How to know when to fly?

I'm sure a lot of you on this board are experts at seeking out cheap flights, so maybe someone has some experience to send my way. My husband and I would like to fly roundtrip from London to Atlanta sometime in the next year. I've looked and found roundtrip tickets, on British Airways no less (which is usually one of the more costly airlines, but also one of the nicer ones), for $600 each. I had priced going just after Christmas, and that was about $900, and going in late March/early April was also nearly $900. Those are the times of year we are able to go (I know it would probably be cheaper in Feb., but my husband is a teacher and he just can't go during term).

I think the March/April trip would be ideal for various reasons, but the other times will work, too, if it means saving hundreds of dollars.

So, does anyone know what prices I can expect to find in late Dec. or in late March if we don't take advantage of the August fares? Are they likely to go down to $600 or less?

The prices are always going to be steep around Christmas/New Years, and Easter. It appears that Easter is March 23, 2008, so the prices in late March will definitely be high. I don't expect that the fares would go down to $600 or less, but they certainly could go up!

In general the good deals on all the carriers are mid-January to mid March and mid-Sept to mid-December. Otherwise, you are flying at peak times, and paying for the privilege.

I just got on expedia this a.m. and checked out flying around 27/03-03/04 (round trip) and on Northwest, you can fly for approx. £450 per person non-stop. That's a lot better than paying £600 per person (if that was per person).

I was assuming you meant 600 dollars, correct? I don't expect that the prices would go below 300 pounds at those times.

I just found tickets for Christmas for 420 pounds, which I thought was pretty reasonable for that time of year (on BA, which I actually don't really like, but usually has good deals). I don't think they will be going much lower than that, unless I could leave before about the 15th of December, which unfortunately I cannot.

Yep, I was talking $600 *dollars*, not pounds!

Would it be cheaper to get my US mom to pay for my ticket, and then i pay her back?
Is there a difference in price between buying airline tickets in the USA v UK?

Would it be cheaper to get my US mom to pay for my ticket, and then i pay her back?
Is there a difference in price between buying airline tickets in the USA v UK?

Sometimes there can be! For instance, I went back to NYC in June, and saved money by buying the ticket from Continental's US website, vs. the UK site. I just put it on my US credit card, registered to my Mom's house...no problems.

Definitely check both sites before buying.

Edited to add: Not all sites will let you do this...I just checked with BA, for instance, and it is focing me to pay in pounds whether I say I am in the US or the UK because I would be departing from the UK. But we've definitely done this with Continental, at least.

thanks... i dont have a US credit card, but maybe i can get my mom to put it on hers.

When the time comes, i will check into that.

thanks... i dont have a US credit card, but maybe i can get my mom to put it on hers.

When the time comes, i will check into that.

You should be able to go to sites like expedia.com and pay with a UK credit card.

Helpful info on finding cheap flights:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-flights

There can be big differences paying in US $ vs UK £.   Not only that, it's pays to really check all the sites - the airlines as well as the consolidators - expedia, travelocity, orbitz, etc.  The best way to check them all is www.kayak.com.  AS we were leaving the UK to come back to the US in May, I was checking for the cheapest way to go and trying to purchase just a one-way which is always more expensive.  I had gone to Continental's page which is the airline we used most to go between Birmingham and Denver.  The flight was going to be around $1200 each for a roundtrip (and we would have just used the one-way portion of it) or around $1800 for the one-way.  I went to Expedia and plugged in the same information and it was a bit lower.  Then we decided we wanted to do a side-trip to Bonaire in the Caribbean.  So I plugged all that in and with a one week stopover for some serious scuba diving on Bonaire and then on to Denver, the cost was a total of $900 each and turned into a one-way ticket.  So it's best to play with all of the websites.  I called Continental and asked them if they could meet/beat that price and they said "no way and to enjoy the savings"!  So there is really no rhyme or reason to flying.  Even around Christmas, it's usually very expensive to fly.  But last year around July, I booked my kids/grandkids flights from Denver to London to fly Dec 22 and return Jan 9 and got those tickets for $450 each!  So there are bargiains, you just have to be on the lookout.  There is a website www.farewatcher.com that will send you emails when prices change as well as some of the airlines have that when you sign up.  It's really just a gamble at best!  Good luck and happy shopping

I do know to compare, and I've been doing it like crazy! Different dates, different airports. My favorite Web site has always been cheaptickets.com, but I just found one that's that best for search multiple sites at once: onetime.com. You can put a check next to as many of the sites you'd like it to check for the same dates -- cheaptickets, kayak, etc., all at once. This is cool, but of course only helps so much, as you're just checking the different search engines, which never seem to be more than a few dollars apart in price.

I usually used cheaptickets.com as well until I found a cheaper site.  www.vayama.com had by far the best deals I could find for our trip to the UK in September.  They were half the price of everyone else! 

I usually used cheaptickets.com as well until I found a cheaper site.  www.vayama.com had by far the best deals I could find for our trip to the UK in September.  They were half the price of everyone else! 

Thanks! I just checked, and unfortunately I didn't find anything that was like the deal you found. However, vayama was a few dollars less than the other cheapest tickets I'd found, so it's worth saving that link!

I am from Atlanta and never get a better deal than about $600 to fly between gatwick-atlanta direct. I am getting a ticket for October and right now it is running about $1000 on both BA and Delta. If I wasn't pregnant I would connect so it does down to around $800 but I don't really want to go through the trouble  I say $600 is a good deal and snatch it up if you find it!