Best time to book USA flights?

[Curlybrunette]

Hi,

I'd like to go to America next summer and when I started looking in about July (this year), I had a look at flight prices for this August, to get an idea of summer holiday prices.

I had a look on a few websites and I got some really good prices (about £430 return) to Philadelphia.

Now the flights for August 2016 are out I've been looking and the prices are much higher, around £900 each. I thought booking so far ahead would mean cheaper flights but it seems not?

Do any of you know whether it was just a fluke this year or whether we would get cheaper flights if we waited until just before we want to travel next summer.

We don't actually mind where about we go in the USA, it was just that Philadelphia came up with the best price!

Any advice would be much appreciated

Bump!

Fly via either Dublin Stockholm Copenhagen or Amsterdam. And save a fortune.

I've just used Skyscanner for Vancouver at beginning of August, about £460 each.

It used to be the case that cheap fares where released 3 months in advance, so it was much cheaper ti buy them between 2.5-3m before the flight. Cheap seats sell first so you can save a fortune if you booked within that window, but you may be sitting next to the toilet all the time.
Having said that, there are far less flights nowadays than once were, so I have noticed that it is getting more and more difficult to get good fares.

If it helps, try to use Expedia (mostly because they show you the real price as many other smaller sites don't include taxes in hheir prices).

Thanks a lot, it was skyscanner that i looked at before, sounds like I'm maybe a bit too far in advance.
I've booked the time off work so maybe worth just keeping an eye on the flights but booking later on

Ta!

Simon Calder, the Independent travel editor, seemed to advise everyone to book flights about 2-3 weeks before you want to travel. Could work well if you're flexible about destination.

A friend of mine discovered she and her family (husband and three very small children) would save over £1200 by taking a taxi to Glasgow and back from southern England when flying to Orlando. Daft!

Sounds like I'm being far too organised trying to book this early! I figured the sooner I start booking and paying for things I'll have forgotten just how much it costs by the time it actually comes around!

Our nearest 'big' airport is Manchester but a lot of the flights go via a London one so last night I searched for Canada (thanks sugarplumtree) and got a really good price direct from Gatwick. It was about an extra £800 to go from Manchester (and still have to change at Gatwick anyway).

I can't actually believe the price of mine to be honest. I'd been keeping an eye on them for a bit and they were a lot more when first out so jumped on it as soon as I saw it last weekend.

Think we are going to do Vancouver, Vancouver Island and Seattle, 10 months to go (not that I'm at all excited

I don't actually know much about Canada, certainly not touristy places, ds's will be 10 and 8 by then so please pass any tips/recommendations on if you have any.

Dh is being all sensible and saying we should wait to book but we've been here before and then stuff happens and we don't end up booking anything, which is why I was trying to be prepared and get stuff sorted (as well as spreading the cost).

Mine are older but things on my list a possibles so far are space shuttle tour at Museum of Flight in Seattle plus going up the Space Needle. Vancouver - Stanley Park and Aquarium, Sky Train, Science museum type place, Whistler zip wire thing, Vancouver Island boat trip to see if can spot whales and bears.

Early days in my planning and I have to accommodate boy/girl with 5 year age gap but seems like a lot to do so should find something for everyone. My school friend is over there so will be picking her brains.

Sounds lovely, you've got me all excited. I got the annual leave confirmed from work today so I just want to book something now!

Who are you flying with? The cheapest flights I've found are with AirTransat

Yes we're flying with them . They seem to have a bit of a sale on at the moment. I've never made it out of Europe before and am ridiculously excited about it all!

If you're going to Vancouver go to Capilano bridge. It may be cheaper to fly to Seattle via vancouver than fly to Vancouver direct. It's an easy nice drive between the 2

AlpacaLypse

its often cheaper to fly from glasgow in August as the scottish schools are back so not sure why it's so odd.

we are flying to the states via Stockholm and saved over £2000 on going direct - even though end up on the same plane from the UK to the US