New Jack City: Travel Tips from the Inside Out

One of the most oft asked questions I receive as a travel agent pertains to the best time to purchase travel….

For cruises and vacation packages—both domestic and international—the further out you book, the better the price. Many suppliers offer extra ‘early bird’ booking savings.

This is especially true for vacation packages around holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas, Spring Break and summer getaways.

Booking air travel? That’s another story.

Prices between city pairings seem to be in flux around the clock.

Granted, buying tickets early usually means bigger savings. But there always are exceptions—especially on highly competitive routes.

Major carriers usually price fares in at least four categories.

Bookings made less than seven days before departure are the highest while tickets purchased 21+ days prior to travel generally tend to offer the best savings.

Everything else is somewhere in between.

Here are samples of average roundtrip fares we found last week to three popular destinations from Kansas City using the four catagory advance purchase formulas:

MCI – New York (LGA)

Less than 7 days—$ 515

7 + days advance—same

14+ days advance–$ 509.-

21+ days advance–$ 341.-

MCI – Chicago (MDW)

Less than 7 days—$ 470.-

7+ days advance—$ 274.-

14+ days advance-$  208.-

21+ days advance-$ 134.-

MCI – Las Vegas

Less than 7 days–$ 1,076.-

7+ days advance–$  928.-

14+ days advance-$  344.-

21+ days advance-$  184.-

So you see, it’s all over the place.

However buying close to actual travel dates versus planning ahead can really cost you.

That’s why the businessman, who often doesn’t have the luxury of pre-planning a last minute trip, often gets soaked.

One more thing.

Is there a best time during the week to purchase tickets at (sometimes) best prices?

Probably.

And thats on Tuesday afternoons when the carriers usually load sales fares and changes into their reservation systems.

But those sales fares are often limited to just a few seats per flight and sell out fast.

 Jack is an independent travel agent with Shelton Travel Service, Inc. You can reach him direct at 913-649-2960.