when to book airfare?

Unfortunately, we all guess, too. :) You should sign up for email alerts at several different websites, like Travelzoo, airline websites, etc. Get familiar with the way prices are running right now so that you will recognize a good deal when you see one. There can be good last minute deals, but it doesn't happen as often as it used to.

Jane, I personally think its harder to wait too late when you have very specific dates. I would look like crazy now to get an idea of price range, and likely book within next few weeks. I would rather be sure of getting dates I want, and have found that most "deals" aren't that earth shattering,, maybe saving 100-200 dollars. There are always exceptions,, but it seems having alot of flexibilty helps.

Good luck

I think a lot of us a "spoiled" by some of the supercheap airfares over the past few years. Those may not be around for this summer. Based on what I have seen, unless you are willing to make lots of connections and do some other "intersting" things then $1,000 may be your new "low" for summer travel. (Yes, I know that if you fly Icelandic and then a budget carrier etc.. it MIGHT be cheaper, but do most of us really want to spend that long getting to the destination. If you have all summer, sure. If you have the standard American week to two week vacation?)

As a general rule airfare gets higher the closer you are to travel. I fly weekly and a lot of the time it's from Atlanta to California. With a month notice its usually around $300. With a week's notice it's around $800 and up! (and that often involves using my "second" choice on airports) The only money the airlines make is off of business travelers paying the high rates :)

Normally, I travel shoulder season and wait for the price to go down. This year I'm traveling in July and August and watched prices for awhile before realizing the price wasn't dropping and the seats were selling.

I ended up jumping on a pretty good price for direct flights several weeks ago.

I could still get roughly the same price I paid but the flights would include one or two stops - my 8 hour flight would balloon to more than 13 hours.

I just bought mid-September tickets to Istanbul on Lufthansa. We have to change in Frankfurt. Unlike many airlines, LH still lets you choose seats in advance. I was surprised to see that perhaps half or more of the seats on that leg of the trip were unavailable. If the flights are filling up, the airline has no incentive to drop prices.

I have been searching for a flight to France since the beginning of January. The fares have been going up, not down. I just decided to buy today. I searched Orbitz.com as well as Kayak and others. I went to Lufthansa.com and found the same flight for a bit less and booked. You could get lucky and find a sale, but if you have decided on dates, just buy your ticket, get it done so you can concentrate on your vacation.

Thank you everyone for the thoughtful recommendations---what would I do with out you? I'm taking it all in and am probably going to book tomorrow because I really need to just get on with the room reservations since we're traveling at high season AND the Passion Play is this year and will affect at least a portion of our trip.
Thank you so much!

I, too, have been searching for a flight--from anywhere near NYC to anywhere near London--since the first of the year. And I'm continuing to wait. I'll let you--and everyone else on the message boards--know if that was a stupid idea or not. I originally made April 14th my drop dead day to just book it (with Iceland Express, which seems iffy but is $300 less than any other option--for two people, that's a savings of $600!) but now that is 11 days away, and prices have not dropped one cent, and fare sales are still 'for travel through May/June. maddening, isn't it? Best of luck to you!