Booking travel early may cost more

Travelers often like to buy tickets well in advance, but in the current economic climate if you buy too soon you probably will overpay.

The travel industry is offering deals for travel in the short term, but sellers are holding out when it comes to the typically busy summer season. Unless you see a great deal, wait to see if prices drop.

It used to be that if you bought 330 days in advance, you would get the best deal, but that's no longer the case. We recently compared fares for February 2009 travel and found that the fares that were available in mid-January 2009 were much lower than those for purchase in September 2008.

For February travel from Boston to Los Angeles, the airlines were charging $408 round trip if you purchased in September, but if you bought tickets in January, the price was $179 round trip. Fares from Dallas to London for travel Feb. 18-25 were selling for $878 in September; $589 in mid-January.

Keep an eye on fares offered now for travel this summer and beyond. If you bought tickets in mid-January from Dallas to Los Angeles, nonstop flights were selling for $278 round trip for February travel vs. $370 round trip for late June travel.

When travel was deregulated in the late 1970s, we saw unbelievable deals. Today, we still see incredible deals, such as $99 one-way flights on coast-to-coast travel. However, in the past, the airlines had much friendlier rules. You could change your ticket multiple times and not face a penalty. Today, change fees range up to $150 on domestic flights and to $250 on international flights. Because of these high fees, and because airlines are holding out on offering far-future deals, you're better off waiting until closer to your travel date to buy.

However, now is the time to buy your spring-break travel. If you're looking for flights to Florida, you'll have to be flexible if you want to find a deal. For example, if you want to travel from Dallas to Orlando from March 14 through March 21, the cheapest fare we found was $411 round trip, but the price dropped to $278 for travel March 15-20. If you can go before or after spring break, you'll save even more with round-trip fares of $219 for travel March 7-14 and $198 for travel March 21-28.

A getaway to Washington, D.C., combined with New York City could be a bargain. When we recently checked fares for travel during spring break, prices including taxes and fees were less than $300 round trip for flights to and from Washington and for flights to New York City and out of Washington.

If you see a $399 round-trip fare for July travel to Honolulu, grab it. If the fare is $1,000, hold off. If the price doesn't drop, consider changing destinations. Depending on what sales are available, less-expensive flights could be to Mexico, the Caribbean, Europe or someplace you hadn't considered. Deals go to flexible travelers.

http://www.bnd.com/542/story/644841.html