Fall Airfare deals: advice on how long to wait?

[wltdzny]

We've got a family trip (9 tickets) coming up in late September. Traveling from Denver to Orange County or LA.

We're traveling on what we've researched to be one of the cheapest days of the year, and traveling on low days-- Saturday to Thursday. We're doing all we can to get these costs down, but for the past 2 months, the airfare has been at or even slightly above the cost to travel in the height of summer.

Stands to reason that this is going to come down, but with so many tickets to buy, I'm wondering if any one has thoughts on risk/reward of waiting this out.

Related question: anyone heard of a way to negotiate a volume discount?

I know there are a lot of locals here, but any response is appreciated. Thanks for reading!

[jsmith11618]

We've got a family trip (9 tickets) coming up in late September. Traveling from Denver to Orange County or LA.

We're traveling on what we've researched to be one of the cheapest days of the year, and traveling on low days-- Saturday to Thursday. We're doing all we can to get these costs down, but for the past 2 months, the airfare has been at or even slightly above the cost to travel in the height of summer.

Stands to reason that this is going to come down, but with so many tickets to buy, I'm wondering if any one has thoughts on risk/reward of waiting this out.

Related question: anyone heard of a way to negotiate a volume discount?

I know there are a lot of locals here, but any response is appreciated. Thanks for reading!

Airfares in general are not as low as they used to be, and airlines have gotten better at right sizing their networks and thus keeping fares at reasonable levels to make money. In the US airfares were so low for so many years people now expect those same fares but at the same time airlines were losing billions each year because airfares were too low.

Now you might happen upon a sale, but you also risk the fares going up at the same time. If the price now is acceptable, buy it, September isn't the low season it used to be.

I know at the airlines I worked for 9 passengers wasn't anywhere near enough to get any sort of discount.

[GraceLovesGoofy]

I have nothing to base this on, but I usually start looking about 2 months before my trip and always check early wednesdays. Not long ago I found $98 RT from Seattle to John Wayne. We had to take a late night flight, but at this price, I didn't care.

Of course if I found fares now that I know would be hard to beat, I'd jump on them.

[weareborgswife]

We just booked a flight for late September- and got it for $100 one way per person- I watched it for a few days and the "prime" days were at the price and then jumped up to $130-$150 one way per person... So I bought our tickets (5) leaving on a Sunday for the $100 price - we ended up taking the train home (5 tickets for $371- 3 kids are half price)... I wouldn't wait much longer

[wltdzny]

We got tickets week before last (wish I would have updated this sooner to be of assistance).

We got a good deal. From Denver to Orange County, Saturday to Thursday for $198. Until then, prices were around $240. The next day, they dropped another $10 each and it was within the 24 hour cancellation period so we rebooked. Saturday to Saturday fares went to $178. These flights showed up first on Tuesday morning. The lower prices showed up Wednesday. This was temporary. Flights were back up to 240ish by Thursday and have hovered there since.

Lesson (in this case anyway) was that the Fall Sales didn't show up until about the second week of June. We had been monitoring since April. And, the window was small. And lucky. Who knows if the pattern will repeat.

And, Frontier and Southwest both offered similar rates to those we booked.

Thanks to those who responded!

---------- Post added 06-27-2012 at 04:02 PM ----------

And, we are going last week of September. So, bought the tickets just over 3 months out.

[wltdzny]

Follow up for those going this fall...or for posterity next year. More sale fares have been appearing starting in Early August and continuing to today. I see fares around 200 often, as low as 180. Again, this is Denver to Orange County and LAX.

[jsmith11618]

Follow up for those going this fall...or for posterity next year. More sale fares have been appearing starting in Early August and continuing to today. I see fares around 200 often, as low as 180. Again, this is Denver to Orange County and LAX.

I wish the airlines would have sales where I need to go, seems out of San Diego we always pay a premium, and Southwest is useless for my travels, they are the largest airline here.