When to buy a plane ticket?

Hi, Rose

You didn't say where you are flying into, but that does seem a bit excessive. I'm getting quotes of around $860 round trip Tulsa/Berlin in September on Continental. AA shows some low fares but by the time you add all the taxes and fees the total will be considerably higher.

You will get lots of different opinions on this - a lot depends on your comfort level and tolerance for risk.

In my opinion, it is way to early to buy this ticket especially since the economy is in trouble and fares are falling. I would think that prices will come done especially if traffic falls over the summer. On the other hand, airlines are starting to reduce the # of seats over the Atlantic.

My opinion is to wait.

Since fares change every day, the only way you can be sure you get the best fare is to check every day. There are some consolidators who offer special discounted fares from time to time. Do a google search for discount air fares.

I monitor the fares daily--even several times a day--as soon as I know my travel dates. Then when I find an airfare I can live with, with reasonable connections/flight times, I buy.

If anyone could answer your question, they would not. Instead they would sell the service and retire wealthy. The best answer is buy the ticket when you are comfortable with the price. A little like buying stock, hard to predict the bottom. And get a little perspective -- how much are you really trying to save -- 100, 200 dollars?? You are not going to see $600 ticket in September -- you might get down to a $1000 and it could easily go $1300 or more. Personally, I would buy the ticket with the schedule that best fit my needs. Someone who tells you to wait has no dog in the fight. No risk to them but a lot of risk for you. Good luck.

Thanks all. I generally don't plan so far ahead so this has never been an issue. Also, I have no idea what a decent price is for the end of sept as I usually travel end of Oct/early Nov. I'll start monitoring.

Hi, Rose. As a general rule airlines put the majority of their inventory into the systems around the 3 month mark, so your thinking is right on. Also, right now many are still charging fuel surcharges, which will hopefully drop some by that point! Remember, actual statistics show that 87% of the time (within 3 months), the price you see is the best price you're going to see, so if you like something, grab it! - or be a 13% daredevil. ;) So, you'll most likely see it drop between now and the 3 mo mark, after that you will see it rise (87% chance). Hope that helps!

I've had the best luck buying tickets closer to the departure date. I went to Berlin past December and paid $650 for the RT ticket. It's a bit of a risk though, i booked two weeks before the departure. But generally i purchase tickets to EU 1.5 - 2 months out.

Please keep in mind the original question. Has to be somewhere at the end of Sept. Not the same as Berlin in December. Our recent tickets from Denver to Madrid via Atlanta on the day after Christmas was $1100. And that was the lowest price we saw during that time period.

Hello Rose,
I am playing the waiting game, I am going to travel to Switzerland in June, fare is high now if you book for June, but it is starting to come down. Here is a website call Fare Compare http://www.farecompare.com/
You can sign up to have them to send you an email when ever the fare changes.

Hello Rose. The prices for airline tickets are not likely to be low for travel in September. The prices for flying in September are about the same as for flying in August. The price could become slightly lower than $ 1150. (for flying to an airport in a country in western Europe), but I recommend do not wait until later than June to buy your airline tickets, because in July the airline tickets (for seats in the "Coach section" in an airplane) could be sold out for the flights that you want. Some times the lowest prices for airline tickets for flying to Europe are for flight itineraries that I think are not acceptable : such as flying in four airplanes, and the total time for travelling to your destination airport in Europe is 36 hours. That might be the only kind of flight itineraries that will be available in July (or June).

I find that airfares usually start high, then start dropping, then go back up again. The pattern is slightly different for spring flights than fall flights. In spring the window of time when prices descend seems to be shorter and the bottom is higher. In fall, I often push to the last minute-- but never less than 14 days out (for US domestic travel.)

Do others find this generalization true also?

It's all subject to the law of supply and demand for your particular flight, so there are no guarantees. It's like buying stock, there is risk of paying too much too early or too much too late and you can't know when you'll get the optimum price. The only way to know what's happening with your prefered flight/destination is to watch daily/regularly until you get a feel for the prices.
Keep in mind that I buy many domestic tickets and few international, but I noticed the same pattern by watching prices over time.

Let us know what you find.

We just bought tickets today from the west coast to Dublin on Continental for $754. I got it on Travelocity and it is one stop/change. I was happy with that price . . . anything less than $800. The airline's rock bottom price usually is 5 cents per mile and 10 cents per mile is normal. So anything in between is doing okay in my book.

Rose...I'm heading from ATL to Paris (but out of Nice) in September, and I'm looking at paying around the same price. That is still considered summer in Europe for airlines, so it's going to be more pricey....

Yes, you can play the wait & see game...The prices can come down just before, but since you're signing up for a RS tour (as am I!), I'm not willing to play that game & risk losing out!! :)

Buying tickets for us has nothing to do with the economy. We have never bought out tickets that far in advance. Sometimes we wait until it's a couple weeks before the trip to buy our tickets and always came out saving some big bucks.

Then again, we tend to be a bit adventurous and take chances, so if you are not like us, you might want to buy sooner.

Best of luck!

I am using the farewatcher on kayak.com, seems to be the best site for me. Right now KC rt to Dublin is $672 for Sept 3.It also allows you to do open jaw or multiple cities, has consistently been the lowest price and it tells you where to book it.