If another full service carrier offers better fares, I say book it! Chances are the product will be better than what UA offers, too. Shed the shackles of UA status and get off the hamster wheel!
Originally Posted by
jsloan
As a general rule, UA simply is not interested in selling discount seats 6+ months ahead of departure. There's always time to offer a sale later, but if they start out with a low price and then demand comes in hotter than expected, they can't recoup that revenue.
If you know a market well, you can sometimes find a good deal well in advance, generally as a consequence of something else UA is doing. Otherwise, just monitor things and see how they look.
Agree that UA is likely holding off on discounting, and that we may indeed see cheaper fares later, but OP mentioned flights as early as June, and I don't think it's too early at all to be checking prices for international itineraries four to five months out. Fares for European summer travel never really dropped last year. In fact, I would advise anyone who sees a good fare for Europe or Asia through September or October to grab it right now. That does not mean I advocate buying an overpriced UA ticket, however, quite the opposite.
Originally Posted by
mahasamatman
That's an urban myth.
Not a myth at all. There's quite a bit of data on this question. Surveys have shown the best time to buy domestic tix is about 60 days out. International it's a bit longer, and tends to vary by region, but for Asia and Europe it's about 120 days out.
I certainly don't agree that OP should be tying up large amounts of money on overpriced UA itineraries. That's called "UA wins" since it's going to keep the money regardless where fare prices go, and will likely provide a disincentive for OP to book a cheaper ticket on a better carrier.