Airfair in Sept, 2008

[Pengyou]

I need to return to the U.S. (Beijing to San Francisco) in September of 2008 for 6-8 weeks. I have tried the standard sites, i.e. yahoo, etc and they all yield very expensive tickets. Can anyone suggest a good way/the best way to get the lowest price ticket? Is shopping this early an advantage or disadvantage? Will I find better rates a few months later?

[eeraser]

I have either used these sites, or heard good things,but you shoudl try these sites:

Forcast coming fare changes in air travel:

http://www.farecast.com/

http://www.kayak.com/

http://www.mobissimo.com/search_airfare.php

Good luck.

[LaoZhang]

Kayak is great. Check for the lowest price on Kayak and if you're flexible on the time/day, then use Priceline and offer a price that's even lower than what you find. This has worked well for me over the years for airfare, hotel and car rentals.

[ipsi()]

I think you picked the wrong time to go back, as it's just after the Olympics, and all those people who are staying for a couple of weeks afterwards will be flying back around then...

[self-taught-mba]

Agree with Ipsi. Probably the timing.

[travelingfools]

Pengyou- We bought tickets STL-PEK-HKG-STL for $1250 on United for Sep 2008 (direct flight). Try qixo.com as well as the other sites mentioned and mark your desired trip with Yapta. I was looking for flights, I marked the flight with Yapta, and finally bought the tickets. Two weeks later, the price dropped $400 overnight. I got up in the moning to a email message from Yapta telling me to call customer service IMMEDIATELY--they even gave me the phone number--I called in the got the $400/ticket returned in a voucher which I have a year to use. Meanwhile, the ticket price went back up to $1500+. Hope this helps.