air France. These airlines work well for non-stop or one stop from our home airport. I guess we've been fortunate not to have major scheduling changes. We've had minor time changes (minutes). I doubt there is a "magic time."

If/when an airline makes a significant schedule change, research alternatives and call the airline if there is a "better" alternative to the change. Some computer algorithm is likely making the change. And if you can't find a better alternative on you own, call and explain your constraint or difficulty with their change.

I had an American Advantage mileage trip to Minneapolis that American booked me on Alaska/Horizon. American sent me a schedule change that would have me returning too early. I called American, explained when I needed to be in Minneapolis and American found an Alaska/Horizon rebooking that took care of my travel needs. Just ask.

Sorry to hear you got “changed,” then “changed” again. The flights projected in the future certainly aren’t definite, until the plane actually leaves the ground!

Eighteen years ago, flew from Denver to Madrid, with a connection at the London Gatwick airport, on British Airways, an American One World partner. Booked the seat in advance, by several months. Never got any notice that anything had changed, and the DIA check-in desk checked me through, all the way to Madrid. But when I landed in London, there was no connecting flight posted on the Departures board. Turns out BA removed that flight from their program some time in the past, without notice. They sent me to Heathrow Airport (on an airport shuttle bus, at their cost), a busier place with more flights, to see if I could get on any plane to Madrid that day. But it was a British “bank holiday weekend,” like U.S. 3-day holiday weekends, and every flight was booked up by locals heading to Spain for a quick vacation. I stood in lines for hours. Finally, BA put me up for the night in an airport hotel, gave me a toiletries bag and a clean t-shirt as apology tokens, and scheduled me for the red-eye flight first thing the next morning. The hotel had a loud wedding party that night, and I had to leave before breakfast was even available in the morning. Once I got to Madrid, it was all much better.

I’ve heard there are supposed magic times for booking both foreign and domestic flights, to get the best deal. The foreign time, something like 45 days prior, was way too late, in my experience. But if the price was right when you booked your flight, then that was the right time. Schedules can change, airlines can go out of business, and terror attacks or other disasters can affect things, so you make your reservations and hope everything works out. Sometimes something doesn’t go according to Plan A, but if you had waited, the prices might have skyrocketed, or seats might not have been available anyway. If you can get a refund and go with another airline, that might salvage things. Or can American pull some more strings to accommodate you, and keep you as a customer? Hope things get resolved to your overall satisfaction, and you have a great trip! Not to sound trite, but some people have sudden changes in their lives, and never get to make that trip.

It is pretty frustrating to have any airline-initiated flight changes, either to the schedule or aircraft , done to your paid-for itinerary and Dianne I feel your pain. I have experienced numerous instances of same, for both domestic and international trips, across both national legacy airlines and international airlines. I loved the one where Lufthansa (flight operated by Alitalia) had my connecting flight departing earlier and from a different airport than the first flight leg of my outbound journey. It was flight matrix software run amok! If the itinerary changes are not to my liking (or, literally impossible to fulfill) I contact the airline and make adjustment as best as suits me. I am in the camp if you booked at whatever time prior to your trip (and may I say, you have very aptly chosen one of the finest cities in the world as your initial overseas destination, tres bien indeed) due to seeing an airfare you were willing to pay then you booked at just the right time. Have a marvelous time in Paris in May.

Our one bad experience with flight changes happened to be with American too. What made it worse was that was the only time I hadn’t booked directly through the airline. Lesson learned. American isn’t my favorite airline, but if you fly to S. America, it seems to be the airline with the most flights.

So sorry you are having these problems. We usually book far in advance and have not experienced these problems with Delta or Virgin. We avoid American.

As others have said, you don't have to accept their changes. This sounds unusual to me. I usually start looking about 12-10 months out and buy anywhere from 10-6 months out usually. I've had flights changed, but not by more than 15 minutes.

It’s not just American, if that helps. I have had trouble with Air France for my May flight (changed our seats and put us in different rows from one another due to change in aircraft) and multiple time changes though nothing that impacts my schedule greatly. And domestically JetBlue altered their flight schedule by 8 hours. I had been counting on an evening flight and they changed it to 1pm so I lost nearly a day of vacation. They allowed me to change it for the following day but it was a PITA to go through. And our seats were awful compared with our original flight.

We’ve never had a problem with American, but we did with Delta. Similar problem to yours, paid for business class, dropped to economy. I did the research and then made a live call. I didn’t end up with a perfect alternative, but it was acceptable. Instead of a flight from Madrid to Seattle through Amsterdam, we went by way of Atlanta. If the first call doesn’t generate the answer you want, keep calling until you get an acceptable solution.

