Tips for finding cheap airfare to Jamaica

[Clarity]

Yesterday afternoon I was looking at airline prices San Francisco to Montego Bay for our next trip
…And I was shocked by the prices.

Ticket price last April: $465 round trip on Airtran
Now: 685+ round trip!
That’s insane!

So I did some research and I Figured I’d share this info I found with anyone that might be interested – most of these you've probably already heard:

1. There are specific “Best days” to buy tickets (ie.Tuesdays 3 PM Eastern - supposedly - I guess I'll find out today if that's true) and the ticket prices rise by the end of the week

2. Saturdays are the cheapest day to fly (along with Tuesday/Wednesday) while Sundays the most expensive.

3. It’s best to buy one ticket at a time separately rather than search for two. You have a better chance of getting at least one of the tickets at a high discount.

4. Airlines start really discounting 3-4 months before the departure date. Prices usually begin to go up again 14 days before departure. Eight weeks before a flight is supposedly the most ideal time to book a cheap ticket.

So according to these rules - looking for a flight with a departure date many months from now on a monday afternoon is what I was doing wrong.
Which leads me to the question:

When do YOU buy your airline tickets? Do you have any tips for getting the best airline rate to Jamaica?
What websites have you used to score your cheapest tickets?


Right now I use Kayak.com & Bing.com for plane tickets and Orbitz for vacation packages. Is something better out there?

Thanks for any advice or suggestions you can offer. I appreciate it!

[Ras Walleye]

I was looking for our December flights and all I found was $800 to $1200 out of Minneapolis, which is 2 -3 times what we usually pay. During a Saturday Seastar cast a couple months ago I decided on a whim to do a search and found flights for $412 so I jumped on it. The next day the same tix were back over $800. I use Kayak also and these tix were on Vayama.com

[MoFromMonroe]

I booked our airfare a few months ago for December using Continental.com (Newark NJ to MBJ non stop). Price was $348/pp.With the price of gas I couldn't see it getting any lower but only time will tell.

[Captain Oil]

We use www.itasoftware.com ................. MOST of the time they have the cheapest airfares listed .............. but ALL the time they have the best features to find specific dates, range of dates, length of stay, etc.. search results and a ready to read calender of results ..................... we use these features to find the best days to travel, best time of travel, etc.......... THEN go to airline sites, discounters etc..... to find the actual best prices .................... MOST of the time the airline websites themselves have the best deals

[yellowjeep]

RasWalleye...thanks for the tip on using Kayak - we also fly out of Minneapolis and the prices are rediculous! I typically use Orbitz but will now check out Kayak. That's awesome that you got your Dec tickets under $500!!!!!

[negrilaholic]

I usually check out kayak and bing, but I have found the best prices by going directly to the airlines, or in my case, American Airlines has the best prices and routes that I have seen so far..beats out Delta by a long ways.

I could leave from St. Louis if there are any charter deals, but found out that since Tulsa is less than an hour away from me, it would be best to go that route..with connections in Dallas. Cheapest I have found so far after fiddling around with dates quite a bit is $639..and it only goes up from there. (sigh).

[rastagirl777]

Clarity - you did well for your April trip. The round trip price you found from San Francisco of $685.00 is pretty typical.

I travel for a living and have posted most the "rules" you stated above several times. Its a crap shoot whether or not you'll get a better deal booking 3-4 months out or not....sometimes if planes aren't filling fares will drop significantly a month or even two weeks out.

When I book business travel I generally cannot until a month out. I also don't always have the flexibility to fly when I want. I use Kayak as a research tool but will also visit websites that don't do Kayak such as Southwest or Horizon.

When researching air be sure to look at the "hidden" fees - baggage, seat selection etc. Also take into mind taxes and airport fees - some sites don't list a "with tax" fare - Kayak does. They also have an option for you to calculate fares based on the number of bags you plan to check.

As far as Jamaica goes I'm out of touch only in that I fly on Frequent Flyer miles every year. My godson got about a $500.00 fare last year flying out of San Jose. It would be a stretch for me coming from Sonoma County but if you are actually "in" San Francisco or the East Bay you do have three airport options open to you. I've found Oakland is usually the most expensive and San Jose the cheapest.

When do you plan on flying? (season) That makes a difference too. Every airline knows every market's high season and prices accordingly. That and take into account holidays - even Presidents Day the fares shoot up.

Good luck - I'm sure you can find a fare lower than $685, give it time.

[RasHeidi]

I usually check out kayak and bing, but I have found the best prices by going directly to the airlines, or in my case, American Airlines has the best prices and routes that I have seen so far..beats out Delta by a long ways.

I could leave from St. Louis if there are any charter deals, but found out that since Tulsa is less than an hour away from me, it would be best to go that route..with connections in Dallas. Cheapest I have found so far after fiddling around with dates quite a bit is $639..and it only goes up from there. (sigh).

I live in St. Louis and have gone through vacationhotline.net in the past. Every single time I have used them, we end up flying on USA3000..whether it's from Saint Louis or from Chicago. We are going next month on the 15th and decided to go directly through the airline for $466 round trip. This is the most I have ever paid but with gas prices, we decided to go ahead and get them a couple of months ago, because the travel agent said that's the best price she's seen. We had a last minute addition to our group, in which our friend ordered his ticket just a couple of days ago and the price was exactly the same as ours. So, if you want to try to fly out of STL, look on www.usa3000.com...

[Clarity]

Thanks everyone for your feedback!

So the Tuesday “rule” seems to have some truth in it after all! I just checked again and some SFO-MOBAY flight prices have dropped to as low as $527! – Unfortunately the times aren’t optimal. 6 AM departure – and late night arrival Montego Bay. I would lose an entire day. The red eyes flights are more expensive...

Ras Walleye and Mo – Lucky! How I *WISH* I could find prices that good! I would jump on them in a heartbeat! Thanks for the tip on Vayama.com. I’m going to give that a try too.

Captain Oil – Thank you for the link to www.itasoftware.com – I’ve been searching for that site! Someone had shared that with me a while back and I couldn’t remember the name of it! It's a really helpful site! Thanks!

Negrilaholic – I agree that right now American Airlines has the cheapest flights to MoBay. Better than Airtran! (which is surprising)

Rastagirl777- Thank you so much for the great tips and helpful advice.!

I didn’t realize that Southwest and Horizon don’t do Kayak. I’ll search those separately now.

I agree with you on the hidden fees! Now I only go with Carry-on because the baggage fees are ridiculous. I was also disappointed that there is a fee on Airtran in order to choose your seat on the plane!

...And all those websites that create false hopes by advertising a price that becomes DOUBLE that amount when taxes are added in. That is always a major disappointment.

The dates I’ve been looking for have been tentatively November -first week of the month- and late April 2012. I was hoping there was some secret formula for finding a super cheap flight but You’re right, it’s really luck of the draw!

Thanks guys!

[rastagirl777]

Clarity, yeah those fees are doozies. Especially the seat ones - just to reserve a seat each leg on Spirit costs a minimum of $5 and that's for a middle seat.

Wondering why your fares are as high for when you are going...both seem low season enough...wondering if Easter is "late" this year?