Best Time to Buy Tickets for December Travel to US

Mamaof3 on 15/01/2015 - 16:41

Hi All,

We've booked a family cruise from Miami for December this year. Its early Dec but still, tickets are undoubtedly significantly more than what you could get to the US throughout the year.

Qantas have a special at the moment and we can get tickets for $1750/person return….this was over $2K/person a couple of months ago when i last looked.

I don't want to jump the gun and buy it in case there might be better fares throughout the year. The travel agents are saying, wait for the travel expo because there'll be specials but last time we did that we didn't save anything, they just offered an onboard credit of $100. Cruise is paid for we just need to buy our tickets.

Is anyone familiar with Dec tickets to the US and which airlines/months they typically go on sale?

Thanks in advance!

Travel

Comments

  • inherentchoice on 15/01/2015 - 19:31
    +1

    Does $1750 get you to Miami from Adelaide (your user profile says SA) return, or is it to SYD-LAX? Seems pretty decent if it's ADL-MIA return on a full service airline.

    If last year is anything to go by, in September and October Air New Zealand was offering $300 off flights to USA with travel dates in December(link here and here). Using that deal I was looking at the prices in November and December and return to LAX from SYD/BNE/MEL could be bought for $1049 return on various dates. I didn't fly in December though as November was a bit warmer. In November I met some other Australians in the USA who said they got deals from Fiji Airways or Virgin for around the same price ($1050).

    Also remember that air fares are impacted by things like the oil price and foreign exchange rates. Oil prices have halved (and looks like they are still declining) so that may enable some further reduced sale fares by the airlines. But no one can know for sure what will happen to these economic variables between now and when you fly in 12 months.

    Google flights indicates that return flights from ADL to MIA could be had for 1792 USD (but that's currently 2200 AUD).

    https://www.google.com/flights/#search;f=ADL;t=FLL,MIA;d=201…

    You may want to keep checking the link above (but keep in mind the prices are in USD).

    One more thing to keep in mind is that you could probably also fly to Fort Lauderdale airport rather than MIA. Spirit Airlines has a massive hub in FLL and almost none of the booking sites or travel agents will sell you a ticket on Spirit because they are super budget and probably don't pay any agent commissions, but you can book at Spirit.com

  • Mamaof3 on 15/01/2015 - 22:00

    Nah, that was for Adel-LAX. A friend who travels to the US for work several times a year advised us to use our FF points to buy the domestic flights within the US so thats what we were planning.

    Oh wow, travel dates for Dec at low $1K's would make me annoyed if i paid $1700 for it today! Thanks for the heads up. Maybe i should wait then.

    Thanks for the tip with Spirit! Definitely looking into that one. Are they a safe airline though?

    • inherentchoice on 15/01/2015 - 23:20

      Safe? I would argue that Malaysia Airlines is safe, isn't it?

      Spirit are super budget. They charge for carry on luggage and printing your boarding pass. People say negative things about them everywhere but the reality is they are making money and their planes are full and they are growing, and their fares are about half the price of the alternatives. They say they are no frills and they mean it.

    • zappy32 on 25/06/2015 - 19:30

      Have you compared using FF in US domestic to Australia? I would have thought those points would have got you further on the airlines you've go a membership with(Qantas?).

  • Mamaof3 on 16/01/2015 - 10:03

    Just checked last night and it seems Cathay Pacific's fares are about $7300 for the 5 of us (2 adults 3 children) Adel-LAX….downside is its a much longer travel period to get to LAX due to the stopover in HK….

    Virgin hasn't released their mid december return flights yet so can't check but from the links you've provided above, i think we'll risk it and wait and just make sure we check the prices a couple of times a week between now and then!

    Thanks for the tips!

    • inherentchoice on 25/06/2015 - 11:00

      Looks like Air NZ has a $300 off USA sale happening now which includes December, but there is limited dates for the cheapest fares.

      https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/200107

      Using code NAM300 looks like $930 AUD will get you from ADL to LAX on 30 November and return on 7 December (via Auckland). Not sure if those dates suit your cruise? Alternatively you can return on the 9th December for $1025 or the 14th for $1251. (Multiplied by 5 people = $4,650/$5,125/$6,255 for the 7th/9th/14th December respectively)

      With the previous AirNZ sales STA travel also mirrored their fares but reduced them by a further $50 or so, but I think you have to phone them, can't do it online. Here is some examples…

      https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/186969
      https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/186665

  • Mamaof3 on 25/06/2015 - 20:59

    We ended up booking Qantas (Airbus A380) for about $1250…this was back in Feb. We're pretty happy with that.

    But $930 is a very good price…i think the week after we leave is when the price really hikes….might plan another US trip for 2016 :-)

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