When should I book my flight to New York?

cbmaxyz

I'm planning to travel to New York for two to three weeks in September. The dates are very flexible, with the exception that I must be there on 9 September (for a wedding). I have never booked an expensive flight before (only ever used Ryanair and EasyJet!), and I was wondering when is best to book? Should I book ASAP, or should I wait in the hope that the flights are still looking pretty empty in a month or two and therefore the prices come down?

Alternatively, are there any sites with accurate historical price data, indexed by time of booking, so I can draw my own conclusions?

Thanks very much for any help you can provide!

moneysavvy35

I posted a similar thread a few days ago. I was looking at flights for lon-miami in december. the airline told me it was an airline special for the bank holiday w/kend. I thought they were fibbing. Anyway I was wondering whether to wait or not, I decided to book and I am so pleased I did, as (naughty me I checked the next day) the flights have gone up by nearly over £100 per person :eek:

However when I have flown in the past I have always booked 8wks in advance and have usually been happy. As you are quite flexible in your dates you have a little lee-way, and since your asking for an opinion, if it was me I would wait. A bit contraidatory I know given what I said earlier, but I don't think your route would be super busy - maybe others may differ. Some said to me if I was happy to book at the price it was then book it - and so I did, but if you feel prices is a little to high then maybe you can afford to wait for abit. What prices are you getting a the mo?

Good Luck

cbmaxyz

Thanks for the info! Current prices are around £500 plus or minus £40ish.

Alan_Bowen

The London New York route is the busiest transatlantic route from anywhere in Europe. You would expect competition to keep fares down but demand is so high, it doesn't seem to. If you are looking for the cheapest fares they are usually on Kuwait Airlines, they have to booked through an agent rather than direct, I think Trailfinders are one of the agents, but the flights are not daily, and have no alcohol at all but if that isn't a problem, the fares can be £150 less than anyone else. The beginning of Septmeber is when the business travellers start to fly again after the holidays and many now have to travel in economy class, as a result early September can be a busy and therefore expensive time to fly

signol

moneysavvy35 wrote: »

However when I have flown in the past I have always booked 8wks in advance and have usually been happy.

8 weeks ahead is when the airlines start discounting if flights aren't selling very well, so waiting until then can be a gamble, but it can pay off...

Picking some random dates in September, Kayak is showing £495 via Madrid on Air Europa, or £515 direct on Delta (ticketed by KLM). These might be reasonable, it's up to you if you want to gamble or not. They do seem a little on the high side for now...

signol