When should I buy a cross country plane ticket?

March 8, 2020 9:50 PM

My family is traveling cross country this summer for a visit - we are going from a major hub to a major hub, and wanting to fly non-stop. When should I buy the tickets?

I noticed all the news about the Coronavirus leaving planes empty. Is this a good week for me to try to get plane tickets for 4 people to fly this summer? I've found in the past that the tickets are $$$$ (thousands of dollars), so I would like to time this right.

posted by Toddles to Travel & Transportation (5 answers total)

United just announced that if you buy a ticket this month, you can change the dates as needed within the next year.
posted by metahawk at 9:59 PM on March 8, 2020 [1 favorite]

Same for American - not sure if it was all year, but it was at least through the summer. Prices were also down when I compared to a trip I already booked.
posted by DoubleLune at 3:20 AM on March 9, 2020

And Alaska Airlines will refund tickets purchased before the end of the month for travel through March 2021. So yes I think this is a great time to buy!
posted by mskyle at 4:51 AM on March 9, 2020

I would not buy non-refundable tickets for this summer right now unless you can afford to lose the money. It's hard to say what's going to happen over the next few months.

And Alaska Airlines will refund tickets purchased before the end of the month for travel through March 2021. So yes I think this is a great time to buy!

Make sure to read the fine print. Sounds to me like Alaska is saying you can cancel and have credit with them, not that they'll refund you ("Cancel your trip and deposit the funds into My Account wallet").
posted by bluedaisy at 1:10 PM on March 9, 2020 [1 favorite]

To a first approximation, the airlines are all going to basically the Southwest Airlines model of changeability. On Southwest, there is no specific change fee (and why would there be, since the flight is still nonrefundable and the airline is keeping all your money in ancy case). Instead, if you switch flights you have to pay the price difference between the flight you had before and the new one, if any. You have to fly within a certain period of time or the funds do permanently expire, so keep that timeline in mind. Also note that United has introduced some new rules that are grossly unfair to passengers, such as a rule that they get you to your destination within 25 hours of the original flight, they owe you nothing. So nonstops on United may not be nonstop by the time your flight rolls around.
posted by wnissen at 3:47 PM on March 9, 2020