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I have a quick question regarding airfare from New York this summer. My group of 5 will be on St. John from July 15-23. I have noticed a pattern of airafres being lowest about 2 months prior to travel--for example, USAirways tickets for May 6-14 come in at $346 on Kayak right now, and in December, tickets for February were even lower. Is it safe to wait until prices drop or could I wind up losing out? Are prices not going to drop because it's the summer or something? I just want to make sure we don't get stuck, but if waiting a month or so to buy means saving $500 total, it's worth it. Any tips please? Thanks in advance.
CK
It sounds as if you have your reservations for villa or other established so getting there is now the most important next step. Although you might get a slightly lower fare if they don't sell enough prior to July, I doubt the difference will be substantial and wouldn't you just want to get that settled now anyway?
Some people like the challenge of getting the absolute best fare but I tend to lean for reasonable fare and less stress going into the vacation. Imagine waiting for that next $10-20 drop only to discover they don't have tickets for the dates or times you would prefer.
Orbitz.com has tickets for $343 in May and that's after taxes. For July, it's $456. The problem is that traveling from Feb through mid-May is really cheap compared to the summer. Every year I search, I find that you can save $100 plus to travel early. So I wouldn't use any prices during those months as a gauge for when prices drop.
We often travel in August from San Diego and the cheapest flights are usually $500-$600. Once we even bought two separate tickets, one for each leg. We did San Diego to Philadelphia, then brand new tickets on the same airline from Philadelphia to STT. We saved around $50/ticket by doing this....and the airport check-in took care of connecting our baggage. Pretty easy. So play around with it and you might find something good.
I got my tickets from WAS to STT for $246 before taxes and $313 after taxes leaving july 19th...so i guessd it just all depends on when you book it.
Hi, I just purchased my tickets out of JFK for $380 rt. I bit the bullet last week for my trip in mid May. I was waiting and waiting for better fares out of PVD but got tired of the game. I have about 54 days before I leave and the PVD tickets are still in the high 500 range and JFK is now in the 404 area. I would say when you are in your target price range GO FOR IT!! Don't miss the boat waiting for the best price just get them in the happy range and you'll be there before you know it.
Last year we went to St. Thomas around that same time and booked it less than a week before. The few weeks before that there were amazing deals. It's cheaper to fly out of NY than where I'm coming from, so I'd wait until at least June to make them.
Since many airline (and booking engine) websites allow you to see the available seats, you may want to check to see if lots or few seats are remaining as you get closer to your dates if you decide to wait. I have tickets for early June, and one of those flights is already nearly full. If you have great flexibility in your air times, maybe this won't matter much to you. Just a thought.
