Planning to visit Disney World in summer 2012 how long before departure should I buy airline ticket to get cheapest airfare?
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Planning to visit Disney World in summer 2012 how long before departure should I buy airline ticket to get cheapest airfare?
You should book your airline ticket about three or four months before departure or wait few day before departure.
:welcome: to Intercot!!! Airfare these days is crazy. I agree that 3-4 months is usually ideal, but really check constantly and when you see a good deal, grab it. Deals can pop up any time.
As soon as you can afford it. Decide on a price that's a value and buy it. Airfare is a gamble, it may go down, more often than not, it goes up.
I buy mine as soon as it's available. I usually book a vacation a year or more in advance, days are set, so other than flight time, my flights are set.
It is truly so random... almost like these days rolling the dice... We do like SW as they will lower your fare if it goes down and you call...at least mitigates some of it..
Welcome to Intercot! :mickey:
Many airlines have already released their schedules through next summer so it is not too early to begin tracking what they are charging. Airfares are all over the place - even for the same flight on the same day! Look now so you get a sense of what they are. They begin to look regularly. If you see a really good deal, jump on it! Typically, I like to know that I've locked my airfare in 2-3 months before I begin my trip. I wouldn't wait until a few days before leaving - that would make it too nervous and airfare often increases quite a lot if you wait until the last minute to buy!
I have had my tickets for January 20-31 about 4 weeks ago. Prices are up about $65 round trip. As soon as I know when I want to go, I start watching the prices. Once it gets to a price I'm comfortable with, I book, and try not to look at it again unless I'm on Southwest.
We drive now, but in the old days, we would book air as soon as it was available. Usually because we travelled with a gruop.
Watch for the day of the week that you purchase, as well. Most airlines decrease the price of their tickets from Monday night into Tuesday afternoon/evening. Never buy them on a weekend. I bought my December airfare in September with AirTran, and the weekend price was about $160 round trip, but when prices went on sale Monday evening I got them for $120 round trip. Do an internet search for the airline you plan on using to find out the best days of the week to purchase.
I agree with the others. I purchased our tickets for this trip (leaving on Thanksgiving) at the beginning of September. Check daily if possible...when we went to Alaska last year I had been checking daily (thank goodness!) one day the airfare for 2 roundtrip was around $2300 then the next day I checked, we got roundtrip for both of us for $1200, next day back up to $2300! Airfare is crazy!
We purchased our about four months in advance. the downer was it was a 9 am flight that got resheduled to a 10:20 am flight then a 11:50 flight. And to top it off, the flight was delayed another three hours due to mechanical problems and they had to bring in another plane. /:-( Cost us our entire first day. I would hesitate buying TOO soon to avoid schedule changes. Airtran by the way.