Airline tickets -- Now or later?

[kork13]

When is the best time to purchase airline tickets? Is there a "sweet spot" of when tickets are cheapest yet still available with some choice in flights?

I'm doing some traveling in mid/late July, and I'm trying to decide if I should just bite the bullet and buy them now, or wait a little longer and hope for lower prices as I get closer to my dates... It's tickets for 3 separate legs, stopping for a few days between each, and right now it's looking like my cheapest options are ~$700-$850. I've made surprisingly few flight arrangements for myself in spite of how frequently I've traveled growing up, so ..... Suggestions?

Afterthought... same deal with rental cars. At one of my stops, I expect I'll need a rental car, so is it better to make a reservation now/early, or is just waiting until you get there normally fine?

[snshijuptr]

Kayak.com actually has a tracker that graphs the prices for flights over time. You can also buy through Orbitz for their guarantee, but I've never seen it happen. Kayak will also track the flight and send you periodic updates with the price, graph, etc.

[cooliemae]

Generally speaking, Wednesday night from about midnight to 2am (depending on where the carrier is based) is the best time to purchase tickets, because that is when most carriers dump reservations, so there is a flood of seats.

You definitely need to shop around at various sites, and you should purchase tickets sooner rather than later. In the past I've kept track of ticket prices on tickets I purchased six months in advance and have seen prices increase by 20-40% over that time.

[feh]

From what I've read, you should buy airline tix at least 3 weeks before departure, assuming you don't want to use priceline at the last second.

[Hector]

try bing.com

[disneysteve]

The longer you wait, the higher the price will be so I'd book ASAP.

As for the rental car, I'd also book now as they can have limited availability depending on where you are going and what class of vehicle you want.