majie,

Only you can decide what is a reasonable price really. If you are happy to pay the advertised price, then go for it. The trick is not to look again afterwards! Generally speaking, you'll get the best price the earlier you book as prices fluctuate based on economics (demand / supply). 3 - 4 months before your travel date can be the best time to book, but if bookings are strong, the price can go up, as well as down so it's best just to keep checking the prices for your dates and as soon as you see the price you like, book it. There are pro's and cons of flying in to JFK or EWK, it depends where you are heading to once you land and with JFK being the major airport, it is generally more expensive to fly in to it. It's a bit like the difference between Heathrow and Gatwick.

Darren

hello, thank you for replying... i understand the issues surrounding booking.. i prob didnt make myself clear... in my defence i have been on nights !! I mean historically what would be the average price you would expect to pay in may for new york. I have no idea, but if you asked me the same question in europe i would be able to give an approx answer... i would know what was expensive for arguments sake, but at the same time appreciate if the flights are selling the price is inflated.

Because of the demise of Aegean i had to rebook turkey in september at a cost of £730 for 2... now I know I paid WELL over the odds.. but I didnt have a choice... so if anyone was able to say some kind of figure to give me an idea I would be grateful... even ' an average price for new york is between 5 & 600 quid in May and I found some for £630 and I thought that was ok I would book... some of the prices on sky scanner at over 1k... but for all I know that is the norm !!.... that kind of thing.... you see i haven't been to america before so I am at a loss.

Any advice is welcome and thanks for taking the time to reply.

Unless you really have to fly out of Manchester to NYC then I would look at getting the train or a BA flight to LHR and fly out of there, then £500-£600 is about right. Try booking your flights to encompass a saturday night. Also try booking your MAN-LHR flights seperately rather than a routing MAN-LHR-NYC as sometimes that works out cheaper although should the seperate flights get delayed then you lose the protection of the airline having to sort you out. BA and Virgin tend to be within a few pence as each other. If your not bothered about speed then KLM are usually very good offering cheap economy prices- i've been quoted £450 rtn for pre christmas week last year(not exactly NY's low period) KLM should fly out of Manchester too.

I think its AA who fly direct out of Manchester to JFK but they know this and charge accordingly- avoid their monopoly. The aircraft is not exactly competitive either- it is a 757 and not really enjoyable for 7hours.

EWR is slightly closer to NYC but JFK is easier on the subway to get to Manhattan. The return journey via taxi to JFK will take an age in rush hour(the usual time, based on return flight times to Europe) but EWR less so. Its 6 of 1 or half a dozen of the other really... JFK has more flights and I tend to use it more(I go at least once a year) as there is more transport options and flights to choose from.

2 points here.

You have a more important issue than just price - you need a group of seats at that price. It's possible the system may add a few reduced price seats to the flight you want if you wait but will it add enough? Try doing a price enquiry for one seat, it might not be the same as what you've been quoted. What exact dates were you looking at? I've just done a general check on http://www.skyscanner.net and there seems to be big spikes in prices on 2 weekends. Oddly one is the traditional bank holiday weekend - which isn't happening next year!

The second issue is travelling to London etc. Unless you can do it for free and can do the journey at convenient times for checkin so don't need hotels you'd need to bear in mind these extras when comparing costs. No point saving £50 on the flight if you end up with £150 of extras and more hassle. Trains from Manchester to London are currently severely disrupted due to yet another cable theft and unless Network Rail bring in a shoot to kill policy as a deterent the same could happen on the day you'd be travelling.

i wouldnt dream of flying from a london airport... i couldnt be bothered with the journey both ways despite any savings. thanks anyway. i will look at booking smaller groups on, see if that makes any difference on skyscanner. we are looking at 4th to 10th, but it is flexible.

There is a potential risk in booking the group in smaller batches. The smaller bookings would be classed as seperate contracts, if the airline had to alter the aircraft type and capacity they could alter or cancel one booking and not offer the same to the other. Insurance companies would take a similar view unless everyone was on a group policy - if everyone had individual policies they would have some cover for cancelling in the event of something serious happening to someone in their "party" but the insurer may class the party as just those on the same booking reference.

Skyscanner prices are a rough guide not guaranteed but sometimes throw out options youmight not have thought about.

thanks steve. I am kicking myself for not booking at £430 but hindsight is a wonderful thing. Had I seen a good price in europe i would have booked it straight away knowing the flight prices go up.... why i didnt apply the same criteria for america ... who knows... oh well you live and learn... may postpone for a year.

this is the final time i will be bothering you all.... i am looking at ba/american airlines for oct 2012 as they are not out yet so i am working on the premise they may be a little cheaper at first and i wont be hanging about. any ideas when they normally come out ??

thank you

usually come out eleven months before flight dates so they should be out in November

Judith