Originally Posted by
Often1
Maybe.
The reason that lower fare buckets have not opened for holidays is that no carrier has a good handle on RM / IM due to the pandemic. Maybe all of the seats will be snapped up and all you will be left with is Y. On the other hand, maybe the seats will fill up, the fourth or fifth wave may hit, people will cancel and the flights you want will be empty and lower fare buckets will open.
There are all kinds of theories, but they are in the past. My view is that at $550, that is a mid-range fare. All about risk tolerance. If it drops to $300, you will kick yourself for not waiting, but be quite happy if it is at $1,100.
Thanks so much for the informative reply, seems it is all speculation at this point. Just wanted to add that these are economy fares...that's why I was so shocked. Pre-Covid you could reliably get from Florida to NYC for under $200 pp. Don't usually travel around the holidays but I feel like $550 is still pretty high for economy from FL to the northeast.