Other than the folks at RM, predicting airfare is near impossible. Right now, I'm looking to fly from JFK-SFO in April (specifically 4/15), but a one-way ticket is a little under $300 in Main Cabin. The fare class is K, which feels pretty high at the moment, especially since we're still pretty far out and the seat map is wide open--though I know that seat maps aren't reliable indicators of flight load/availability. (Full disclaimer: I know this is a premium route; at the same time, there's a ton of competition on this lucrative route.)

I'm wondering if I should wait and book this ticket or go ahead and pull the trigger now because the first three weekends (at least on Google Flights) have higher fares than previous and subsequent weekends. I wonder if this is because it's spring break?

I would appreciate any guidance/advice that you all might have.

It is a Sunday, so it is a busy travel day for people wanting to position themselves the day
before the work week starts. Delta has the lower inventory zeroed out to at least K class.
Checking other options, it appears the lowest fare is somewhere in the $208.00. Jet
Blue into Oakland is as low at $143.00. I would not expect Delta to open up lower inventory
so you need to decide if $300.00 is worth it on Delta.

The $57 is DL's tax on SM

Rather than looking at DL, why not look at NYC - SFO area and determine the most cost effective (including travel time to & from the NYC and SF airports) carrier for the trip you need?

I agree that there's def a DL tax on SM indeed!

Regardless of what you do I'd suggest tracking the flight you're interested in through GF. I've got around 20 setup for various trips, one being your route but in the other direction. Even after purchasing a ticket it's interesting to see the fluctuations in price.



Agree with others you should broaden your search and weigh the options. For your route I usually do NYC-SFO,SJC,OAK. B6 and UA have sub $200 directs with AS at $209.

Update: I finally just gave up on DL (for the first time EVER!) for an upcoming trip between SFO and LAX. Whereas DL was pricing at $217 r/t for the times that I wanted, I could get flights for roughly the same times for $122 on AS/VX. That's almost double the price! I was on the fence about paying an extra $20 each way for a seat up front, but for a flight that's roughly 55 minutes, this seemed kind of extravagant. (It definitely feels weird to be in the last couple rows of the aircraft!). I've never flown VX before, so I guess there's always a first time, especially since it's slowly being folded into AS.

Thankfully, T2 and T1 are connected airside at SFO, so I can at least use the SC before my flight.