Airfare savants, please look into crystal ball...

[jayjoans]

I'm putting together my first ever whole family visit to Coz at the end of April, and knowing when to pull the trigger on airfare for 7 has me up at night. I've been to Coz a number of times with a son, another son, a daughter, and my wife, but never all of us together.

Since the savings I can get on airfare is x7 now, I want to get the best deal I can.

Currently, SFO to CZM on Continental's site is $468 Sunday to Sunday, and $438 Monday to Monday. Anybody have a feel as to whether the airfare will go down appreciably after the holidays?

I am completely spoiled, we were there during the "scare" last year and paid $260 r/t. Typically, anything under $400 gets me interested in flying down, but I thought I'd ask if any of you fare watchers think that waiting until 2010 or closer to our April departure would be a good idea. (we have lodging already set up, so packages won't help me)

 

[DandyDon]

Have you registered for daily email fare alerts? Sidestep.com is my favorite but many do that. I do have a hunch that fares on remaining seats to be sold go down after December madness, but that's no guarantee.

You know if you continue to search Continental.com, the cookies will make the fares go up on you at times until you clear their cookies.

Could you go on a Tuesday and return on a Tuesday or Wednesday...?

​

Hehe for 7 x $90 = $630 maybe you could huh? But Continental fares often go down after midnight Texas time when 24 hour hold tickets not kept are returned to inventory, or with changes in the moon sometimes - but you never know which way...?

 

[jayjoans]

Thanks Don, those are the flights I'm looking for, just a week later though. I'll look at Tuesday to Tuesday and see if that is any different right now.
I've signed up for Kayak alerts, but I'll do Sidestep too.

...looks like $372 a week later.

If the consensus is that fares may soften after the holidays, I'm game to wait.....

 

[stevenq99]

The other fun thing is to get 7 seats all in the same fair bucket. Do a search for 1 person for the same dates and time the fares may be different. Click on the details button to see if it states how many seats are left.

I believe sidestep and Kayak are the same just different names presented a little different.

 

[DandyDon]

Grumble Hehe, I like to help people find better fares here. I do like to know the target dates when I look but - hehe - when you said "at the end of April," you mean at the very end overlapping April & May. Got it

Now I wouldn't say you have a "consensus is that fares may soften after the holidays;" that one just one guess, that could go wrong. If you are going to wait, I'd sign up for daily email fare alerts for every pair of dates that will work. But getting it under $400 each would be hard to pass up now.

You'll tend to find cheaper fares on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday travel days, with some exceptions, and coming from the west coast some of your flights are overnight - so allow for how many nights you want in Coz and add one as needed for that. If you really want go on Sundays, you could fly into Cancun on Mexicana for $315 each, rent a private van that would drop you off closer to the ferry than the bus, and get a private van at Coz ferry dock.

Keep shopping and jump when you find a good fare...! ilot:

 

[jayjoans]

I was hoping that the thread would generate a consensus, I know that as of right now I have none...

Those are our flights of choice, I'd rather leave home for the airport at 9:30pm and catch a midnight flight than leave home at 3:00am for a 6am flight. Either way we're not going to sleep much, and I'd rather spend the afternoon on the beach than in an airplane cabin. For the past 6 or 7 visits those are the flights we choose. (except the return you show might be the 1hr layover in Houston, we opt for the 1:30 layover in case customs is backed up, but Houston does customs FAR better than SFO)

Thanks for your help thus far. Hopefully there are others out there that have seen fares drop after the holidays and can attest to it. Right now I'm working on #1 daughter to figure out her college schedule and make sure she can join us, so I can't pull the trigger just yet. I did click through the booking process and see that there are PLENTY of seats on all legs still, hopefully that means a price reduction to get them sold.

 

[jayjoans]

I believe sidestep and Kayak are the same just different names presented a little different.

This seems to be true, my login works on both sites.

 

[Diver Kat]

I know I've had good luck with both hotel bookings and cruises dropping in late December or early January. I book my airfare usually 11 months out, so I'm not 100% about those dropping, but I seemed to think they do as well. Signing up for a fare watch is a good idea. I also remember that some days can be better than others to book on - I used to find prices would often drop a bit on Mondays, but I don't know if that holds true anymore.

Good Luck! I hope it all works out for the family trip!!

 

[BrewingDiver]

We've been 4 times in mid to late April, and every time have found that the fares drop in Jan or Feb, so we don't even bother booking till then anymore. My wife checked a couple weeks ago and sure enough, the fares were a lot higher than we expect to pay if we make the trip this year.

If we do go I hope that holds true in 2010, because I'm not liking the price right now.

 

[DandyDon]

We've been 4 times in mid to late April, and every time have found that the fares drop in Jan or Feb, so we don't even bother booking till then anymore. My wife checked a couple weeks ago and sure enough, the fares were a lot higher than we expect to pay if we make the trip this year.

If we do go I hope that holds true in 2010, because I'm not liking the price right now.

A lot cheaper than I could get. Waiting may be rewarding, and anyone with selected dates would be wise to set up daily fare alerts I think, but if you can get RT including taxes for less than $400 - I wouldn't wait...!

Those cheaper than American go into CUN - no interested at those prices.

How far is Flint...?