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Buying airline tickets 7 months in advance?!

W

walangij

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 10, 2007
396
0
MI
Is it wise to purchase airline tickets this far in advance? I'm going to visit my girlfriend for Valentine's Day and her birthday in February. She will be in London this upcoming year. The tickets I'm finding range from $500-$700 (ORD-LHR).

I'm looking for input from the MR community, this will be the 1st time I'll be traveling to Europe since I usually travel to Asia. Is this the general price range, that being that I can purchase my tickets maybe in November and still get these prices? My guess is that the answer will be no. Experiences? Thoughts? :confused:
 
walangij said:
Is it wise to purchase airline tickets this far in advance? I'm going to visit my girlfriend for Valentine's Day and her birthday in February. She will be in London this upcoming year. The tickets I'm finding range from $500-$700 (ORD-LHR).

I'm looking for input from the MR community, this will be the 1st time I'll be traveling to Europe since I usually travel to Asia. Is this the general price range, that being that I can purchase my tickets maybe in November and still get these prices? My guess is that the answer will be no. Experiences? Thoughts? :confused:
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That is pretty cheap for round-trip. I would do it now in advance and save the money and risk of buying later. It could be another couple hundred later.
 
Assuming the airline in question is still in operation then, the earlier, the better. Just make sure you have options should things change for you or the airline. Most of my tickets I'm lucky to beat the 7-day window.
 
Make sure it is refundable. Things may not be as they were 7 months from now.
 
Nothing wrong with booking your flight well in advance.

My wife and I are going to the USA in November and we booked the flights in February.

For our flights. London to Boston and then return from New York to London cost £709 for two. I've just checked for the exact same flights and the cost is now £810. So I've saved over £100 by booking so far in advance.
 
I normally book tickets 4-6 months in advance, they're a lot cheaper back then and if you book every part of the holiday like I do then you're good.
Though I just fly to my grandparents places abroad so there are no hotels or car hire to book.
 
scotthayes said:
Nothing wrong with booking your flight well in advance.

My wife and I are going to the USA in November and we booked the flights in February.

For our flights. London to Boston and then return from New York to London cost £709 for two. I've just checked for the exact same flights and the cost is now £810. So I've saved over £100 by booking so far in advance.
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on the other hand......I went from Los Angeles to London at the beginning of May and paid £321 for my round-trip ticket which I bought about 2 weeks before the flight. Last november I went from Los Angeles to Dublin and returned from London to LA on a round-trip ticket that cost £314. That one was bought about 3 weeks before the trip.

In my experience, 2 months in advance is usually plenty early to start looking. That's about the time that the airlines start to introduce sales in order to spur ticket sales. Some times those sales are very brief so it means keeping a close eye on what's being offered. And obviously the best fares start to disappear as the date of the flight gets closer and closer, but that's usually a matter of several weeks, not months.

But this year the rising price of jet fuel is making a mess of the value of past experience; so once you see a fare you're willing to pay, it might be worth buying.
 
Macky-Mac said:
on the other hand......I went from Los Angeles to London at the beginning of May and paid £321 for my round-trip ticket which I bought about 2 weeks before the flight. Last november I went from Los Angeles to Dublin and returned from London to LA on a round-trip ticket that cost £314. That one was bought about 3 weeks before the trip.

In my experience, 2 months in advance is usually plenty early to start looking. That's about the time that the airlines start to introduce sales in order to spur ticket sales. Some times those sales are very brief so it means keeping a close eye on what's being offered. And obviously the best fares start to disappear as the date of the flight gets closer and closer, but that's usually a matter of several weeks, not months.

But this year the rising price of jet fuel is making a mess of the value of past experience; so once you see a fare you're willing to pay, it might be worth buying.
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It also really depends on the time of year. May and November aren't exactly peak times (neither is Feb, which the OP is asking about).

If you're booking for the summer travel season -- June, July, August -- then 2 months is probably not far enough in advance.
 
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