When to book flights for Oktoberfest 2015?

I'd say if you find a flight that is decent in regard to time, layover, etc. at a price you are willing to pay, buy it. I don't think I've ever seen flights go down when I have tracked them. I look about 9 months out to see what flights are costing and track them for a few weeks. Last year I watched them go from $1400 up to $1800 a couple months before we left. I bought at $1500 when I found a nonstop. But, you just never know! With gas prices better, maybe they will come down? But, I wouldn't bet on it!

Hard to say if prices will drop. Looks like the United nonstop is running around $1300. You could take Icelandair with a stop in Reykjavik and save $400 a ticket. It only adds 2 hours to the travel time, reduces the time of the longest leg by 2 hours and gives you a chance to stretch the legs in lovely Iceland. $1600 will buy a lot of maases at the 'Wiesen.
The advantage of booking now, is you can proceed the next step of booking rooms in Munich and planning other activities in Bavaria.

Hi Tommy,

We flew roundtrip Denver to Munich in September 2013. I started looking at flights in January 2013 and I think we bought them in April. We paid about $1200 each (Lufthansa to Munich, United back to Denver) and I don't recall that the price fluctuated much in the months leading up to purchasing tickets. I think it's a good thing that you've already booked your hotel for Munich, as we noticed those filling up very fast for Oktoberfest time. I should note that we were in Austria and Germany from early to mid-September, missing Oktoberfest by just a few days. So it's feasible that the time we went was a bit less "in demand" and thus the airfare was slightly cheaper than flying to Munich during Oktoberfest.

Enjoy the planning and feel free to shoot me a private message if you have any specific questions.
- Jen

I'm in a similar boat as you - flying into Amsterdam and out of London in October/November 2015. I've been watching plane ticket prices weekly since November of last year and they've barely moved from around $1,400. Do I buy now or wait? I'm comfortable waiting a few more months, but no one knows what will happen with prices. As others said, settle on a good price and good flight times, buy when those come together, and don't look back! You don't want to know if prices drop after you buy!

I've been looking on kayak and we are going to be flying Newark to Munich and staying in Munich for 3 nights then taking a one way flight from Munich to Poland and staying in Poland for 4 nights then flying from Poland back to Newark. I think we are going to buy the one way ticket from Poland to Munich this weekend and buy the multi city flight from Newark to Munich and Poland to Newark at another time. My one friend goes to Poland often and says he waits until 2-3 months before the flight to buy a ticket because the prices drop a couple hundred dollars. I'm just worried that because Oktoberfest is such a big event the flight tickets might sell out or rise in price. The multi ciry flights we were looking at were around $1,200. So I'm wondering if I should buy asap, or wait until the summer and hope the prices drop.

I check kayak every few days to see if the fares seem to be going up or down. What I've found in the past is that if I can find a fare to Berlin (which I visit every year) below $1000, I snag it.

Norwegian Air offers very low fares, but be aware—1) they fly the Boeing 787 Dreamliner which is found a whole different flight experience, really comfortable during the flight and NO jet lag and 2) their service both on the ground and in-air is the worst I've experienced in decades of European travel.

Like someone above suggested, it's like playing the stock market. There's no predicting what prices will do. As I say, I check the fares frequently. One year I got an $800 fare on Northwest to Berlin. I bought it immediately, and it was sold out the next day.

Have a great time!
Jude

Thanks for the info

Hi Tom- are you going anyplace besides Munich? If so, check flights to other cities that are close to places you are interested in, not just Munich. For example, you may get a better price flying to Frankfurt or Berlin or even Zurich. The public transportation system is very good and reasonably priced in Germany so you can get to and from Munich without much hassle.. And look for "open jaw" flights.

Have a great trip!!!

When is everyone planning to reach Munich for Oktoberfest? I'm planning to fly out from NY and want to know whether its worth reaching the first day aka Sept 19th when the fest starts? And would love to hear about where to stay?

Btw, am doing 2 weeks with a friend including Amsterdam, Barcelona, Munich and Berlin ...

The weather is usually better the first week- Of course a lot of folks know this which makes it more difficult to get a decently priced room the first week...

So... I listened to my friend and waited 3 months before September to buy the flight tickets. And we booked the flight for $950 each. So we saved $250 each from when we first started looking in January. I hope this helps anyone looking into going to Germany/Oktoberfest in September!