Book flights now for May?

[selena1075]

The flight I was looking at for our Sat departure has already gone up by $20. Would you expect that would go back down or will it likely stay at the higher price?

I'm trying to decide if we should wait out the flight prices or buy now. There's a Fri evening departure at the lower price so with 5 of us, it would be $100 cheaper to leave Fri evening. the condo we're renting will be less than $100 for the additional night so that's a no brainer. Just not sure if I should book now or wait for lower prices. Or even to get the Southwest credit card and get the points for the free flight (anyone done that?).

I've looked a few places and it looks like SW has the best price for an itinerary that will work for us flying out of Philly.

Advice?

[George]

What do you usually pay? Are fares low now? My gut reaction is to wait since you're still seven months out, and post-New Year's sales aren't in effect yet. Use a fare tracker site like Yapta.com and/or farecast.com.

[off2neverland]

I dunno- I'd probably book what's there now- you can always change later if SWA releases a cheaper flight- no change fees, you don't lose the money- it just goes into a SWA credit.

[selena1075]

Part of the problem is that we just don't fly often enough to know. I think we paid around $250ish per person when we went in 2009 and the flight I'm looking at now is $225 so I think its a good price. New year's sales huh? I'm so clueless about air fare and when deals happen!

I'm checking out the credit card....looks like it is through Chase:

Apply for the Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards® Plus Card1and we'll get you started with 25,000 Bonus Points after your first purchase2 - that's over $400 in Wanna Get Away® Fares that can be redeemed for a FREE ROUNDTRIP FLIGHT!Start planning your trip today to one of the 70+ destinations Southwest Airlines serves.

[off2neverland]

I think 225 RT sounds like a decent price.
BWI to MCO is usually anywhere from 94-137 each way- so your fare from Philly is right in sync.

As far as the SW credit card- get it if you really need/want- we use ours for any larger purchases and the points really do add up- we have not paid to fly in
years- admittedly a lot of that is due to DH's biz travel.

It can get complicated though when you are trying to book some free flights, some not- w/25K points you are probably going to get 4 free one ways- or 2 RTs-
you'll just need to make sure you can still get a decent paid for fare on that same flight.

[selena1075]

I wonder if I could do one card in my name and one in my husbands and get 4 free flights? If we don't get the same fare we can just send the baby on a flight by her self right? (kidding, don't call social services on me)