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northhillsbride
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Airline trends?
in Travel
We're taking a trip to Ireland in late May/June for 2 weeks to visit family. Our last trip over was 3.5 yrs ago - prices then were around $700/ticket.
Now we're looking at around $1K ea. (Well, that was the price in January. Last week they went down to around $892 ea. This week they are back up to $1200 ea.)
So, are there any trends you all have seen for getting the best price on flights? What are the best websites for finding flights?
Any other suggestions, please? Thanks so much!
My three sons!
Re: Airline trends?
Where are you leaving from? I think June is pretty busy for Europe, so 1k might be about right. I just paid $880 for a flight to London in March. I would think $892 is a pretty good deal, and 1200 is a bit steep. I am pricing flights to Norway in August and am seeing 1300-1400, and am hoping it will go down at least a tad. It seems that airfare is on an upward trend in line with fuel. I'd think if you can get them for $892 I'd snatch them up... but that's just my opinion.
Also, FWIW, I think prices usually go down mid week. I almost always see higher airfare rates when I am looking Fri-Mon or so.
Thank you for your response - this is good to know. (As I've heard some people say that late Tuesday night was a good time to book?)
We started looking back in January, and Europe flights go up once April 1 hits. I agree that $892 is probably going to be the best we can get! I just looked again online today and saw $907 - then checked it again an hour later it was $937. ?!
We're leaving from Pitt - but may consider flying out of NJ/NY, as I have an Aunt there we could spend a couple of nights with. When I priced Newark a few weeks ago, it was coming up at $692. For $800 savings, it would be worth the couple extra days.
My three sons!
That's a great deal! I left from Newark (To Ireland) this past June, and paid $1k, having purchased right around this time.
L'isle Sur la Sorgue, Provence
Clear your cookies and try looking again. A lot of the big airfare sites store cookies on your computer and track when you come back so they can adjust the price up to make you think it's going up. I've had several times when I've deleted cookies and come back and the price is significantly lower.
And honestly, I keep hearing/seeing people saying that Tuesday-Wednesday is the best time to book for prices, but I have NEVER seen this be the actual case. In all my hours over the years stalking airline prices, I have never seen the prices change more than a couple (like ~$5) dollars mid-week.
I agree, though, that ~$900/ea is pretty good for a flight to Europe in the summer. If that's in your budget and you're comfortable paying that, I'd book. And then don't look at the prices again. That way you can't get mad at yourself *if* they go down again.
I have heard although not personally experienced that if you do the same search multiple times, the websites will quote you more. I'm not sure if just clearing your cache fixes this or if you need to go use a different computer or what.
Also, check prices on Tuesday - there I have seen firsthand a price difference as compared to weekend days (in my case it was $700 vs. $800). I'd jump on the next price you see under $1000.
ETA: Damn, PP beat me on the cookies/cache thing! I will add I've only seen the Tues difference once, so I don't think it's super common, but it does apparently exist.
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My three sons!
We're going to Europe (flying into Munich and out of Budapest) in March/April and our tickets were around $835 a piece roundtrip. I monitored prices off and on for about 2 months before booking and they seemed to go from $800-1000 depending on the day and particular week, but I'm sure they'll keep going up as it gets closer.
I definitely find the middle-of-the-week thing to be true. Prices tend to go up on the weekends. Also, if you're flexible with which days you're able to fly that can help. We're saving a few hundred dollars by flying on Tuesdays because it was by far the cheapest day to fly for our time frame.
My favorite website to compare is Kayak. IMO, I think $892 is pretty good and possibly the lowest you may get for May/June. If it goes back down I'd snatch it up like the PP said. GL!
Hi Northhills...
We often fly back and forth to Newark, it's always much, much cheaper than Pgh. If you're up for the drive, it will definitely save you some money. We've also used Philly in the past if you happen to know anyone there. Sometimes skyscanner.net is useful (although it's really better for same-continent searches).
I swear they know when you're looking and start putting the price up once you search more than once - I would try using internet explorer then firefox or on a different computer before you book anything. Play around with the dates a bit too - it can change the price quite a bit by just shifting the day you travel.
BFP Apr 2012, EDD Dec 19 2012 * twin h/b at 6wk, 9wk scan * Baby A lost at 12wks, Baby B was my rainbow born at 36wks
All you need to do is sign up for a Yapta.com account.
Search for and track all of the itineraries that interest you.
From that point on, you'll see a graph for price vs. date for each itinerary that you track. You can use that to assess pricing trends. You can have Yapta automatically alert you if the fare drops below a certain amount.