www.CostaRicaTicas.com

I recently checked my flight out of Charlotte for Jan 30, 2015 on USAir. Surprisingly it is the same price I paid this past January.

Like Isra123 suggested using Kayak, you can also use Yapta.com to find the flight you want and they will monitor it for price changes prior to booking the flight. I usually book my hotel reservations in CR first and then focus upon the flight approximately 6 weeks out, but get really serious about buying when I get inside 3 weeks prior to departure. I find Yapta is really good about picking up the large price drops which are only for a few seats and last for only a few hours. If I respond quickly, I've been able to save $$$ on the flights. I also keep watching the available seats for the desired flights on the airline's website to make sure I can avoid a center seat.

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The cheapest was flight for me CHI-SJO was $276 (AA.com), ahh the good old days. You got to spent some time getting familiar with what is a good price for that route, and keep on checking.

Based on my experience, and this isn't always true, but 45-60 days out gets you the best price. Don't get closer than 30 days, rarely does the price drop 30 days in.

Hi brothers I have a question on this topic I fly jet blue out of fll to sjo last year around November 1to 8th and pay 270 round trip I'm trying to do the same this year what percent chance I have of paying that same price this year maybe someone from south Florida area can help me out thanks in advance

Fares have gone up. You probably will not get last November's prices again.

JetBlue operates a great website named>>>>>>> JETBLUEBESTFAREFINDER as part of their internet presence.

It is easy to navigate to see fares, day-by-day, for many months in the future.

If you buy a ticket from JetBlue, and later find that the fare for that exact flight has been lowered, they will credit the difference to you to be used for a future trip with them. All you have to do is tell them that you saw that they lowered that fare.

And it's a good bet that you'll be back to SJ as soon as you can to use the credit.

So, I'm thinking I might jump on this deal. $576, from Beaumont (2 hours east of Houston). Catch bus service in Beaumont at 5:45 am and fight from Houston at 8:54.

I have customers in Beaumont, so I can go make a couple of visits that Friday, and expense the mileage. Wake up early Saturday morning and sleep on the bus to IAH.

Sounds stupid to do that, but fare is over $200 cheaper. It's $788 right now IAH-SJO non-stop. It never used to get higher than $550 back before Continental and United merged. I can't wait until Southwest starts flying to SJO. United will have to lower their prices. Maybe enough that I won't have to jump ship to SW and ride the cattle car/sardine can down there.

Hotel is already reserved 10/11-10/17.

But, I guess I'll wait and see what happens to fares in August.

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Hay Guy!
I book tickets for a living! Most of you are right on point as regards to ticket prices. I personally do not book anything within 90 days of travel unless you find a good price then buy it… Don't wait or it will be gone. Ok! I looked up fare rules for different markets and all of them will be different. A good example would be leaving from JFK will be a a lot different than leaving from LAX. Smaller cities with less service will be higher too. Things that will drive prices will be:

Departure city:
Time of year Seasonal travel. Trust me they know when we want to go.
Holidays
Days of travel. Most international fares will have days the airline prefers. Monday try Thursday for example for the departure and then..
Return time. Sundays are always higher due to demand. Most of the good fares require a Saturday night stay. No problem there.
They will have min and max stays also. The low end ones I have seen for SJO require at lease 5 day stay.

If the fares seem high always check the fare classes V X T will be the lower fare classes. V being the lowest.

There are always fare sales on off season that you will find from time to time. Check you airlines web sites and somewhere on there it will show you what is on sale at discounter levels. I see really good deals from time to time.
I bought a Round trip ticket for 800.00 from TPA to MAD not more than a year ago. Yea it was in September and it rained every day but I wasn't out much.

The main thing is that fares have all gone up. I have not seen very many fluctuations in prices at all this year. They are higher than we are used to. Just keep in mind it really matters when and where you are leaving from and going to. I booked mine for July about a week ago and have been looking for 6 months. Not a lot of change.

My ticket for SJO was 530.00. Not to bad..but the fare FORCED me to stay a few more days to get it. Oh well I guess I will have to suffer. Not to get into the miles thing but I used my miles to buy it down to 230.00. Hell gotta save my money for the world tour.

Best advice play with the dates and call the airlines and ask them how to get a low end fare and what days you have to travel to get them.
Peace!

