Air Fare

[MRM]

When is the best time to book airfare for good prices and still get a good arrival/departure time? What is considered a "good" or "fair price"? Who do you all book with?

We are booked for July 3-13 of 2012. I can book a 2:00 arrival and a 11:00 departure for $1500/couple from our small town airport now, but that is half of what we paid for our whole 10 days in paradise! Or we can book from Chicago at $1165/couple and need to park and fly. The trip is about 3 hours each way, so we'd stay before and after in Chicago. Am I crazy to think we can get a better price or shall I grab it up now and not worry about it anymore?

Thanks in Advance!

[redinthehead]

Any where from 1100 to 1700 per couple is the norm. All you can do is book it and not look back. There will be someone who paid more and someone who paid less. Any flight that gets you to mbj early in the day is good, it will take 2 to 3 hours after landing to get threw airport and drive to resort. Wacth your return flight home time, They will make you leave resort 4 hours before flight. So if you have a early flight you might be leaving before breakfast.

There was a flight out of ORD with us airways that left around 6 am. One small layover in Charlotte. We were at CSA by 2pm.

[Janeinpenn]

We usually fly Air Tran because of their great deals into Montego bay. We get the one that lands the earliest and then leaves the latest. We just paid 998/couple. from BWI to Montego. so the 1165 sounds like a good deal. You could always get insurance and then cancel it if you find a better deal down the line.

[TADiodati]

When is the best time to book airfare for good prices and still get a good arrival/departure time? What is considered a "good" or "fair price"? Who do you all book with?

We are booked for July 3-13 of 2012. I can book a 2:00 arrival and a 11:00 departure for $1500/couple from our small town airport now, but that is half of what we paid for our whole 10 days in paradise! Or we can book from Chicago at $1165/couple and need to park and fly. The trip is about 3 hours each way, so we'd stay before and after in Chicago. Am I crazy to think we can get a better price or shall I grab it up now and not worry about it anymore?

Thanks in Advance!

Hi MRM,

When we booked for our trip June 10-20 2013 we looked at booking our airfare separately but opted to book through the couples website in the end because there wasn't much difference in price. Leaving from Montreal airfare would have cost us 1300$ CDN so I think you're 1500$ is about right.

Enjoy your vacation!!!

[jmcarlin]

Everything I read prior to booking my airfare said to book 3-5 months in advance. I booked about 4.5 months before my trip and have not seen cheaper airfare than when I booked. If your trip isn't until July I would wait until January before purchasing.

[domandsonia]

I paid $3048 (tx incl) for air and hotel in June from Ottawa using online travel site (Air Canada+ Hotel).

[rjammin]

I have to agree with jmcarlin and would wait a bit longer. We're heading to CSS next April and I still haven't booked the air yet. I also do it about 3-5 months before.
I found the flights I want and I'm using Yapta to keep me updated on the price. So far. it hasn't come down but I'm hopeful.
One thing we do miss here in Chicago is Air Jamaica. They had an early flight that got you to Mobay at 10:30 AM and a return flight that left Mobay around 5:30 PM, both nonstop. We were on the very last flight to Chicago for AJ a few years back. In 5-6 trips on AJ we never paid more than around $700 roundtrip for the 2 of us. Ahhh the good ol days!

[NashVegas]

We just booked our flight and Couples Swept Away package on a travel websitre for December 11-16... however, I was contemplating using the Wednesday deal on Couples website and booking our airfare separately on another travel website. From Nashville, TN we could have had $406 roundtrip/per person on Delta.

[Tallman2nd]

MRM-
We always book our hotel way ahead of time to get the best prices at Couples. We also are about 2 hours from Chicago (Madison, WI) and always do the stay, park, fly thing (starts vacation one day earlier!). Seems like the best prices are at stay123.com, or we have also used parksleepfly.com. Only about $100 for the night...not too shabby!

We typically book our flights from OHare to Montego Bay anywhere from six to nine months before the trip. We use kayak.com to compare prices. I almost continuously watch for pricing for flights and the 6-9 months is the best pricing and usually doesn't get any less (and I'm too afraid to wait much longer). We have never paid more than $450 for per person -- this price has been pretty consistent for 5 or 6 years.

We have flown American lately, which has direct flights on Saturdays and Wednesdays (at least for Dec 2012), and baggage is included. We have also flown US Air and Delta, connecting through Charolette and Atlanta those times (worked ok, but prefer the American Airlines direct flight).

As for flight times, the AA flights are the best -- arrive early afternoon in MBJ and don't depart until mid-afternoon. The US Air left a bit early and gets there about the same time (we live in southern WI, so stay near O'Hare with a park/fly special, which works great!).

If your flight is later in 2013, I would wait a bit longer before booking. Oh, and the AA direct flights didn't open up early either -- I think these are added in the 6-9 month timeframe (probably closer to 6 months).

I think I got everything. Let me know if you have any questions, and have a nice trip.

[Margi]

Since the date you are going is so far away, I would wait. Keep checking the prices and when you think it's good, book it.

[misskathyi2009]

I booked last week for my April 2013 trip. I normally do not book that early, but decided to bite the bullet and go for it. I don't imagine (or I should say I hope for my sake) the price will come down that much. Last 2 years I flew Caribbean Airlines but for next year, booked JetBlue. There was only a very slight difference in price. Since your trip isn't until July 2013 I would definitely wait. 160 more days to go!