When buying a ticket, how far in advance is ideal for getting a low rate? When buying a ticket for a situation where you're going on a trip that revolves around a vacation, the furthest out is always the best because you get the inexpensive fare.
"Interestingly enough, it works two ways," replies Patricia Blanche, owner of La Cañada Flintridge Travel in La Cañada, California. "When buying a ticket for a situation where you're going on a trip that revolves around a vacation, the furthest out is always the best because you get the inexpensive fare. You also get the best seating because advance planning means that not all of the seats have been filled yet.
"Frequent flyers," she points out, "always get the best slots because they've flown enough to demonstrate a certain level of loyalty to that airline. The hierarchy here has the1K's which are million-milers, then you have your Premiere Economy, then you have everyone else in the back of the aircraft. The funny thing is that you could be sitting next to someone who planned ahead and bought their ticket 6 or 7 months ago and paid $250 and yet you were spontaneous, bought yours yesterday and your fare is $1,200. What people don't realize is that there are about 10 different fare bases minimum on each flight. Once the lowest economy round trip ticket is gone - and there are so many allotted on each aircraft - the fare is then bumped up to the next level."
"Now if you're going to buy a first class ticket," she says, "it doesn't really matter. You could buy it today or you could buy it a year from now. The day of travel, you could walk in and buy a first class ticket - generally the seating is still open - and unless they've been completely redeemed by people who have either bought them or have upgraded to a first class seat assignment, you're going to have a great seat on that plane."
"I know that some sites occasionally come up on the Internet where you can make purchases at the last minute. There are also instances where an airplane has 3 or 4 seats left and they might discount them for online shoppers. It used to be that way with the cruise lines where, if they had some last minute cancellations, they would throw them out for grabs. Of course, it practically had to be someone who was living in Long Beach or Miami who was just sitting there waiting to grab up a bargain and walk on! Very few people, however, tend to plan their lives that way."
Blanche further points out that many people aren't aware of the fact that airline fares are constantly fluctuating, sometimes even hourly. "Let's say you call in April to get a quote on a vacation that you're planning to take to Madrid the middle of December. The quote we give you is what the fare to Madrid is as of that moment in time. If you don't make your reservation that day, you're not going to be able to call back the week after Thanksgiving and say, 'But that's not what it was when I first called!'
While it's true that rates can sometimes drop to stimulate tourism - New York after 9/11 being a prime example of this - the majority of the time they are only going to go up to accommodate rising fuel costs. Waiting until the last minute to act on a fare you were quoted in the spring is probably going to cost you much more than you anticipated."
"By planning in advance," she continues, "you also have your seating preference, you know the restrictions, and you can save yourself a lot of stress. Especially for traveling out of the country, the more time you can give yourself to get all of your documents in order, the less harried you'll be on the day of departure."