We frequently book 6-8 months out or when we see a really great price. Also, remember to check your flight itinerary every few weeks to make sure there haven’t been changes without notifications - that’s happened to many of us.

I had this problem with a Delta flight to Japan - they changed the departure time for the first of two planes so we no longer had time to catch the second one. I called them and they switched the whole ticket with the first flight now to another city and the second on to Japan from there. The start time was now earlier than ideal for me but so it goes. I wish I'd thought to check on the websites to see what the options were before I called. The advice of previous posters is golden!

To answer your question, there is no "sweet spot." If anyone claims there is, I'd like to see the data that would support their position.

Airline schedules and prices change over time. If you want the least amount of changes, then of course buy near the time your flight will depart. That won't necessarily get you the best price. Now people have their own "systems" that they feel work well for them. However, once again, not that much data to support these positions. Even where there is some data, it doesn't matter if most flights are cheaper at one time or another, it only matters when your flight is the least expensive.

We’ve been booking flights as early as we can nail down a date for over 25 years. Because of our location, it’s always Delta and although there have been occasional minor time changes we’ve never encountered major issues. We like economy comfort and/or aisle seats and those are not as readily available when waiting closer to the date. Your situation sounds very frustrating. Hope you get some reasonable resolution. Paris is worth it.

I've had these problems with United as well, which is what we always had to fly when we lived in small-town Colorado. There are no guarantees, unfortunately.

Yes, my flights change so often that I routinely check my reservation. For me Alaska is the worst. I always book a flight to Hawaii with only 1 change. Whenever they change my flight (and they do this often) they change me to 3 flights and I would have to spend a night in either Portland, Seattle, or California.

I continue to fly with them because of their free companion ticket which is a huge savings for our family 4 when we go to Hawaii.

I had one return trip from Rome (Delta/KLM) that was jacked around at least four times and ended up (on the last change) to be pretty much what I had originally booked. At one point, they did change my schedule to a long layover in the U.S. I called and told them if I needed an overnight layover, I'd prefer if it were in Europe.

Another flight to Barcelona (United) was messed up because the smaller airline went out of business (right when United and Continental were merging). After telling me not to worry, they just dropped the leg completely from my itinerary - leaving me in Madrid. Calling was useless so I went and stood in line at the airport to get it fixed. I ended up being routed through New York then straight to Barcelona rather than straight to Madrid for a connection to Barcelona.

My last five trips have been much better because I've been flying airlines that don't fly multiple legs in lots of different directions. Last May was Aerlingus direct to Dublin and back. Previous four were through Iceland into Paris. Next one is to Paris in September, but I haven't booked yet. I'm still deciding whether direct to Paris and standing in the passport line is better than flying a quick connection through Iceland and arriving with passport already stamped? Right now it depends a lot on price. If they're close, I'll probably fly direct and hope for a short line.

I've noticed an increase in the past year of flight changes, mainly because of plane reshuffling due to the 737 Max8 grounding. Annoying, but each time the airline has been accommodating if the change was going to cause difficulties for me. I primarily fly WestJet and Air Canada, not sure how many Max8's that American has.

Thanks everyone for your sympathy and suggestions. I have been thinking about canceling this flight and getting a new one, but prices have almost doubled since I bought my original flight. I have not called the airline yet because I booked through a travel agent and she is still bargaining with the airline on my behalf. I am keeping my fingers crossed that, like it happened to Brad, there will be a third schedule change that brings things back to essentially what I originally had. I'll post again when things change.

prices have almost doubled since I bought my original flight

That doesn't sound right unless your original flight was really, really inexpensive...plus flight prices change literally multiple times a day, so it pays to check back repeatedly. If you tell us your travel details, we can help guide you to some new options. You really don't need a travel agent just for booking international flights, the process works just like booking a domestic flight. There are many good comparison sights out there like Kayak, Google Flights, etc that scan fates across most airline carriers and allow for a side-by-side comparison of fares.

On the other hand, this should be a very straightforward request to an airline. I've had no problem with rebooking due to a major change on their end. Good luck!

Hi Dianne,

American Airlines will change your flights for you at no cost or reimburse you. Our British Airways leg (AA partner airline) changed last summer from London and the AA agent on the phone was very accommodating. They have specific rules about it. (Some agents are nicer than others but they do have rules about it.)

You could call and ask what the options are so you hear it from them, and not make your change yet. But once you make a change, it will be set.