Category: General

When is the best time to buy an airline ticket? Depends on your risk profile, it could range from 30 to 150 days out. At least, based on one case.

I was talking with a buzz-buddy friend about flight prices verses what I saw a year ago. I had quoted flight cost observed when I published the blog which seemed reasonable. I was looking at airfares back then which were 30 days in the future. Since then, we have seen much higher fares planning a year out. We did not like that.

With all of this AI stuff, I thought, we should be able to look at flight cost history somewhere to see how the airfare’s trended to determine when it is best to buy. This turned out to be harder than I thought to identify when was the best time to purchase. The reason is that airfares change hourly based on tickets sold, fare class, specific flights, market rates etc. Basically, the airlines publish list price rates up until they feel they need to be competitive to sell all the seats.

However, you can track flight prices as they change for a future trip similar to tracking stock prices to try to make the best purchase. Just like the stock exchange, nothing will tell you what the price will be tomorrow. In the link below, you can see a case where someone tracked flights to Iceland over the course of a year and see when fares dipped.

https://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/5046/how-to-find-historical-airfares

You can see in the chart when prices were most competitive over the course of the year flying to Iceland but it will have little to do with the best prices in future. My conclusion is that prices will remain high until the airlines say, hey, we need to sell these seats. If demand spikes, the airlines will raise prices thinking that they were too early.

For those who would like to track airfare prices for a route, below is a story of options to try to out perform the airline market.

Flight Price Tracker Websites: How They Work and How They Save You Money

We are looking to travel to Iceland for 5-7 days and to Scotland for 4-5 days. As the game is on the 24th. At the latest, we will arrive in Dublin on Thursday prior to the game, play golf on Friday morning, the game festivities on Saturday, followed with golf on Sunday. Leave Dublin either Monday or Tuesday.

FAQ ABOUT AIRLINES FLYING TO ICELAND

• Icelandair has direct flights from New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., Seattle, Denver, Minneapolis, and Orlando.
• United Airlines flies directly to Iceland from New York and Chicago.
• Delta airlines have direct routes to Iceland from New York and Boston.

As we work on the schedule, let me know what you would prefer. One interesting flight planner is https://matrix.itasoftware.com/search. It is like Kayak on steroids. I flew Virgin Atlantic via Delta in the summer of 2023 and I really liked the pajamas they provided me for the flights. We will probably take Delta on the long haul.

BOS to KEF Direct on Delta

ATL to KEF Via BOS, JFK or BWI $700

REK to Edinburg (EDI) via   EasyJet direct 2hrs $80

REK to INV or ABZ require connections

EDI to Dub 20 flights a day some at $20

ABZ to DUB is Direct Via BA & Air Lingus

INV to DUB Requires a connection

If skipping Iceland, you can fly direct from ATL to EDI. If connect in DUB, you can fly direct to Aberdeen, Glasgow or EDI

From	To	Initial Heading		Magnetic Heading		Distance
5 segment path:
ATL	BOS	047°	(NE)	052°	(NE)	946 mi
BOS	KEF	035°	(NE)	049°	(NE)	2,413 mi
KEF	EDI	121°	(SE)	133°	(SE)	863 mi
EDI	DUB	215°	(SW)	216°	(SW)	210 mi
DUB	ATL	283°	(W)	285°	(W)	3,938 mi
KEF	INV			Connections		i
ABZ	DUB

Code	Source	Location
ATL	FAA	Atlanta [Hartsfield – Jackson Atlanta Intl], GA, US
BOS	FAA	Boston [General Edward Lawrence Logan Intl], MA, US
KEF	GLA	Reykjavík [Keflavík], IS International Airport
EDI	AIP	Edinburgh [Edinburgh Airport (RAF Turnhouse)], Midlothian, SCT, GB
DUB	AIP	Dublin [Intl], County Dublin, Leinster, IE
ABZ	GLA	Aberdeen, Scotland
INV	GLA	Inverness, Scotland

TIME UNTIL KICK-OFF

As we work on the schedule, let me know what you would prefer. One interesting flight planner is https://matrix.itasoftware.com/search. I flew Virgin Atlantic via Delta last week and I really liked the pajamas they provided me for the flights. We will probably take Delta on the long haul and catch .

While its cobblestoned streets still echo with medieval charm, a high-tech boom over the last 20 years has transformed the face of Ireland’s capital city. Today, Dublin is a cosmopolitan hub merging a thousand years of rich and colorful history with world-class theaters, raucous nightlife and, of course, storied old pubs.

Located at the mouth of the River Liffey, Dublin serves as Ireland’s cultural center as well as a modern nucleus of education, administration, economy, industry and the arts. Highly regarded for its commitment to the fields of literature and theater, the city has produced many notable playwrights and authors. In addition to arts and theater venues, Dublin is home to a variety of museums, sports complexes, highly regarded universities and stunning Georgian architecture.

While taking in everything this scenic city has to offer, however, don’t overlook perhaps its most enduring quality – the people – a charismatic bunch whose soul and sociability is infectious.

We are making the trip to the first Football game of the season with a few stops. If you are interested in joining in or meeting at the game, let us know. The time is counting down.

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In August, Georgia Tech will start the football season off playing Florida State in Ireland. We are going as well as few more are thinking of returning or going for the first time. For the last game, we travelled with a group and toured a number of local haunts. We have had several trips to Dublin as well as stayed in the Waterford Castle to the south and toured Northern Ireland in the past.

This trip, we are adding on Iceland and Scotland and letting folks know who might want to attend the game and add a stop as well. We are thinking of traveling in a clock-wise pattern because it will start getting chilly in Iceland early. Our plan is to start with checking out Iceland and perhaps a round of golf. Originally, we thought 4 days for the Golden Loop, are now thinking more like 6-7 days to include all the sights.

We will then fly direct to Scotland to check on the redesign of our favorite golf club Spey Bay and on to Ireland for the game.

We have compiled our notes for each stop and are looking for suggestions and interest in participating. You can read the entire story or click on the menu items to see the notes collected.

For our first stop, The land of fire and ice…