My son and I planned to head down to Utah to visit my family and help my daughter and son-in-law drive back to Alaska.  I knew the time was approaching quickly, but didn’t get my tickets purchased in a timely manner. 

Consequently I decided to buy my tickets last minute, within a day or two of when we wanted to leave.  Sometimes, when it’s a slow season, you can find really good deals on one way tickets just a day or two in advance as they’re trying to fill the plane. I watched the prices from various computers, not the one I would use to purchase the tickets.

The prices during the whole 2 weeks leading up to purchase never did get any cheaper however.  I searched the 2 major airlines that we usually fly on, Alaska Airlines and Delta Airlines.  I prefer flying on Alaska, but Delta is usually cheaper.

This time around however, Delta was more expensive by over $100.  I was pleasantly surprised.  None of the tickets were as cheap as I was hoping, and upon further reflection, I remembered that it’s the end of tourist season, beginning of college, and there were probably a lot of people headed out of Alaska on one way tickets.

I looked ahead about 10 days and sure enough, the tickets were at least $100 cheaper.  2 weeks prior they hadn’t been cheaper, so I think it was really just not the best time to travel out.  Probably the tickets back would have been fairly inexpensive.

Even though the tickets were more expensive than I had anticipated, I found it less stressful than normal, which I found weird.  I don’t mind flying, but the time leading up to leaving I find more stressful.  Not having the tickets purchased until the last minute I think skipped the stress even though I knew we were going.  I think because until I had the tickets it really wasn’t real, and then there was no time to really be anxious or stressed, because we were busy getting ready to go.  It’s been a great trip so far and so fun to spend time with my family.