JB

"V" is not always the lowest fare, but it is a good place to start. Is it a "VN" or a "VE" fare? That would be the big question for US airlines for domestic routes (and US to Central America is domestic for coding purposes for US legacy carriers). Each airline is different. The OP has already missed out on the lowest fare from Houston to San Jose in October ($463), a "VE*21*" fare. A colleague and I have bought a block of those "VE" fares from Delta, in the hope of re-selling them. Actually, it looks pretty good for selling them to a couple of high-school groups of 30 or so people for a field trip.

Historically, the 60-90 day window has held the best fares, but that is SEVERELY dumbed-down amateur travel agent advice. If I knew that I would be taking a trip, I would immediately start looking for fares 331 days in advance, when they are first released.

The really good October fares from the Hubs are already gone, although the fares from the low-cost cities are available right now and probably will be up until 21 days prior to departure. The real trick is to get the same fare from the legacy carriers when they are available. There is no feeling quite like walking past a "Spirit" rider and hopping on Copa or Avianca, first class, when your plane is broke.

"V" is often the lowest. It depends upon the airline. The so-called "sLUT" fare theory still holds true for most fares. The "E" fare appears to be Delta's new bargain-basement fare, even for international fares. It remains to be seen if the other airlines will follow suit.

I usually look for anything coded "VE*21" or "EE*21" -- a good bet for a low-cost fare. The EXACT codes that I look for do depend on the airline.

I'll address these points one by one...

1) Are different cities' airfares priced differently, for no apparent reason whatsoever? Yes, they are. Departure/Destination cities are priced according to what the market will bear.

2) JFK vs. LAX? Here's the issue... LAX is close to NOTHING. In addition, LAX is home to a bunch of rich pricks that will gladly pay an extra $2000 for a first-class seat. That is just the way it is.

3) Sunday is a big return-home day? Yep, it sure is. You'll pay dearly to fly home in a preferred seat on a Sunday, unless you're extremely lucky.

4) Smaller cities are usually the surprise "low fare" cities. Most airlines NEVER discount their hub cities.

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My services cost money and are more detailed than this... But basically, this much is true...

5) For off-times of the year... Wait until 120 days before the trip and snap up any sLUT, V, X fares that you see as soon as you see them. For high season, start at the 331-day-release and scarf any V or E fare that you see -- also strongly consider any sLUT fare, especially if you know what fares were like in preceding years.

How can you tell what is a V, E or SLUT fare?

I,ve been looking also,the cheapest i found FLL-SJO round trip is $340

I started looking last week for round trip for my October trip and found $550 going through ATL. I checked back Friday intending to make the reservation but fares had jumped $100 in two days. Checked back in yesterday morning and back down to the lower price. Seems the prices may go up on the weekends.

Anyway, I booked the lower price and found the "V" in the flight details while reviewing before check out. I haven't gotten a lower price but have paid more. Gonna be a long seis meses until.....

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It depends on which website you are on, but that information is required to be there. For example, on Kayak, the fares show up with a "details" and "fares" button right beneath it. On most airline websites, the fare codes are at the top of the fare's "terms and conditions" page. Each airline's fare codes are slightly different, so an "L" on Bob's Airline might be their cheapest fare, but a "U" might be the lowest-priced fare basis code on Joe's Airline. Almost every site will only show you the price for the lowest available fare, unless you specifically request differently. The sLUT fare acronym is an easy reminder of where the lowest fares usually hide out. The "s" is small because it's usually not as cheap as LUT fares.

A sample fare code might be "VNN50FSQ". The Fare Basis Code is the first letter, in this case a "V", which is usually a low-price fare on Delta. Not all "V" fares are the same. If this fare were "VNN14FSQ" (instead of 50), the price would be higher. You can pay more and buy the "14" fare if you want -- Delta will be happy to take extra money from you. This is actually the sweet $463 IAH-SJO fare that Delta has been dribbling onto the sales floor for 2 weeks now. I gobbled a few of them up for resell. They are still available in short supply. If you're going from IAH to SJO in October, I'd buy this fare right now without a moment's hesitation.

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Sneaky tactic used by the airlines. SJO is primarily a tourist destination. People tend to book vacation fares on the weekends, not on Monday - Friday when they're busy at work. So, yes, often airlines will not sell their lowest fares on Saturday and Sunday.