Most travelers would like to purchase cheap airplane tickets and discount hotel rooms or cheap vacation packages. The question that is often asked is when is the best time to make such a purchase?
Historically the cheapest time for buying airline tickets for travel over a major holiday weekend is generally six to seven weeks ahead of that holiday. For example, ticket prices for airline tickets for travel over the July 4th weekend, should decline around May 19th and go back up around May 25th. Then prices will remain pretty steady until a week prior to the holiday when prices typically increase around 10 percent.
Airfares fluctuate because airlines are constantly reviewing how many reservations they have on a given flight prior to departure. If a plane is not filling up, they lower prices to encourage fence sitters to buy. Conversely fares often increase as planes approach seating capacity.
Although airfares are substantially higher than last year, three recent attempts by the airlines to increase prices have failed. Further pressures are being placed on legacy airlines (such as United and Delta) by discount airlines that have started to undercut larger competitors by placing a limited number of seats on sale.
Travelers can sometimes predict a sale by looking at the seat map of their potential flight. Most Internet travel sites offer their customers a view of available seats. When a plane has a lot of empty seats, a sale may be in the future. However, when only a few seats remain, booking quickly is advisable if that is the flight you want to take.
The cheapest airfares and hotel room rates are usually found in package deals. Packages enable airlines and hotels to fill seats and rooms without showing individual discounted prices.
The cheapest summer destinations are Orlando, Boston, Denver and Las Vegas. Surveys indicate that 60 percent of Americans plan to travel this summer compared to about 50 percent last year. www.cheapfares.com