Best Time To Book Flights

[Dads_Taxi]

Scheduled flights tend to go on sale around 300 days in advance, and as you have found you need the flight home to be available too. In my experience the flights are cheapest on day of release, and just keep going up from then on.
To throw a spanner in the works, BA and Virgin have occasional sales which briefly reduce the prices but flights on popular dates could already be full and relying on booking flights in a sale will only work if your dates are flexible.

As you want to come home mid-August, most of the airlines will be releasing their flights in the next fortnight. You don't say how many seats you will need, but consider flying indirect via another American city. Flights with a short stop in, say, Chicago, can be literally hundreds of pounds cheaper per passenger, and that's cash to spend on park tickets!

Let us know how you get on. I wish you luck. This time last year I was looking for 10 flights (which later became 11) and there's a lot of variables to consider.
Cheers.

[Katys Grandad]

In my experience the flights are cheapest on day of release, and just keep going up from then on.

That doesn't really match my experience although I agree it's all down to timing and luck with flight prices.

I think the perceived wisdom on this is that you should determine what price you're comfortable paying based on past fares and budget and buy when that comes up, That might be when they're released, during the sales that occur throughout the year or at the last minute. Of course, you have to be realistic about fares and be ready to jump in at short notice.

[Sniff]

That doesn't really match my experience although I agree it's all down to timing and luck with flight prices.

I think the perceived wisdom on this is that you should determine what price you're comfortable paying based on past fares and budget and buy when that comes up, That might be when they're released, during the sales that occur throughout the year or at the last minute. Of course, you have to be realistic about fares and be ready to jump in at short notice.

I agree. Unless you have access to all the yield management systems the airline has, you won't ever be able to predict their fares, and you'll drive yourself crazy trying to do so. As KG says, pick a price you want to pay, and if the fares hit that price, buy them. And then stop looking to see if they get any cheaper :-)

But do check non direct flights if you're looking for the best prices