Booking a Vacation Help!

[Nightbreed]

Is there a best time to book a vacation? How long in advance is best?

Planning a trip to Hawaii in September, flying out of NY.

Expedia, Orbitz, Priceline are all right around one another in price (is there a better route to go?) and right now I can get 8 nights + airfare for $1,206 per person in the hotel the wife wants to stay at.

Should I wait a little longer and see what happens or just book now. Seems like a good price but again I have never researched Hawaii before now.

[Quixon]

Airfare will definitely increase as you get closer to your departure date. You will want to book and pay for that as soon as possible. Also, keep in mind it's almost always cheaper to fly on a Wednesday :-p.

You can also compare your deals online with a regular old brick and mortar travel agent. Liberty Travel is who I use to cross-check numbers with online sources, they have actually been cheaper on 2 separate occasions.

It's also typically cheaper in my experience to fly out of JFK... rather than LaGuardia or Newark. I usually fly vacation out of the country though for vacation.

I went to Hawaii in 2005 (I think it was 2005...). We flew out of JFK and had a connecting flight in Denver. The flight is sooooooo fucking long man lol, I think it's 18 hours total? Once you hit Cali, you aren't even half way there yet haha. I went with a big group so we had REALLY reduced rates. I paid $870 for 6 days 7 nights. We stayed at the Ohana Waikiki West in Waikiki.

What island are you staying on?

[Nightbreed]

Yea I am definitely leaving from JFK, it's about $200 cheaper than Newark. We are flying into Kona and staying there, wife has her mind set on that. I don't really care where I stay as long as I get the beach, beer and fish.

The dates I can travel in September the cheapest I got was Sunday the 20th - Tuesday the 28th.

I will check with Liberty Travel also (thanks for the tip)

The flight that has us connecting in San Fran both ways.

[Quixon]

Not bad at all.

I was going to recommend you some places in Oahu, but you aren't going there so :-p.

Kona is supposed to be really great. Take lots of pictures!

You put the damn thought into my head to travel back there now -_-. I got a price of $1200 for the same place we stayed at in Oahu. February 09' was the latest I could book though -_-.



One more tip! Each of you should bring some form of ear phones, ear plugs, w/e. The flights back are typically late and overnighters, so I'm assuming yours will be too. The last thing you want to sit through is a fucking kid(s) crying for 9 hours, when you are trying to get the hell to sleep. Yeah I was an idiot and had to sit through that from Honolulu -> LAX on the way home. I wanted to choke a bitch.

[Dezzimal]

I guess you're just looking for package deals right? If you think you can swing making your own package you could try http://www.farecompare.com to locate pretty good deals on airfare. Its a compilation site kinda like froogle or progressive that shows you fares from everywhere and lets you specify pretty broad search parameters so you can look through a lot of different fares all at once. From what I'm seeing you want to make sure to get out there before may 21st at the latest, before fares spike to $500 and then $700 a week later.

[Nightbreed]

The flight coming home on most of the prices I am seeing is leave Hawaii at 9:20PM and arrive in NY next day at 4:30PM. So headphones are a must.

There is a Liberty Travel a few minutes from me so I may stop in and see what they can come up with, looks like Expedia, Orbitz have the best prices right now for the dates I am looking at.

And those prices are insane 450-700-1000 wish i could fly out next month and save some cash

Thanks for the help!

[SephYuyX]

Order asap. I bought my tickets to London 3 months in advance and it only cost me 500$ for a round trip, instead of near 900$. High travel places always increase a lot the closer to the departure, and Hawaii is quite the popular place. Some places (expedia I believe does) will refund you the difference if they lower prices, or if you can find a cheaper flight.

[Azalee]

When my family went to Hawaii in December of 2007 we got lucky and on our flight down there, the travel agency had us in First Class because nothing else was available. That was pretty spiffy. =P