How far in advance to you book your cruise air?

[Jan115]

Last year, I made the mistake of booking my non-refundable air from Boston to Heathrow, London, too early - November for an August cruise. The Olympics were happening at the same time as our cruise, and all the hype about crowded city, airports, and lack of airplane seats set me into panic mode. Over the following months, I watched the rate drop by $200-$300. This year, I have begun monitoring prices from Boston to San Francisco, and the rate hasn't budged much in the two weeks I've been watching. So, fellow Crazies, I was just wondering how far ahead of your cruise you book your air.

[sailingrose]

I do watch the air prices all the time however and if I saw a good deal I'd grab it. Most of the time I book the airfare once I've made final payment on the cruise.

[DebbieandJerry]

Jan, I too struggle with this every time I travel. Sometimes I am able to narrow down what airline I want and then look at their prices at least twice a week. Have to admit that I probably don't get the cheapest price. But locking in air at what I feel is a gonga is assuring.

We booked our Sept 2012 cruise in July of 2011. I started looking at air at that point, but I plugged in different months (leaving on the same day of the week, returning on the same day of the week). I tried not to incorporate a holiday because that truly upsets the equation (unless your cruise is over a holiday). This information provided me with a baseline of what to expect.

I also signed up for airline alerts and once I got the "it's on sale" notice, I started plugging in the dates. All said and done, I booked my air in June of this year for my Sept cruise.

[WeCruiseToo]

Most of the time we try to book air using frequent flyer miles, so we do that as soon as possible. When we can’t get the miles to work out, we try not to check the price after the purchase is made. Of course spending less is always better, but we figure if we’re okay making the purchase to begin with we’ll be happier not setting ourselves up for “buyer’s remorse”.

[rogue]

Air prices are all a crap-shoot anyway. I book whenever I see a price that I think is a good price. After booking, I never look again and I'm never disappointed.

[Jan115]

As I mentioned in the first post above, I am currently monitoring flights from Boston to San Francisco. They were running $405 for a couple of weeks. Wouldn't you know, the day it dropped to $380, I missed the alert. Now it's back up over $400 again. Ugh!

[Dan]

I'm probably going to book next week for our January cruise. I only booked the cruise a few weeks ago, and I've been watching the air fares bounce around a bit lately, so I have a good idea of what I'm going to pay. At this point, I'm basically waiting for the next billing cycle on the credit card to come.

[Smudge]

I am lazy....I have the cruise line sort my air travel for me.

They know not to book British Airways or via LHR or LGW cos I hate them with a vengeance. My preferred airlines are Air France, KLM or Emirates and so far Costa Crociere have been very accommodating...obviously if there is no alternative, then British Airways it is, but only twice that has happened.

I have also found that on the whole, Costa Crociere, have managed to get cheaper flights by a long way compared to if I had done them independently. Once the flights are confirmed, around 2-3 months after booking the cruise or 49 weeks out from departure whichever comes first, I get the locators, enter them onto the airline website and get seats etc sorted.

[Dan]

I bit the bullet and booked the air yesterday. I was checking the flights and noticed that it was becoming difficult to get seats all together for the 4 of us. The earlier flight also went up, so I decided to go 90 minutes later for $40pp less. Also for the flight home, the only seats together were comfort economy, for $29 each upgrade, so we have those now too. At least I'll have legroom going home LOL.