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!