Best timing...any rule of thumb?

[Picker57]

We're trying to get our proverbial ducks in line for an extended trip to Big Island next summer. We've got enough 'miles' for one way and are trying to coordinate the part we'll need to purchase with dollars. I was quoted some ungodly high price for a pair of one-way tickets, and the agent told me that 10 months out was generally when the prices had a dip. I thought the 'dip' was a lot closer to travel time. Any thoughts on when is the best time to search fares? Thanks for any tips you can share.

---------------Zach Kaplan

 

[BocaBoy]

We're trying to get our proverbial ducks in line for an extended trip to Big Island next summer. We've got enough 'miles' for one way and are trying to coordinate the part we'll need to purchase with dollars. I was quoted some ungodly high price for a pair of one-way tickets, and the agent told me that 10 months out was generally when the prices had a dip. I thought the 'dip' was a lot closer to travel time. Any thoughts on when is the best time to search fares? Thanks for any tips you can share.

---------------Zach Kaplan

I don't think there is one "best time." You will probably need to keep monitoring it and grab a reservation when you find a price you are satisfied with. However, I would advise both spouses to get new credit cards with a large sign-up bonus from a single airline so you can use miles for the return trip also.

 

[vacationtime1]

I don't think there is one "best time." You will probably need to keep monitoring it and grab a reservation when you find a price you are satisfied with. However, I would advise both spouses to get new credit cards with a large sign-up bonus from a single airline so you can use miles for the return trip also.

+1 on both points.

Also, consider "buying" round trip tickets with miles for one (some?) of you and paying real money for the other round trip tickets. One way tickets are sometimes priced very differently.

 

[Picker57]

Great suggestions guys - I'd never considered either one. Thanks big time !
ZK

 

[ThreeLittleBirds]

I think it is Kayak.com? Maybe another site. Anyway, a travel site tracked flights for a couple of years and found that rates to Hawaii are lowest 11 to 7 weeks before departure. Most expensive 10 - 12 months out.

 

[Beefnot]

Get British Airways cards with 50k signup bonuses. 50k Avios is enough for 2 round trip coach seats on American Airlines.

 

[Picker57]

I think it is Kayak.com? Maybe another site. Anyway, a travel site tracked flights for a couple of years and found that rates to Hawaii are lowest 11 to 7 weeks before departure. Most expensive 10 - 12 months out.

THAT is interesting....and more in keeping with what I'd read quite some time ago. So much for the UAL agent's comment about the lowest prices being 10 months out. Must have been trained in timeshare sales. Thanks again.

ZK

 

[MichaelColey]

It's tough, because the airfare and timeshares are often available (or cheapest) at different times, so you almost have to step out by faith on one and then wait for the other. Or book one, and then settle for a less desirable option on the other.

For us, with 5 of us traveling, the airfare is the toughest and most expensive part, so we typically work that out first, whether using miles (which is usually best about 10-11 months out when it first becomes available) or using cash on a fare sale (which can happen unexpectedly, but is often just 1-3 months out). Then we'll take the best that we can find for the timeshare, and fall back to hotels on points if necessary.

 

[jacknsara]

Alaska Airline's price guarantee

Aloha,
Zach did not mention a specific airline, but Alaska Airlines Domestic Contract of Carriage Last Updated: Jul 01, 2015
http://www.alaskaair.com/~/media/Files/PDF/contract-of-carriage/Domestic Tariff.pdf found on http://www.alaskaair.com/content/legal/contract-of-carriage.aspx
states:
. . .
If, after a ticket has been issued and before any portion thereof has been
used, either a decrease in the fares or charges applicable to the
transportation shown on the ticket becomes effective or a new fare for
which the passenger can now qualify for is added between the points
shown on the ticket, the full amount of the difference in fares will be
refunded in the form of a nonrefundable credit certificate provided that: . . .

Consequently, there are few reasons to delay purchasing a ticket on Alaska Airlines as long as you are willing to monitor the website for price changes / sales.

Jack

 

[ailin]

Consequently, there are few reasons to delay purchasing a ticket on Alaska Airlines as long as you are willing to monitor the website for price changes / sales.

I've done the fare difference credit on Alaska Air before. It's very easy to request online and you can use Yapta to notify you of fare decreases. However, be aware that the credit expires 1 year after issue.

 

[Tahiya]

Alaska air credit

The credit mentioned above is good for one year from the date you originally purchased the ticket. (Found out the hard way, and goes against the advice to buy early, unless you fly a lot.)

