Help/advice for air ticket pricing
 

I am planning a trip anywhere from May to June. I was kind of leaning more towards May as to avoid the rainy season in Tokyo.

Unfortunately, I think I have waited a bit too long to grab some tickets. I remember a few months back tickets for May (after golden week) were going for about $1000 (taxes and everything included). Even on JAL. Now all I am seeing is $1200+. And it only seems to get higher and higher. Today the lowest was $1400 -_-

I have not flown to Japan in about 6 or so years. I used to go quite frequently back then. It was a different time, though and prices were almost always at least half of what I am getting quoted.

I guess what I am basically asking is, do you think the prices are staying this high because of the time (May-June) or because of the amount of time left from the purchase date (as 3 or so months seems to be a time a lot of people purchase airfare in advanced). Is there a possibility the fares may drop a bit if I wait a month or so more?

I really don't want to fork over $1400 for a continental or Finn (really? -_-) airlines flight if there is a possibility of something else opening back up if I wait. Then again, I don't want to pay MORE than that, either.

What to do, what to do...

I know for my flight in November the cheapest I could find last month was 1100.00. I just looked this month, and the same flight is now going for 1300.00.

Oil prices are up, so jet fuel prices are likely to rise. It's a speculative world but it affects us in reality....

I just checked Travelocity and for ORD-NRT March 7 to 18 roundtrip on JAL it's $793

May 2 to 13 roundtrip $1178 for JAL

June 6 to 17 roundtrip $1252 for ANA

These are the cheapest flights on Travelocity for those dates....

Yeah, airline tickets are a strange business.
There's really no way around getting expensive tickets other than planning realllly ahead.

Here's an interesting video that explains fairly well.
YouTube - How To Get Cheap Airplane Tickets To Japan

what about weekday travel sometimes its cheaper then a weekend one. you can wait until later too.
where are you departing from?

Thanks for the help, guys. As I have said, I am fairly familiar with the flight tips and tricks. But if I was not clear, I am basically looking for advice on if anyone knows if these months are notoriously more expensive than others as the prices do not seem to budging.

I have checked for all months surrounding them and they all seem to be significantly cheaper. It just seems WAY too high for May to be more expensive than most every other month. It is not really a peak travel time for Japan nor the rest of the world.

Just wondering if I should grab them now, or hold out for a better price.