*Tiffany618*

fallbride1109

Hey, my sister and I are planning a trip to Sedona the first weekend in May.  Flights are around $370 right now (right off AA's website).  Do you suggest I wait until closer or do it now--she was talking about getting the tickets at Christmas.  I realllly don't want to pay much more than this for airfare.  Any tips?  I created a package through Travelocity just to compare, but it was cheaper to buy the hotel and flight individually.  I don't travel too much so I really don't know what I'm doing.

Tiffany618

Post or email me your travel dates and I will do some research.   I'm bored to death in my office.

Tiffany618@aol.com

Edit:  I just re-read your post and duh.. you said the first weekend in May.  Are you thinking Friday to Monday?   Is Phoenix the closest airport?

fallbride1109

The dates are Friday 4/29 to Monday 5/2 (so I guess this is technically the last weekend of April, sorry).  Flagstaff is closer but we want to fly American and plus Phoenix is the nonstop so that's what we decided.  We'll have to rent a car and drive the 2 hours to Sedona.

Thanks so much!! 

Tiffany618

Ah, okay.  So you are set on American then...that makes my task much less daunting. 

This is a tough one.  It looks like you have the same situation I did, with American being the DFW bully and everyone else pretty much deadlocked with them. 

Normally I'd say wait it out until Christmas or even later, because fare sales usually don't go into effect until around 3-4 months before your travel dates.   Is this a peak season for them or is there a special event happening that weekend?

fallbride1109

I don't think so.  The 30th is my sister's birthday (and mine is the 25th) so that's why we picked it.  Gah, what is going on with these airlines?  I would hate to be going to Maui THIS year!

juliebug1997

Butting in....

I've heard that fares are only going to be going up and I get fare alerts from American at least once a week.  I've never seen Phoenix on that list.  Phoenix, I believe, is a hub for US Airways and they kind of are the bullies there.  Try US Airways to see if that helps.  You might be able to fly Southwest though.  I was able to fly to Orlando without getting off the plane by flying to Austin going and Houston coming back. 

Tiffany618

Ok, if there is nothing special happening there then I'd wait it out a week or two (or at least until next Wednesday!)  and just watch the rates for movement.   I use Kayak.com to see what the competitors are doing.   If no one makes any significant moves, then I'd probably go ahead and buy soon.

Also, never buy your tickets at the end of the week or on the weekend.   Rates almost always go down on Wednesdays in the early AM and then creep back up into the weekend.

2.  I just bit the bullet and bought ours through Orbitz.com.   They have this "Price Assurance" deal where if someone else happens to book your identical flights (through Orbitz) up until the day that you leave for a lower price, then they automatically refund the difference.   I'm skeptical, but hell it was the same price as booking straight through AA so I went ahead and did it.

fallbride1109

Thanks Tiffany!

Julie, American is the only one that flies nonstop to Phoenix.  At least that I could find. 

Oh well, I'll just have to pray nothing changes too much.  I really don't want to pay for the tickets until after the first of the year.

Tiffany618

I think you will probably be fine.  They say the prices don't really start to move significantly and get competitive until your inside the 4 month mark.  It always makes me nervous though.

That being said, $370 is pretty dang high.   I would imagine it is probably at/close to the ceiling that people will pay when there is nothing in particular going on.

US Airways flys direct from DFW-PHX..but it is the same price as American right now.   Everything else I found had stops.     I was hoping Frontier had a direct because they have a great sale right now and a Facebook coupon ...but it has stops.  Boo.

Tiffany618

Psst... I would book your rental car now.   It doesn't require any kind of payment and you can just cancel if they happen to go down in rate.

Dollar rental car has a killer deal I always set my parents up with.  It looks like for $23.23/day plus tax you can get what they call "Lock Low and Go" which is a guaranteed mid-size car or above.  Every time my parents have either gotten an SUV or luxury car...and once my Dad even got a convertible.  (An economy car is also only $19.95/day)

Spoken from a girl who prices rental cars all day every day...book before they adjust.

fallbride1109

What do you think the deal is--is it a trend?  Will we see more of this you think?  I was very surprised the price was so high--we didn't pay much more than that for Maui last year.

Oh, when I did the Travelocity thing, it gave me US Airways but with stops so I just assumed that was all there was.  I really need to wait though so I think that is what I will do and look again after the holidays.  Oh, thanks for the rental car advice! 

juliebug1997

I read and heard earlier this year that airfares were going to be higher this year and that we shouldn't expect a lot of air deals during the summer or the fall.  Airlines are cutting the number of flights in trying to cut costs without really laying people off.  It makes me mad that I can't find a low fare to NYC to go hang out.