What's Your Strategery for Buying Cheap Airfare?

The most important thing I've found is to check different days of the week. Some sites have a calendar posted with the lowest rates for each day of week that can be easily read. I think Wed and Thurs are often the cheapest days for NYC to POP. Rates can start low, go up and then down as they try to get the last seats filled.

I got a good deal at POP at the counter once waiting on standby.

Best fare I ever got was Toronto to Tokyo RT for $550 in 1989. It was a chartered flight and they needed to fill it up the rest of the way.

Screw Spirit..... too nickel / dime

they say 60 - 90 days out is the best
Matrix - ITA Software
this website was posted here and is a beauty.... gives you 30 days of prices.

Robert, you know I buy a lot of tickets , mine, wife's , the daughters'....
I scour it.

It all falls apart if you're not flexible.... and the airlines know when the good dates are... they win every time.

so the secret?
Flexibility ... 3 countries for me gives me the Cdn and US selection....
I can fly any time it's cheap

BTW, oftentimes POP is cheaper than AZS... that website offers airport alternatives

Agreed flex time helps a lot.

SDQ flights are less expensive than those for the other DR airports. If you can't get picked up, public transportation will get you where you need to get anywhere in the country (just got in and made the trip with 3 maletas from SDQ to my Bavaro apartment this morning). I saved on the flight by using SDQ and saved by not hiring a car. 300 pesos for taxi from SDQ to Las Americas, 100 pesos for local bus to La Romana, 225 pesos for express to Bavaro, and 5 dollars for taxi from Plaza Bavaro to apartment. Cost for departing from SDQ was 200 pesos moto to Friusa, 400 peso express to SDQ, and 10 dollars taxi from Las Americas drop to SDQ.

I also always look at connecting flights and compare the 3 airports within my reach, i.e., SDQ, PUJ, LRM. And yes, buy as far out in time as possible. Jet blue sells tickets out as far as 6 months.

DUPE. Disregard.

flex is the key. i usually come into pop but their fares on aa are getting outrageous 650 was the quote at almost any time of year but i came into santiago for 350 and saved 300$ it cost me 50 $ to get to cabarete but still 250 to 300 ahead of game as i still have to get from airport to condo









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cobraboy said:

With airfares increasing, I'm getting feedback from customers complaining about airfare.

I really don't buy tickets ofter.

So I'm curious: I'd like to hear from the Semi-Pro Cheap Seats buyers what you do to get the best airfares possible.

Do you have a particular strategy? Website? Day? Hour?

I'm all ears.

TIA

Click to expand...

CB:

This is pretty darn close to the best advice I have seen out there.

New study finds the best time to book a cheap flight | Fox News

I fly Jetblue almost exclusively to the DR, and for holiday periods, i.e. Christmas......book as soon as they open up their flights. I know for some that might not be possible, but those are the consistently best times to book....if price is the main criteria.



Respectfully,
Playacaribe2

Don't buy from a mac, and search from one computer and buy from another... (So says CNN)

To europe jetairfly.com from punta Cana or Sdq to Brussels is good or Brussels to punta Cana or SDQ

drSix said:

Don't buy from a mac, and search from one computer and buy from another... (So says CNN)

Click to expand...

Good point on the use of one computer to search...another to buy. I had read the same thing. The reason given is that with the use of cookies the computers can track what fares were offered to you and they typically go up in small increments to entice one to buy. While not always true, my experience has been a slight increase in the fare...most of the time. Its sort of a you snooze you lose type of marketing to entice one to pull the trigger sooner.

Interesting concept on the MAC. I am not computer savvy enough to be able to say whether the type of computer one uses can be discerned. Perhaps those with more computer knowledge can weigh in.

What I have had consistent success with is booking for Christmas....particularly on Jetblue. As soon as they open the Christmas holiday period schedule, I always book the flight. This year on April 7th Jetblue began selling tickets through January 5th, 2015. Got a non-stop slightly at $496.10....BOS/STI. BOS/SDQ was slightly cheaper at $476.10. For those who regularly fly at Christmas, those are real good numbers. Just average for the rest of the year....but real good for the holidays.

On another note, I do like the ITA Matrix software mentioned above by another poster. However, when it comes to Jetblue, their own website, at least for me, has yielded the best deals...on a non-stop flight.

Respectfully,
Playacaribe2

cobraboy said:

Why? Do you have a link for the article.

I can believe Mac...they'd think you have a bunch of $$$.

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I don't have a link, I watched it on TV. It wasn't confirmed, but it was a "the travel sites MAY be doing this" type of scenario. It said that if you continually search from the same computer the price will inch up slowly so that you buy it thinking you better before it goes any higher.

cobraboy said:

Why? Do you have a link for the article.

I can believe Mac...they'd think you have a bunch of $$$.

Click to expand...

I don't have a link, I watched it on TV. It wasn't confirmed, but it was a "the travel sites MAY be doing this" type of scenario. It said that if you continually search from the same computer the price will inch up slowly so that you buy it thinking you better before it goes any higher.

Go online, use comparison sights for that only, to compare fares. Go directly to airline websites. Be flexible in what day of the week you can fly. If possible, fly out of the airlines hub, such as, JFK for Jet Blue. Cheapest fare originates here although they also fly out of LaGuardia and Newark, NJ.

LTSteve

LTSteve said:

Go online, use comparison sights for that only, to compare fares. Go directly to airline websites. Be flexible in what day of the week you can fly. If possible, fly out of the airlines hub, such as, JFK for Jet Blue. Cheapest fare originates here although they also fly out of LaGuardia and Newark, NJ.

LTSteve

Click to expand...

I agree with this.

One other thing is to sign up for one of the email ticket searchers who will send an email when the ticket price to your destination has dropped. CheapTickets will search several airlines at the same time but tack on a small service fee so best to purchase your ticket directly from the airline webpage.

What works for one person may not work for another. JetBlue quite often has lower prices than United to SDQ. In my case to get to JFK does not justify the small cost savings.

I think the bottom line is to be flexible in your dates and search several times a week. When you see a really good price don't hesitate because in a few hours that so called bargain price may be gone..............

definitely use the airline's website -better fares there

Hey, I fly untited out of ewr to pop. I refuse to drive to N.Y.C from south Jersey. So I have one option.
I buy my ticket as early as I can. That's usally as the fligjts open. I use the united app and buy with my United Credit card. That saves me bag fees. I also keep a log of the dates and price I pay to fly. This gives me an idea what I should be paying. I have found the internet sites don't have any better prices than the United app.

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