Luci,

The price of flights tend to fluctuate depending on demand. If demand is high, the prices stay high and sometimes go up. If demand is low, they sometimes drop. The best thing to do is just keep an eye on them. Normally, 2-3 months prior to your departure date is the best time to buy since airlines will be trying to fill seats. However, bear in mind that flights can become full and you may miss out on the flight. It's just a case of keeping an eye on them and if it becomes availalbe at a price you are willing to pay, book it then don't look again just in case it falls!

Darren

PS: I hope you had a good time in Vegas. Did you make your connection at MAN ok?

Thanks Darren, I will just have to keep my nerve. The flight we decide on changes with the weather. Yesterday we were looking at going ABZ-MAN-ORD-LAS with bmi, but today we are back looking at going ABZ-MAN-LAS direct. However that would involve going down to Manchester the night before and staying overnight as there isn't a flight from ABZ early enough to catch the Las Vegas flight. Decisions, decisions!

Yes we did have a good time in Las Vegas despite me getting food poisoning from an egg and cheese sandwich on the ABZ-MAN flight. I was ill for 4 1/2 days We did manage the connection OK despite the ABZ flight leaving 20 mins late. It helped that the LAS flight was 60 mins late in leaving.

luci

Luci - with airline network you can sign up for email alerts on flight route you are interested in. That's what I've done for New York flight for next year.

Thanks Dawn. I have signed up with them a week or two agao, but haven't received anything from them yet. Maybe if I add the route MAN - LAS rather than ABZ-LAS I will have more luck.

I am now veering towards booking ABZ-MAN then direct to Vegas rather than a flight with a connection in Chicago and I don't think that route will come down in price so looking to book it soon. Will have to go down to MAN the night before though as I can't get a flight early enough to make the connection otherwise.

luci

hi just to echo dazbo, prices can drop nearer the time, if you look in the news paper awell i look in the metro paper all the time and you always get offers for the following month if you see what i mean.
It is a bit hit and miss though.

Thanks Jessop

I'm too nervous to leave it till the last minute in case I couldn't get booked or the flights were a fortune.

We booked in June to go to Las Vegas in November and I thought the flights were expensive at £587 each. Kept checking them and they went up to £1200 a couple of months beforehand and then to £3000! They did eventually come down to about the same as we paid, but that was just a couple of weeks before travel and I could never leave it that late.

luci

Crikey! Flights to New York at the moment are coming up at £800+ for 2 for next May. There's plenty of availability at the moment and so I'm going to hold off until after xmas to see there's a "new year sale". Also I notice KLM currently have offers on until the end of April so I'm hoping come next month they'll extend that into May!

I kow where you're coming from Luci, I can't leave it until the last moment as we have to travel around hubby's off shifts and can only fly out on one of three days so it doesn't leave us much leeway.

Even though we aren't restricted to dates, I crumbled and booked the flights. Yes they are expensive and having to connect from Aberdeen adds about £100 each, but at least I know I'm definitely going.

When are you looking to go Dawn? I was advised to book between Xmas and New Year to get the best prices if that's any help.

luci

Get ready for the January sales, it is the cheapest time to book the scheduled flight on the date and time you want.
You have to pay now and there are no changes.
Look for an American airline at the moment as they will price it in dollars.

Hi Luci, we want to go (ideally) from a Thurs to Tues so we are looking at the 10th of May but we can fly on the 8th, 9th or 11th too (but we had been told to avoid Fridays as NYC airports can be a nightmare on that day?)
Newcastle or Durham Tees are our nearest airports so we'de prefer to start from one of those and connect somewhere, however we would drive down to Manchester if we can get a good price on a direct flight but we'd need to take petrol, parking and possibly a hotel into consideration so, depending on the price, I'm not sure that's an option.

me and some friends have also been pricing up flights at the moment to the usa for later next year (october probably) the prices are really high at the moment in this case i think its going to work out cheaper to wait for a while for the prices to come down some more.

Not sure if you are just looking for flights only. If you are looking for accommodation as well there is a company United Vacations who do USA and Canada and offer free ad ons from your local airport. Used to be quite popular when I worked in travel as lots of people took advantage of the free add on from ABZ.

We've used United Vacations before, but last time I tried them their fares had gone up considerably. We've opted to go non-stop from Manchester again.

luci

Back to our NY trip -

Boo! KLM from NCL via Amsterdam have now gone up to £915!!

Hurrah! Continental direct from Manchester have now come down to £700. £350 each is more like it so I'm now looking to see how much parking, petrol etc. will cost us but it looks like Manchester is an option after all

Luci, we're now booked on continental and leave on the 10th of May

Excellent news Dawn! Now you can really start looking forward to it and planning the fine detail.

We leave to come home on 10 May, arriving back on the 11th so I will be thinking of you.

luci