How far in advance do you book a flight? (looking for a good deal)

[books]

I finally confirmed with my new job that I will be able to take vacation in January- about 4 months from now..yay! I would like to book my flight soon (USA to Nicaragua), but the prices are still pretty high. For example, I am seeing on average $700 RT for January but about $500 RT for December. This seems strange to me b/c I have always found December is more expensive to fly. When can I expect prices to come down for January? Next month maybe? I am checking prices on kayak.com.

[mllebamako]

I usually set a price alert on kayak when I'm going to buy tickets. They'll email you once a week with flight prices for whichever month you choose. That way you can kind of watch for when they go down a bit.

I usually buy international tickets 2-4 months prior to the trip. You should set a price alert and then wait a month or so to see if they change. They might not go down though if January is a popular month to travel to Nicaragua.

[Dziubka]

Yeah, I do that, too.
For me the prices hardly ever get cheaper, though. So there's really no point in waiting and I usually buy as soon as I know I can have time off.

[Minerva]

Yup, I have alerts with several different websites. I know in general how much the tickets cost, and so know when I see a good deal. In theory, as soon as the prices dropped into a good deal, I'd buy the tickets, but I've yet to plan my next visit. That's what I'm going to do once I have the dates planned for my next visit.

[Riyko]

I use airfare watch dog, they email me when plane tickets go on sale for the month and place i want to fly to, it's been pretty helpful so far

[JennyRW]

I'm new, we were CDR until one month ago... But for curiosity I was checking the other night and I found a really good deal for columbus weekend so I bough it without thinking Now I'll check often to see when there are good deals