Buying airline tickets

The Russians are making cyberwar against us! Aeroflot has loaded a bunch of below market flights from LAX. So all the normal tools show great prices, until you look at the details and find out involves a change in Moscow and flying on a Tupolov.

Yes I did see those and was sucked in at first then I did see the details with a 33 hour flight, 8 hour layover in Moscow and not so wonderful airline. Thanks but I was hoping to know if I should buy my tickets now or wait till the new year?

Last year my step-daughter took one of those cheap flights from Los Angeles to Rome and suffered through an 11 hour connection time in Moscow Airport. She saved money but lost a whole day of sightseeing in Rome and she arrived a basket case.

I would wait until after the first of the year. I have tried all the schemes and dates to get the best prices on the "right" day and haven't had just haven't really gained much from it. I usually buy about 3 months out. I check the various carriers and schedules on sites like orbitz but then go to the airline site to buy the tickets for the exact same price. I once purchased through orbits and had a small problem. orbitz told me it was the airline's problem and the airline told me it was orbitz. never worth the trouble after that. I may do well this way because I am a little picky and never get the cheapest flight anyway. I want nothing less than a 2 hour layover and there are carriers and airports I avoid and I never mix carriers unless they codeshare. A 15 hour connection isn't a bad thing if it is in the right town. I have done 24 hour connections in London and had a great time. But with my nit picking on what I will and wont do I always end up paying 25% to 50% more than the "lowest" price.

Thanks everyone, I thought about waiting till the first of the year but I am sooooo Type A that I feel like I need to get my tickets now. I will try to wait till January then I just hope they still have availability for the times I want or maybe they will have more availability. Appreciate everyone's help.

Anne: Flights for June and July, 2014 are going to be very expensive, as they were this past Summer. Expect flights to be in the $1,500 range. I try to go to Europe a little earlier in the year to avoid the heat and avoid the high flight prices. You should keep your eyes open, and even sign into one of the reservation systems that can notify you if there is a dip in airfares. You are in luck that flying from Prague to Paris on EasyJet.com is cheaper than taking a long, long train ride. I suggest you look to purchase your flight around March.
I read in the Atlanta newspaper last week that there was a one day sale to Europe. Our 3/25/2014 flight into Budapest and home from Prague was $728, which is about $250 cheaper than expected. Inexpensive flights may be few and far between for Summer, 2014.

Thank you, its unfortunate that I have to been in Brno on July 5th for a wedding so this limits my time of travel to June and July. Flights now are about $1600-1700.00 and I was hoping by the new year they would drop a little to at least $1500.00. I just do not want to get stuck trying to get 3 tickets too late in the game and then having really pay a lot more. I'm not sure I could hold out till March but do you have any suggestions on which booking sites are better to use or directly to the airline? Thanks again.

Anne, have you checked your profile for private messages?

I start looking everyday as far in advance as possible and when you see a good ticket price buy it. I think airlines limit their searches to 10 months ahead. . The last time I went to Europe I lost a good deal by waiting 1 day to purchase the ticket. I use the site http://matrix.itasoftware.com/ (I think Google is using this software) to show me the best deals in a month and then purchase the tickets from the airline website. Decide how much are you willing to spend so you are ready when you see a good fare. Have fun.