<p>Note: with many bookings you can buy "trip cancellation" insurance for a fairly nominal cost. If its the kind of thing where you really are concerned that something might come up, it can be a good investment. You also have to read the terms of the policy, though -- it usually has to be a good reason, like illness preventing you from flying or an emergency, not just deciding to rebook for convenience.</p>
<p>I'm a student but I buy own tickets, so over the past year I've become a master at finding cheap tickets. Buy at least 21 days in advance, and DING! is a great program to have for cheap fares on Southwest. </p>
<p>I use studentuniverse.com frequently, especially if I've missed the 21-day mark. They have "student fare" tickets. I also love kayak.com because it rounds up all the ticket prices on all the various websites out there. I was suruprised to know it can be more expensive to buy from orbitz.com than, say, directly from aa.com</p>
<p>StudentUniverse, STAtravel, air-hitch, are well worth checking out, esp. for one-way flights. I always have to check fares just about everywhere for the international flights - I have found that one month in advance is usually pretty cheap, but 2-3 weeks ahead of the flight date, the prices go up. Several months in advance, you may miss a good fare sale. If the student is very involved in ECs, you may not want to book the return flights too soon until you know their schedule.</p>
<br>
<blockquote> <p>I was suruprised to know it can be more expensive to buy from orbitz.com than, say, directly from aa.com>></p> </blockquote>
<br>
<p>Plus if your flights get changed after you book, it is MUCH easier to deal with the airlines directly than with the third party vendors.</p>
<p>I've got two in college and have learned from experience that at least for Thanksgiving, buying early is key. It's not so important for the xmas holiday because they're not trying to fly on the busiest dates of the year (ie Tues before and Sun after Thanksgiving).</p>
<p>Every time I've waited, I find the tickets for T-day go up. This year each ticket would have been around $260 round trip if I'd purchased in March. Unfortunately, I waited until early May....Tickets shot up to around $330. Now those same tickets are around $375--and the plum flight times I was able to get aren't even available anymore.</p>
<p>Overall, I'd recommend buying early for Thanksgiving, but you can wait on the other dates and find it will be to your advantage.</p>
<p>Maybe next year I'll take my own advice and buy T-day in March!</p>
<p>^ That depends on the route though. </p>
<p>I "studied" the pattern last year (sick, I know) and the cheapest tickets for T-giving were very late July/early August. This year the flight was over $500 in March but I just booked it for under $300.</p>
<p>Weenie,
Not "sick", just detail-oriented! You must be right about the route thing.
For us, the above wasn't true....the fares consistently rose, even if only a few dollars. </p>
<p>I still check fares,even after I buy the tickets--now that IS sick. I must really need to get a life.....</p>
<p>curiouser:
I wonder if it depends on the size of your airport. We have an out-of-the-way, no-direct-flights to almost anywhere, kind of an airport. Maybe bigger regions discount early and then just continue to rise.</p>
<p>There is no good solution for T-day, I agree. Just too much volume for the seats during a short time span. For non busy times, you can sometimes even get cheap seats as you get very close to the departure date. There seems to be a prime price time which is when I guess most people like to book their tickets before a trip, and the airlines have that nailed. Of course you are taking a chance when you wait till the last minute.</p>
<p>Our home airport is the "2nd busiest in the world", so that may be part of the problem. This year we're all flying from our respective major cities to a 3rd major city to celebrate with family. The same thing happened as last year relative to prices rising for T-day.</p>
<p>You'd think I'd learn.</p>
<p>Oops. I meant "2nd busiest in the US"....fell from the #1 spot this year.</p>
<p>Southwest has opened up tickets through January 9th today.</p>
<p>I just bought a one way ticket home from S's college. I am driving there with a rental on Friday and returning Saturday night. The prices are lower than what I saw last week and the week before when I was trying to decide whether I should do this or drive my own car both ways. With a 7 hour trip, gas, tolls, it doesn't cost that much more to fly back. If I didn't stay the night, it would be about break even.</p>
<p>It is often possible to get really great deals at the last minute -- but the problem is that you can't count on it, especially in holiday season between popular destinations. But you definitely should not give up looking or assume that you have to pay more. It pays to spend some time checking different options and to be flexible.</p>