Flights going up. Should I book?

I'm traveling in May. For about the past month or so, flight prices have been going up. It seems like in the past that I've gotten good deals on flights 2 to 3 months out. Should I go ahead and book now or do you guys think the rates will come back down a little bit if I wait?

 

My crystal ball says go to Kayak and use their buy/wait advice graph thing on the top left after you put in your flight search.

 

Tried that and it says that they can't confidently make a prediction.

 

What city are you flying out of? I'm going out of Akron Ohio for 206 total round trip. If I flew out of Cleveland it's 250 more. Always check other airports as an option. This was with southwest. Also check frontier. Another option is if you play myvegas and buy the allegiant airfare. Also frontier offers 2 free flights for signing up for their cc and spending 500.00 within first 3 months

 

I would wait a month. 60 days out has the best rates if your airport has several carriers.

 

Where are you flying from and which airline (s)?

Without a bit more info, I usually say book sooner than later as prices usually go up and not down. But, probably not more than 60 days out like the last poster said.

 

Agreed on needing the departure city and airline

United was higher than normal for me out of Houston for my March trip and I'm actually connecting in LAX to save me $300. The fares just dropped down yesterday and I was able to lock those in.

For a May trip I'd get serious about booking in March or early April depending on the airline

On United (and AA + Delta) you can look and see how many seats are occupied on the seat maps and also see how many of each fare bucket are available. The fare buckets are how the seats are priced and if one bucket sells out then they move onto the next highest.

 

I'm assuming Southwest is no an option for you. If you book Southwest and the fare goes down you can rebook and use the difference on your next flight (has to be booked within a year of the original booking). I love it.

 

OP is from Raleigh, so SW might be an option.

But that all assumes I guessed that right. Always wonder why people do not give details. Airline pricing varies WIDELY all over the country. And by the way, even with a month they move around, so dates can make a difference as well. Big events, holidays, etc.

 

Seriously, it's almost impossible to tell these days. My Thanksgiving trip was like $500 from NYC. And then I booked Super Bowl weekend for about $225 (after I booked, it of course went down to $195). When you're going, and also when you're looking (given that airfares fluctuate on a daily basis), are hugely important,

 

If it's SWA booking it is a no brainier IMO

 

I'll probably book SWA on the way there, but I'm looking to take the red eye back so I can get a full extra day and SWA doesn't have any flights that late the day I leave. Leaving from Charlotte is also an option for me, but it doesn't look like they have any better deals.

 

I am kind of flight watcher, and have found that SWA kind of sets the rates early on for the other carriers.

At 60-75 days out from departure the SWA competitors stop gauging their pricing on SWA and start focusing on how many butts are booked on their flights. If your trip is not during a peak week, then you will get better pricing at this time.

On United.com for example, I will choose a preferred flight departure and return, and start booking. As I am choosing my seats I will look to see how each flight is filling up, if it is no where near full then I stop the reservation and wait a week. If a leg of my flight is real full then I book.

 

Try Airfarewatchdog.com
Enter your email and destination and it will email you fares and keep doing so until you discontinue it.

 

Thanks for all of the help everybody!