Everyone on this board has a wealth of info. they are always willing to share. I was wondering if there is a typical time frame for when 'summer airfares' show up? I am traveling from Boston to Milan late Jun - mid July. Should I buy my tickets now or do they usually go down at some point?
Posted by
Nottingham, UK
658 posts
The short answer - nobody knows for certain.
Airline fares are very competative between rival airlines and each airline pricing departure watches the other with almost paranoid intensity. Each one is waiting for the other to make the first move and disclose how much if anything the discounts are going to be.
Airlines have to calculate the potential gains in a number of currencies and right now the financial turbulence of the USD and the GBP measured against the growing strength of the EUR make it hard to say how the market is going to respond.
The airline I work for hasn't felt the need to post any discounted summer airfares for the past two years due to a strong GBP weak USD situation. Now the tables are turning and GBP is dropping. We had a sale at the beginning of January and it proved very profitable, so we may well have a summer sale. But don't take that as gospel truth. When it happens it happens very fast indeed so that we wrongfoot the oposition.
Posted by
Nederland, CO
1529 posts
Gretchen,
We are leaving on our 4 week trip on May 17th (even though I have to take my son out of school 2 weeks early) because American's airfare went up by 400.00 starting on May 18th.
Posted by
charlottesville, va
46 posts
Gretchen,
I'm wondering the same thing. I need to fly to Frankfurt in June and I'm not seeing any drop in airline prices yet.
Posted by
Eastern Iowa, USA
8050 posts
In the past, there are at least a couple of airfare price adjustments that happen. One of the posters mentioned one, by buting for a May 17 departure vs a May 18 departure, she saved big bucks. This is normal seasonal pricing structure, only the actual price varies year to year. Figure there will be a jump from April to May, another in Mid-May, another at the beginning of June, and maybe even another in Mid-June. This is based on Departure date, so buying early does not avoid these jumps, only moving your departure date does. The other price change is actual decreases to ticket prices. My observation is that unless they announce a sale, the airlines will hold their standard prices until about 12 or 14 weeks before departure. Then they may drop prices based on the need to sell tickets or hold prices. Consolidators (sellers that deal in blocks of tickets) at that time may also be offering discounts based on what the airlines do or if they need to move seats.