 

[DaveNV]

Another way to save a substantial amount of airfare money is to sign up for the Alaska Airlines Visa card.

One of the perks is a companion fare voucher once a year, good for a matching Coach itinerary for any purchased ticket, for $99 plus tax. So if one ticket costs you $700, you can get two tickets for $799, plus tax. It is good anywhere in the USA that Alaska flies. The cardholder needs to be one of the travelers. There are a few other restrictions, but not bad ones.

This is a great perk. It works for multi-city travel, too. I've used it to fly into one Hawaiian city, and home from another. I last used one a month ago, when we flew from Seattle to Honolulu, then we flew home from Kona to Seattle.

We spent a week on Oahu and a week on the Big Island. We did have to buy the inter-island leg from Hawaiian Airlines, but they have their own credit card you can get, and using Hawaiian miles to fly inter-island is cheap. (Like 7500 miles each.)

If you and a spouse are traveling enough, you both should sign up for the card. That gives you two vouchers to use every year. Not a bad deal!

Dave

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

The cardholder needs to be one of the travelers. There are a few other restrictions, but not bad ones.

One tweak to Dave's excellent comments. The card holder does not need to be one of the travelers. But if the cardholder is not one of the travelers, then the card holder needs to be the person purchasing buying the tickets.

We've done this several times - several family members have multiple Alaska Airlines cards, and we often wind up with one family purchasing tickets for someone else so that we can be sure the vouchers don't expire unused.

 

[Sugarcubesea]

We found an exchange for December of 2016, and we are hoping we can find decent airfare for the 5 of us during that time frame...

 

[Picker57]

Lots of great suggestions.....thanks. Will check to see if Alaska Air partners up with anyone flying out of Denver. Not sure I want to have more cards, but these sound really worthwhile. Thanks again.
..........................ZK

 

[DaveNV]

Lots of great suggestions.....thanks. Will check to see if Alaska Air partners up with anyone flying out of Denver. Not sure I want to have more cards, but these sound really worthwhile. Thanks again.
..........................ZK

Alaska used to fly into Denver. Maybe things have changed?

Steve, I never challenged it, but maybe i misread the rule about the cardholder being one of the travelers on that itinerary. Thanks for bringing that to my attention!

Dave

 

[Picker57]

Alaska used to fly into Denver. Maybe things have changed?

Just checked, and Alaska does indeed fly into Denver. Good flights and fares also. Will check further about their card and possibility for miles flights. Thanks again.

................ZK

 

[Beefnot]

Just checked, and Alaska does indeed fly into Denver. Good flights and fares also. Will check further about their card and possibility for miles flights. Thanks again.

................ZK

Just want to clarify my earlier post. 50k Avios will get two coach flights to HAWAII on AA (at least from west coast it will), not just domestic coach.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Alaska used to fly into Denver. Maybe things have changed?

Steve, I never challenged it, but maybe i misread the rule about the cardholder being one of the travelers on that itinerary. Thanks for bringing that to my attention!

Dave

Within our family we've done this at least three times in the last several years, including as recently as four weeks ago.

By the way, one of the nice benefits of using the companion fare is that both fliers get full mileage. In recent years, we have been doing two companion fares each year, one to Hawaii and one to Puerto Vallarta. That gets us a good chunk of the way to MVP status. I do enough other flying on Alaska that I will get MVP every year. With DW whether she makes MVP depends on her flight schedules.

 

[Picker57]

Just want to clarify my earlier post. 50k Avios will get two coach flights to HAWAII on AA (at least from west coast it will), not just domestic coach.

I confess I wasn't familiar with Avios. Website indicates it's a British outfit, and most of the vendors aren't biggies in our purchasing patterns. Am I missing something?
........................ZK

 

[Beefnot]

I confess I wasn't familiar with Avios. Website indicates it's a British outfit, and most of the vendors aren't biggies in our purchasing patterns. Am I missing something?
........................ZK

American Airlines is one of their airline partners, and you can use their Avios points for AA flight redemptions. Whereas it takes 35k to 45k AA miles for the cheapest AA flights to Hawaii, it only takes 25k Avios (from the West Coast at least...British Airways has a distance based redemption system) on AA flights. So a 50k bonus British Airways credit card could buy two round trip Hawaii flights. One would need the equivalent of 70k - 80k AA miles to accomplish the same thing.