Buying Airtickets To The U.s. In 2011

[Pengyou]

I will be returning to the u.s. during the winter break of 2011. When is usually the best, i.e. cheapest, time to buy a round trip ticket from Shanghai to either Seattle or San Francisco?

[jbradfor]

By "best time", do you the best time purchase them (i.e. how far ahead), or the best time to fly (i.e. time of day / day of week)?

If the former, I'm not sure about your particular flight, but in general I've found 2 months -> 3 weeks before traveling. Also, you might be interested in yapta.com, which allows you to enter the flight you want, and every day it will price that flight for you. So you can watch the trend line for a good time to buy. It's also fun to watch.

If the latter, normally mid-week is best, but there are plenty of web sites that will search entire weeks or months for the cheapest fare, so those make more sense.

[GreenArrow45]

Hate to confuse you a bit, but, I have always found the best time to buy plane tickets (especially for going overseas) to be as far in advance as you can. For instance, my ticket to China when I came cost something like 1200 USD economy class, but I had bought it several months in advance...by the time the day of my flight came around, the price was up nearer 1700 or 1800 USD for an economy class ticket.

[adrianlondon]

It might not be the same, but ... for long-haul flights out of London 3 months in advance tends to be th "magic time" to buy the tickets. Prior to then the prices are high and fixed. Around 3 months, the airlines start to plan the load and drop the prices. As seats sell, the price goes back up eventually to what it was before.

However, with the current market, and some airlines in a bit of a mess, they might appreciate the cash up front so it's still worth checking even now. It's usually impossible to buy tickets more than 12 months before you fly.