Being calendar savvy can save you up to 68%.
Buy now or wait is the chicken-and-egg question of airline travel for leisure travelers. On business, you go when you have to go. But for pleasure, there’s always the conundrum of when to book to get the best fare.
For international itineraries, the airlines train us to book far in advance, a strategy that sometimes pays off.
But what about domestic First Class travel? Especially for trips that are certain, such as holiday family travel or to reach a cruise port. U.S. carriers are happy to oblige: Most of them sell tickets 11 months out. But the key is to understand the Purchase Window Requirement (PWR), which is the airlines’ way of putting First Class on sale during a certain time period.
[aside headline="When booking domestic First Class fares way in advance can be a good idea:" alignment="alignright" width="half" headline_size="default"]Conferences: Business or motivational are often announced way in advance. Predictable Family Trips: Holidays, such as Thanksgiving and Christmas, or annual family reunions, or milestone birthday celebrations. Cruises: The lines will let you book up to two years in advance. Many popular cruises leave from Ft. Lauderdale, Los Angeles, Seattle, etc. Long Holiday Weekends: Many love to book these in advance (July 4th or Memorial Day). School Vacations: If you have kids, you’re likely into planning in advance. Predictable Sports Events: Such as the Indianapolis 500, the Kentucky Derby, or the Super Bowl. Festivals: Such as the Cherry Blossom in Washington or Mardi Gras.[/aside]
The Purchase-Window Requirement (PWR)
This is not the same as the advanced purchase requirement. The PWR is the travel window, the fare fuse, so to speak. A 90-day PWR means that you must depart within 90 days of the fare purchase date. The lowest First Class fares can come with a PWR. If you’re not departing within the PWR, you’ll pay more, often much more. But just to complicate matters, the lowest First Class fares may also come with an advance-purchase requirement of 7 to 21 days. To get the lowest fare, you have to satisfy both requirements.
Three Airlines, Three Different PWRs
The three major U.S. carriers each have a different PWR. American’s PWR is 90 days and Delta’s 180 days. United does not have a PWR, meaning you can book a fare for late this year or 2015 and it will not make a difference in the cost.
PWR Example Discrepancy
I’ll use Dallas-New York—which all three majors fly non-stop—as a sample route and the traveler’s name will be Ann, who is traveling to New York in May for a family birthday and then again in November for a family holiday. Keep in mind that the PWRs on this route apply to most every other U.S route.
November travel: If Ann books her ticket now (about seven months out) in First Class on American, the lowest fare will be $2,042. Delta is also $2,042, whereas United is only $728 (64% less).
May travel: The lowest First Class fare on American is $802 (61% less than in November) and on Delta $562 (73% less than in November). United’s fare remains the same, $728, now 29% more than Delta, which offers the lowest First Class fare on this route.
The huge difference between fares for November and May on American and Delta is not because of availability, but because of the PWR. (See chart below for more PWR examples.)
PWR’s Effect on the Loyalty Mindset
Let’s also say that Ann is a Delta SkyMiles Medallion member, meaning that she chooses carriers based on earning Delta miles—something I call the Loyalty Mindset (LM). (It’s fine if you fly the same route and don’t have a choice of carriers. Otherwise, it’s largely a trap.) Because of LM, Ann will pay $562 for her May trip and $2,042 for her November trip. If she were not married to a mileage program, she could have paid $562 for her May trip on Delta and $728 for her November trip on United. LM, in this, case is costing Ann $1,314 (64%). Loyalty costs money.
Can’t Wait and Faced With a High Fare?
Let’s say that Ann ends up buying the May ticket at $562 and the November ticket for $2,042—making sure that her family holiday is confirmed is a must, even at a high cost— with Delta.
The May ticket is non-refundable and has a $200 change fee, plus the fare difference. The November ticket is fully refundable and can be changed without a penalty once Ann is within the 180-day PWR. Moreover, if the change results in a lower fare, the difference may be refunded to the original form of payment, a credit to her credit card, for example.
Airline change and cancelation rules vary, often based on the type of fare paid. Just to show how byzantine this can be, the American ticket at $2,042 is non-refundable, has a $200 change fee, and credits come in the form of a non-refundable transportation voucher.
Another PWR Workaround: “Bulk Fares”
Here’s one of the golden rules of online leisure travel booking: A package deal sometimes beats á la carte pricing. Book through the AA Vacations or Delta Vacations desk, both of which sell bulk fares, and you can encounter fewer rules, including the PWR. The catch is that you have to buy a land component (hotel and/or rental car).
Let’s take Delta’s Los Angeles-Honolulu fare. A First Class ticket booked 181+ days out costs $2,619 round-trip. With seven nights at the JW Marriott ($3,582), the total comes to $6,201 for one person. The same flight and hotel booked through Delta’s Vacation desk comes in at $4,191, a savings of $2,010 (32%).
Window of Opportunity Conclusion
With First Class domestic fares, it comes down to four options:
Option 1: If you want to fly your preferred airline, keep its PWR in mind to qualify for the lowest fare.
Option 2: BUT, if you’re going to a major sporting event (Super Bowl, Indy 500) or flying during a peak travel week (Iron Man in Kona), or a family gathering, or going to a conference in a city during peak season, and have to book the higher priced ticket now, then try to change it later for a lower fare, when fares can plummet due to the PWR.
Option 3: If you’re headed to a destination off-season, say a conference in Phoenix in summer, get inside the PWR and book.
Option 4: Check United. The lack of a PWR often yields a better deal when booking way in advance.