When is the best time of year to get cheaper airfairs to California?|163046

I want to take a trip to California from NY, but I am kinda on a budget! My daughter and grandkids live there. My wife is letting me have the State income tax refund to buy tickets, and for spending money when I get there. So I have to get a good deal on the round trip ticket so I can spoil my grandkids a little. Thanks.

I_m not really sure that there is a time of the year that is best to purchase your airfare. Here are few suggestions. Check with online sites like orbitz, expedia, priceline, etc. These are all online discounters for airfare. Spend some time researching prices before you purchase and check all the online discounters. Also check directly through the airlines, I have found many situations where they are lower than the online discounters. Also watch for advertisements online, in the newspaper, etc. Sometimes they will offer special rates for a certain day, I find this quite often happens.

The best way to make sure you get the lowest price is to check every day for one week. The prices will change each day and this will give you an idea of what day your airline will lower prices. Some do it Monday, others Wednesday and some on both Tuesday and Thursday. So it will take some time, but this will help you get the lowest rate.

Also, be very flexible. If you are willing to spend more time flying and having more layovers, you can get a less expensive flight. You may have 3 or 4 layovers, but if you don_t mind getting in a little later it will save you a lot of money.

I just bought tickets for California in September and I think I paid about $250 dollars per person, with all taxes and fees. This isn_t too bad and it was a pretty good flight, I_m not sure if this is in your budget or not. But I found that the ticket was ten dollars less booking through American than the online discounters.

Also, certain companies will take different discounts. You may find a discount using a AAA card, AARP, teacher discounts, nurse discounts, Sams Club, etc. You can call the companies to see if they take any of these discounts and sometimes they do. Sometimes you won_t even think of a discount they may offer that they have, it just depends what they accept.

You may also want to check with your local AAA office. They may have a lower rate. The only problem is that they add a fee on to the air because they don_t receive commission on the air. I believe they charge $50 for members and a $100 for non-members (I_m not certain on the actual fee, but I think this is close). So if they have a really good deal on the air you may be better off.

I hope this helps. Good luck with getting your air and have a great trip!

The above answer is very good but I would like to add that Jet Blue is a discount airline like Southwest, for longer routes. It doesn_t show up on Orbitz and Expedia, but you can go directly to the JetBlue web site.
http://www.jetblue.com/

Their hub is JFK, so if that is a good airport for you it is worth checking them out. They fly to 7 cities in California nonstop from JFK.