airline prices are high-whats the deal

started looking into my May trip and cant beleive how high airline tickets and vacations packages are. I looked at us airways and found the trip prices are almost double then they were last year. what is going on with that airline. Just wodering how long before the trip do you book your trips and what vacation packages offer the best deals. I am looking to book 12 guys and 6 rooms. Looked into booking air and hotel seperate and the vacation package are a better deal.

Check with Southwest. Good luck.

It's Thursday. Check again next Tuesday.

Tues and thurs are the cheapest days to book??

Sometimes. Worst time to book is on the weekends. One thing you can do with each airline is sign up for email alerts when they will notify you on air fare and vacation package deals.

I would probably wait about another month and the price should go lower but whatever you do do not wait till a month or two before. It will definitly go up.If the seats on the plane are filling up quickly they have a tendency to jack prices up when demand is high.

Don't give up quite yet. BUT do keep an eye on the airline site you want to fly with.

About a month ago I wanted to purchase tickets from Newark to LV. They were $414 pp. Ridiculous!!
I checked several times a day for about 2 weeks and lo and behold, one morning the same EXACT dates and flights were $298 pp.

Didn't last long because I think people jumped on this price. Yes, they are now, again, up to just about $400.

Everyone mentiones Southwest but that airline doesn't fly from Newark to Las Vegas!!

Just keep checking - several times a day - if necessary and good luck!

We're looking for airfare in April. I have to agree, I haven't seen it this high in a long time. I'm hoping things will settle some after the new year.

thanks for the advise. Newark is the best airport from my location but I always find better deals out of Phil. Southwest so far is the best deal but I like US airways or continental better. We have stayed at Flamingo and golden nugget in the past but the group wants a little nicer hotel. I am thinking Mandalay Bay will be the best fit for us. When I look at the specials for that hotel they only go up to March. What ever happend to the early booking specials.

I agree, airline prices are rediculose! I look everyday on southwest.com and it looks like its just getting worse!

I fly out of Manchester New Hampshire to las Vegas 2 sometimes 3 times a year and for the past couple of years my trips have averaged about $320 round trip. I did not have to look hard for this rate. My last trip, I managed to find the southwest anniversary 3 day sale and it only cost me $240 (sweet!)

Right now for me to go during my normal Christmas to New years week trip, Southwest is advertising $540 to get there and $360 to get back! I am pretty sure $900 is NOT going to happen.

On a side note, after seeing these prices "hold up" on southwest for this long I bought 500 shares of LUV at $7.60 (a month ago-down from $12) and today its up to $8.42......with a little stock market Santa Clause rally (real soon), I could still make it!

On another side note, I am getting "great" offers for that week and really want to go!

weggie

Not really.

A 757-200 flying from New York to Las Vegas will burn about 35,000lbs. of jet fuel, roughly 5,200 gallons each way, or 10,400 gallons roundtrip.

At current prices, that's about $57,200 worth of fuel.

Assuming a full 160 passengers each way, that's $357.50 worth of fuel to haul each passenger back and forth. That's just fuel!

On a $414 ticket, that leaves the airline $56.50 per person to buy the plane, get some pilots and flight attendants, pay for some people to maintain it, buy parts for stuff that breaks, build a website to sell tickets, lease space at two airports, deal with the FAA, and find some tiny bags of peanuts.

$414 is not a ridiculous price at all. In fact, if that's what you pay to fly to Vegas and back, you can be certain the airline is losing money on you. They'll sell it to you for that because they rather get something for your seat than leave it empty.

If something's ridiculous, it's that they can do what they do for so many for so little.