Please sign in to post.

The eternal struggle...

...of when to purchase the airfare. Planning a trip to Portugal for Sep/Oct 2026 and finding what seems to be a good sale on BA. $1400 total for 2 peope RT to Lisbon (probably $300 or so additional to choose seats in advance). But maybe I should wait until January when I hear BA usually has a new year sale. But what if the sale is not as good as the current sale.

No question for you all here. Just inviting you to participate in my indecision. (You are welcome.)

Thankful to have this "good" problem to wrestle with today!

Posted by
23988 posts

I just think that a lot of brain damage is done trying to save that last quarter. Seven hundred is not bad. How much more do you think you could save? 50$, 100$. if you wait. You are not going to save four or five hundred by waiting. Pull the switch now and move on. There are many other ways to save a hundred or two. This is not one of them.

Posted by
8110 posts

There are only so many of those cheaper tickets available. The closer the trip gets, or the cheaper seats sell out, the more expensive the flights will get. Ensure the ticket is the cabin you want, basic economy, regular economy, premium economy, etc. as each fare class has specific conditions and benefits.

The British Airways sales I’ve seen are buy now and travel through XX. I don’t recall sales with travel by fares that far out. Other sales have hotel included with the airfare, but again, not that far out.

Posted by
7480 posts

Get what you want/need when you can, and move on. No need to beat yourself up because you didn't get a ticket for the price of a fancy cup of coffee. This is like becoming a speculator in foreign currency transactions - too much of the game is unpredictable and random, no matter how smart or diligent or patient you are (a lot of it boils down to plain old luck). You might save some money here or there, but there's no guarantee that prices won't be higher the next time you look.

I booked some tickets a month or two ago for a trip in Fall of 2026. The flights I needed are on Aegean Airlines. Aegean is currently running a "black Friday sale." I checked prices last night, during the sale. The tickets I booked were about 2/3 of the "sale" price I saw last night for the exact same flights.

That said, you CAN get some deals. But you have to be realistic and accept that you win some you lose some, and the House almost always wins in the end.

Posted by
215 posts

David in Seattle, so true so true. The house always wins!

I could have sworn when I looked at tickets a couple months ago they were more like $1100 each. So this seems like a substantial savings. I may go for it! And then never look back.

Posted by
334 posts

I try to decide on my "buy price" then not look again after I purchase. But I have been looking at possible trips this last week or two and seeing amazing deals for next fall. It's been hard to not buy any tickets .