When Is Best Time To Book Airfare To Dublin for December 2017 Trip?

There doesn't seem to be any magic time for buying trans-Atlantic tickets, other than not at the last minute. Fall 2016 was a very unusual situation, with multiple cycles of fare dips that offered prices hundreds of dollars below the usual. There were some shockingly low deals not just from the usual gateway cities like NYC but also spotty incredible bargains from many other origins. Demand for at least some European destinations (due to terrorist incidents??) was looking soft, and the airlines cut prices.

There's no way of knowing what will happen as we go forward. If you monitor the fare on the route you're interested in for a little while, you may spot a temporary dip. On the other hand, you may watch that fare drift upward and end up paying more. I agree that a return date so close to Christmas makes things dicey. Since I haven't ever monitored fares from California to Dublin, I have no idea whether what you're currently seeing is a pretty good deal or not. Without any context, it doesn't sound bad at all to me.

I hope someone who travels to Ireland with some regularity will come along and give his or her opinion.

We were told 5 1/2 to 6 months months out. I would think that during the winter you can probably go even closer to your departure date. That being said we booked for a June trip in October from LAX and got our tickets for $1000 each. That is from Fresno to Lax and then to Dublin. So we had to add an expensive link to ours. We watched prior to buying the tickets and have watched since then and have not seen anything even near that price. Our flight from LAX to Dublin was $700 each but they are not non stop. To me $852 for non stop seems pretty good, we looked at non stop and it was Air Lingus and they were $1500 each. At some point you just have to commit to what you think is a good price and what fits into your budget. Buying that far out I would suggest buying flight insurance. We got ours from AAA and are now covered for any contingencies.
Happy travels, Jim

No one knows about airfare as to when it would go up or down but to me, that fare nonstop sounds really good. If it was my choice, I would book it and not look back.

Join the Aer Lingus mailing list. They will tell you when they are having a sale. If you get it right, you should be able to do transatlantic with Aer Lingus for under 500 euro return.

Thanks for the prompt and useful replies. I think the consensus is, book now - and for the reminder to get travel insurance. This is the first time I've used this forum - I'm glad the posters are nice friendly folks and not spammers.

My husband & I go to Ireland for Christmas frequently. Air Lingus does offer sales, if my memory is correct, June & Sept. That being said, a lot of Irish start to go home to Ireland just before Dec 15 (after that airfare goes up). I wouldn't wait much past Sept to book a flight.

" I have read that there are certain times and days that are best for getting the cheapest airfare."

These stories are either 1) urban legends or 2) outdated information. Be careful about "wait until Tuesdays at 3 PM" or "always book between 7 and 9 weeks before your trip" types of advice - in more recent times, people have gotten burned that way.

Thanks again! I did go ahead and book the non-stop for $856. If the price goes down later, oh well -- I'll live. I'm just happy to be going, it's my first time to Ireland. Hopefully, not my last.

sounds like a good deal

Just for the heck of it keep an eye on the prices and I bet you won't find a better price than that! If it ever is it sure won't be much less than that so,you won't regret it.
We have been watching our prices and they have steadily gone up.
It's a real game and I'm sure you can get burned but I think you will see over time you did good!