I've asked around, and from what I've heard NOT confirmed....yet. Just very strong rumors. I am ready to book flights to Newark as soon as it's announced. Also plan to get tickets for Yanks-Red Sox the next day in Yankee Stadium. But I don't want to pay for flights until there's something more firm.
Interesting that the FIFA web site lists Red Bull Arena for the Costa Rica match which I've been told is not official yet. Yet FIFA doesn't list a venue for the final home match v Panama which has been officially announced (quite some time ago) as Orlando.
FIFA hasn't been the most reliable site in the past. Seems like they just have some intern randomly inputting this info.
For the people here who have probably done this alot more than me: will flights to Newark airport go up or down in price from here on out?
Both. My strategy is to chart prices daily or at least several times a week to get a sense of what is a good fare and grab it when I know I can do the trip. I'd say that 6 to 8 weeks is the sweet spot, but every situation is different. Under 4 weeks, it's generally hard to get good fares, especially for this game on Labor Day weekend. US Soccer isn't making it easy with the delay in officially announcing the venue and the ticketing procedure. I expect that we won't have ticket confirmation until 4 or 5 weeks before the match after suffering through another lottery.
It totally depends on a host of factors like where you are flying from. But generally rule of thumb is price goes up
Well I would say it makes a U shape actually. Very far out like 3 months plus the price will be high. Then it will drop a bit and as people buy up the tickets the price will rise. Within a week of the flight usually the prices are the highest because airlines try to capture last minute business travelers who absolutely must be somewhere and don't buy their own tickets.
Fare fluctuations aren't really consistent as there are a lot of factors and it's all computer driven. It's all about loading and the computer's sales forecast. If sales are lagging then some lower priced seats might open up, but if the flights are filling up, then you're left with seats at the higher fare classes. As this is a holiday weekend, I think low priced seats aren't going to open up in the later part of the week before, and that Monday (Labor Day) will be expensive. If you're willing to leave the SAT (especially) or SUN after the game though, you'll probably do OK. I fly a lot and track this stuff but really it's all sort of a mystery! Sometimes it doesn't seem to make sense. Right now I'm looking at roundtrips from California in the mid $500 range which isn't bad. But with US Soccer not locking this down, I'm not ready to buy the flights and then have to deal with change fees if it gets announced for somewhere else. I also want to go to the Yankees-Red Sox game the next day on Saturday! But I know those tickets will be around.
One thing, at least for me, is I have a good idea based on distance what a good fare is from my hub. Ex. standard fare to central America is about $500. If a ticket is $500 then I don't really need to buy because it's only going to go up in the most extreme circumstances. But if I see something for $250 I'm going to buy it because that won't be around long. For new york it's about $300 mean which is where it's at right now, so no rush to buy now.
I mean at this point I wouldn't even be surprised if they announce the lottery on Sunday before the game.
I was told by an insider that an announcement would be coming in the next few days as contracts with ???? have nearly been finalized.
One thing I love about Southwest is their change policy. Finally caved and bought $170 one way to New York. If the game is moved I can still change the ticket.
I'm hoping for an official announcement tomorrow, except a lot of people have tomorrow off with Tuesday being a holiday. I guess it's pretty much a done deal now though, I might just go and grab my plane tickets now. Then think about working on tickets.
USA soccer does a poor job with the way they handle these games. They wait too long to announce. The lottery to get tickets is awful. Etc
This is ridiculous. How do we not have a locked down venue for this World Cup qualifier at this point? Terrible planning. If I hadn't already decided to take Amtrak up to attend the US Open the day before this qualifier, I would be really pissed about how ussoccer is jerking us around. I'm STILL annoyed, as I would like to plan the entire weekend, and this is making it very difficult for me.