After you take away the air fare portion from the total package price, the remaining value is tied to Expedia for the hotel portion of the package. If there was a dollar amount discount for buying air & hotel together as a package, the amount of the discount belongs to the hotel portion of the package. I don't believe any of the discount for buying as a package is tied to the air fare. In other words, I don't believe the airline is giving any "break" on their part of the package. You are buying regular airline tickets at today's air fares. Any discount for buying as a package is a rate cut on the hotel portion. And I would agree with Rick Seaney as the supposed rule of thumb is not to buy domestic airline tickets more than four months in advance. One thing I have noticed, however, in researching Expedia's vacation packages is that one day you'll notice a substantial discount for a certain hotel (like at Parc 55, for example), but when you revisit a week later that discount may be gone (but available at yet a different hotel than last week at Parc 55). So even though it may seem early to buy now for August, if the discount for booking together as a package is at a hotel you'd like to stay at, you might want to reconsider holding off until later to purchase. There's no guarantee that a discount for buying a package at the Ritz will be there next week when you look again. Slightly off topic, however I learned something new yesterday about Expedia packages when my Sister told me she had just purchased a package (air + hotel) to London and Paris in July. She did not have to pay the full package price up front when booking, but rather just a deposit, with the balance due 30 days before departure. It turns out, what Expedia called the "deposit" was in reality the air fare portion of the package (which makes sense). The balance (the hotel portion) is due 30 days before departure. Up until learning that, I just always assumed you had to pay for a package in full upon booking. You may have the same experience if you were to buy a package now for August.