tatterdema

Ugh. I procrastinated on buying my flight, SEA-PVR on 12/29. It was $269, and today all the non-refundable fares disappeared from 12/17 on out to 12/31.

Is that normal? Any predictions if the non-refundable fares will come back?

Dieuwer

Buy when the schedule opens. Don't procrastinate.

dave1013

Also remember about the Claim Guaranteed Airfare Credit. If you buy now and the fare drops later, you can recoup the difference. It comes with some strings, e.g., you lose your place in the upgrade queue, but if you're willing to accept that then go for it.

Here's the terms and conditions.

Madone59

+1 I buy thanksgiving tickets 300+ days out every year. I know I am going, I know the prices are going up.

bherman

If you're willing to connect in SFO, you can book the AA codeshare on AS metal for much less than AS is charging. AS is only selling full Y, but AA is still selling discount fare classes.

You won't be able to upgrade before the 72/48/24-hour predeparture windows, or use Gold Guest upgrades, but you should be able to waitlist for a complementary upgrade if you call Alaska and ask for your Alaska PNR after booking the flights with American. You also can't make changes without paying AA's crazy change fees, or take advantage of Alaska's price guarantee. But since you can save $300-400 per ticket, could totally be worth it if your travel plans are etched in stone.

Here's a sample flight, where you'll see AS is charging $1166 R/T and AA is charging $747.

https://www.google.com/flights/#sear...SEA0AS223;a=AA

Used this trick myself for Thanksgiving in PVR this year. Good luck!

PV_Premier

with AS Best Fare Guarantee there is very little reason to procrastinate on a purchase, provided that you buy enough AS tickets to be able to easily use up wallet credit before it expires. sorry that this happened, the fares are unlikely to drop again. you might consider seeing if there is a ticket available at the low level on miles. for instance, on the date you mentioned I see SEA-ORD-PVR on AS/AA for 17.5K.

airlines are going to command a premium for travel to desirable locations over well established holidays. this happens every year.

tatterdema

I was using a BOA companion pass, was my reason for waiting. I wasn't sure of the rules, if I could change the name, or cancel the companion. Thanks Bherman for the tip, but with my companion pass, non stop from SEA, even at the inflated price will still be cheaper.

This is one of the first times I have ever traveled over the holidays, so I just assumed the higher prices were loaded immediately. The return flight on the 3rd was, but the flights after Christmas were the non-refundable ones until yesterday. Not sure there was much I could have done differently unless I had been willing to lose my companion pass.

Win some, lose some I guess. I was able to BPG my flights this year and save $150.

Chugach

Welcome to the club. AS is notorious for this on flights out of Alaska during holiday periods.

Dieuwer

I bought my PVR New Years flight a couple weeks ago

tatterdema

Lol, at least I locked in my hotel. I knew I should buy the flight, but there were too many things up in the air still that will not be ironed out until next week. Oh well. Even with the high fares, Flight and hotel will only be $1300 for 5 nights for 2 of us over NYE.

Plus I have had good luck with the BPG. I check prices every single day, so I bet I can bring it down at some point.

Jimgotkp

Yapta alerts of price drops.

PV_Premier

Yapta hasn't sent me an alert in months. Last I knew, the tool was more or less completely broken. YMMV as all things IT.

Dieuwer

Check your flights. If the flight numbers changed, Yapta won't send you alerts anymore. You have to reenter them.

Kaphias

Yapta alerted me to three price drops on two of my flights within the last week, to the tune of nearly $100.

czpdx

Or if your flight is sold out and no longer available for sale (or any segment on your itinerary, for that matter).