are airfares prices going down?

[latinalocany]

i live in NY and airfares went up when the gas prices went up a while ago, but gas prices have dropped dramatically!! so why hasnt the airfares? do you project airfares to go down anytime soon? is it worth waiting?

[Angela139]

I didn't wait, personally, primarily because I was worried about waiting too long before booking such a large group for a resort. But some of our guests are trying their luck and waiting for last minute flights, which is fine with us

[DGG]

I would love to see that happen, but I wouldn't count on it... The airlines are really hurting, no matter how cheap gas gets, they still want the money and I don't think they'll give back to us... Some even charge $2 for water now..

[MsSunshine]

Hey I just saw airfare to Cancun for $330 dollars! I signed up on this website to alert me with airfare deals...it's called airfarewatchdog.com I think that the airfare prices will go down. I would wait a bit to see what kind of fares you can get. Good luck!

[JenniferSS]

It's true that the airlines are hurting for $$ and I don't expect them to lower the fares-especially the closer you get to travel!

 

The market is so much different than it was after 9/11 when there was dirt cheap everything, to a loss for many businesses, especially the airlines.

 

Then about 4 years ago people travelled en mass because of the low flight cost,(which also gave us amazingly cramped seating as they reconfigured the planes, less services, paying for bringing luggage and in some cases being held hostage on the tarmac !), the occupancy levels at most resorts was almost at full capacity and now, even though we keep hearing about a lousy economy, the resorts are full, planes are full and prices are going up & up.

The travel sector will see what prices the market will bear.

 

The gas prices didn't help with the steady rise we've been seeing over the past few years year but even though they went down I wouldn't (unfortunately) expect to see travel related prices going down.

 

Specific to airlines -one thing to keep in mind is that the airlines have consolidated their flights-as an example- instead of having 5 flights a day to Cancun out of an airport their may now only be 2- which means less seats going to a destination on any given day. This is so that the airlines can fly with full planes ( the cost to operate the plane is basically the same whether it's full or half empty). This also means that they can charge more per seat-supply and demand at work.

 

We also have airlines that are no longer operational & mergers, such as the recent merger of NWA & Delta- that will mean less competition at certain airports and may mean that the prices will go up and seat availability go down. This can have a ripple effect across the nation on airfare pricing staying the same or going up.

 

This also means that if you want a decent flight itinerary-I'd book early and not play the price game anymore.

 

I am seeing the good itineraries go at a fair price ( not cheap but not as outrageously expensive as I've seen them go for lousy itineraries closer to travel!)

 

I just paid over $600 to go to the Bahamas for December 8-11-typically low season. The same fare when I looked at it 6 weeks ago was about $475 ( I became really busy and also came down with that horrible head & chest cold so I focused on my clients instead of booking my own travel- ended up paying A LOT more)

 

I'd let your guests know that if they can live with a price and they liked the itinerary to book it now and not wait or the flights that they can live with ( especially at smaller airports) will either not be available at all or will be incredibly expensive and they won't be able to go!

 

Of course the airlines could go into a bidding war-lowball themselves again into not being able to operate at a breakeven point, let alone turn a profit and go out of business leaving people stranded.

 

It's a heck of a gamble!

[DGG]

There are sites, like orbitz, that will have price guarantee - so if the price goes down for same flight, they will refund difference..

Read the fine print first, but that might make people feel better about buying the tickets now..

[ErikDaGenErik]

i told our guests to take advantage of low fares when they see it. we found the cheapest roundtrip fare from San Francisco to Cancun for only $360 per person. We went and bought flights for atleast 10 famly members. better be safe than sorry!

 

sometimes the fares change depending on what day you are searching. we noticed on weekends the fares go up!

[Blkatz]

when we first decided to do destination the flights were over $800!! I looked the other day and they are now around $400-that is half of what we would of paid. We are going to book probably right after the first of the year. I think if you see a good deal go for it

[JenniferSS]

I'd also caution to not purchase airfare when it is first released, usually it's really high at that point- wait a month or two as then all the airlines have released their fares and itineraries, made some adjustments and start to compete on the pricing!