Flying from MSP to MBJ

[nattyj]

I am looking into flights from MSP to MBJ in mid-march 2016. Usually, when I do this I have a lot more flexibility since its just my husband and myself. However, this time we are bringing our three teenagers. Prices seem to be all over the board and I thought I may see some sort of Labor Day sale but no.
For those who fly out of MSP (it seems to be a lot of people here) how long should I wait since I am trying to get 5 seats? I could book Southwest for $678 but am hesitating. Can't wait to have the flight out of the way so we can just countdown the days til Negril.

[Jamiaca_jeff]

We have flown out of MSP to MBJ for at least the past 10 years. We start checking airfare the first day they become available ( 331 days before your return), and book when we think we got a good price. This year for our December trip we got on the first available date a fare of $449 each. Just keep checking until either you get the fare you are happy with or there are not too many seats left.

[CosmicMoose]

Nattyj,

I've seen this in a few places:

The ideal time for airline flights is 171 days prior to the trip for international flights, 57 for domestic flights.

Also Tuesday 3pm Eastern is the best time of the week to book.

I'd check the closest Tuesday to 171 days out and see how that fare is.

As always with airfares, things change, so your mileage may vary.

~Moose

[rocknrollfarmer]

Just curious Jamiaca Jeff??? For that flight of $449 pp. Was it non-stop Sun Country or a layover somewhere with another airline??? I'm still waiting to pull the trigger for Dec. I'll gladly do a layover somewhere for an hour or so, but none of the 7 hour layover stuff.

[captaind & Linston]

Cap

[Jamiaca_jeff]

Just curious Jamiaca Jeff??? For that flight of $449 pp. Was it non-stop Sun Country or a layover somewhere with another airline??? I'm still waiting to pull the trigger for Dec. I'll gladly do a layover somewhere for an hour or so, but none of the 7 hour layover stuff.

Because we have a 4 hour drive to MSP we have a 5 in the afternoon flight to CLT, spend the night there and leave the next morning, Our return is leave MBJ around 1:30 and return to MSP around 9:30. For our flight out of MSP we either have to go down the day before and spend the night in MSP or drive to MSP and catch a flight out the same day and spend the night elsewhere. We have a couple times when spending the night in MSP missed our connections, with spending the night in CLT this does not happen and we get into MBJ a couple hours sooner. We have been doing this with US Air but it is now American.

[fargoman]

Last year the prices didn't drop for January and February until late fall out of MSP..then Delta and Sun Country had directs for under 400$ on many different weeks..hopefully will be the same

[rocknrollfarmer]

fargoman, you keep an "eye" on this....and send out alerts RFN !!!

[nattyj]

Thanks everyone for the advice and entertainment. I plan to wait it out a little. Hopefully prices will keep dropping.
Anyone know how you can know how many seats are left on Southwest flights?