March airfares

[Reidkon]

It's a long time away yet, but I started checking airfares to Bonaire for our March 2015 trip and they are crazy high! From Calgary to Bonaire is around $900 in February but over $1,800 in March. Is March typically more expensive or is their a possibility the prices will drop?

 

[wwguy]

I've seen the same thing after reading another thread somewhere recently with a similar question. Bonaire fares seem to spike for several weeks in March, apparently due to Carnival on Bonaire and/or Spring Break in North America. When I last looked a couple of weeks ago fares dropped back to normal (whatever that is) at the end of March.

 

[Reidkon]

We are booked for March 21 so hopefully fares will drop. If not we may have to consider arriving a week or two later.


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[boat sju]

Isn't it just way too early to book? ( I mean flights.)

 

[wwguy]

Isn't it just way too early to book? ( I mean flights.)

I'm not sure if you're asking if someone can do this... or if they should do it. In my case the answer is yes to both.

Delta and United offer tickets for purchase starting at 330 days from the travel date. That means today you could purchase a round trip ticket with a return date of March 28th 2015 or earlier. My experience has been that the weekly United and Delta flights from the US to Bonaire run at or near full capacity, and that the airlines aren't motivated to offer sales as travel time nears. (If interested I speculated on this airfare revenue strategy previously in this thread.) This is a different pricing and sales strategy than they use in their other high volume competitive domestic and international markets. We visit Bonaire once or twice a year and I always keep an eye on fares both before and after I purchase to see if better deals appear. I see fares fluctuate a little as different coach fare class inventory is made available and then consumed, but have yet to see a fare sale that gives me buyers remorse for purchasing early.

Since 2009 we've been purchasing our tickets as soon as they're available for sale, and then tracking available fares periodically up to time of travel. I have yet to see them fluctuate up or down more than $100 or so per ticket. Of course it's important to start by purchasing a reasonably priced ticket. The hassle of timing "deals" and the angst of watching seats disappear while waiting isn't worth $200 savings for us.

Not sure if this advanced planning stuff works for everyone else, but it's worked for us.

 

[boat sju]

Of course it's important to start by purchasing a reasonably priced ticket. The hassle of timing "deals" and the angst of watching seats disappear while waiting isn't worth $200 savings for us.

I guess I can't argue with you there. I have seen tickets drop a few hundred dollars one day only to go back up the next. For us it's been more about making reasonable connections. We have a few airports to choose from though too.

 

[diversteve]

We are booked for March 21 so hopefully fares will drop. If not we may have to consider arriving a week or two later.

One option is to go through Aruba on that date. And connect on Insel. It will take about 19hrs. but at least it's all the same day (just barely). Although you will be arriving at 9PM on Bonaire Sat. night. That's probably the last flight in so customs/immigration might be quicker.

Either Air Canada or Westjet are within $3 of each other - the WestJet flight has a shorter layover when you land in Aruba. And you'll be spending several hours at the Aruba airport both ways. Also need to change planes on Curacao. But you have the time, it's a pretty small airport.

Fare is CA$1036 + CA$289 = CA$1325 for the Insel connection. Details:



This Insel Flight looks like the only one that works with either:


Nice thing about these flights is they're both one stop from Calgary. So your bags likely get at least to Aruba. Insel has morning flights also if they get stuck in the Antilles somewhere. And decent layover times everywhere.

 

[drrich2]

Here's more travel fun. I recently was looking at airfare for the week of May 17'th - 24'th (2014). Jacked up expensive vs. a couple of weeks or so later. Finally decided to try to book on Orbitz.

I probably went through 8 to 10 Orbitz listings, and every time got a yellow bar telling me something to the effect that the airfare market is volatile and the flight I just tried is no longer available. Did this again and again and again, I'm telling you.

A day or two ago I tried again, just out of curiosity, to book 1 (wouldn't have gone through with it; just wanted to see if I could book one) and nope, got the same response. I could understand maybe the Orbitz system messing up a day or so, but this was probably a couple of weeks or so later that I tried that one more time.

So there were a lot fewer options than I thought.

At least you're booking so far out that you shouldn't have that problem.

Richard.

 

[diver 85]

One year out, most places are 'crazy high'....You need to start looking 'bout 6- months out....

 

[Reidkon]

Isn't it just way too early to book? ( I mean flights.)

I booked our villa but not the flights. I was just checking airfares in advance.


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