buy air ticket now or wait

thegeezer3

usually its best to buy as early as possible but judging how bad the recession and the pound are getting do you think airlines will start gradually offering bigger and bigger reductions in price the closer we approach summer??

I know it depends on how people react to their initial offerings but wondering how others feel about this.

delwynshd

it really depends where you are travelling to and what dates etc etc......

FH_Brit

delwyn is right - for me with Virgin I started looking about 8 months prior to travel (in 6 weeks now) and actually booked about 2 months ago - from when I booked compared to when I first looked I saved over 2000.00 for 4 people - and today is 400.00 more expensive.

With sheduled airline you can book 364 days in advance (on line) but they know they have plenty of time to fill the aircraft then so they will be at the retail price (airline tickets never go up [surcharges,taxes etc do] they just get cheaper) then there is school holidays, they again know families will fill the aircraft so bigger fares for those dates.

The best deal I ever done was with Philias Fogg Travel (teletext) I paid for 2 weeks, Gatwick to Orlando (flight only) £26.50 but I only had 6 hours to get to Gawick).

hungrynurse_2

how far ahead is best? Is it best a few months, or as close to a year as possible? Im looking at 2 adults and a child to canada next march, currently costing 800-900, which is a real stretch for us, but is it best 6 months prior, 3 months prior, a month prior? need the best price I can get!

delwynshd

To be honest that isnt expensive I wouldnt say 800 for 3 passengers, i sthat return?????

where are you flying too?

What exact dates?

What airports can you fly from?

How old is the child?

richardw

thegeezer3 wrote: »

do you think airlines will start gradually offering bigger and bigger reductions in price the closer we approach summer?

No, they will just park the aircraft.

Alan_Bowen

Flight prices are lower on most routes than for many years. There are returns to Oz at £500 at the moment and airlines are losing money hand over fist. I agree that unless demand picks up, airlines will simply drop routes or reduce frequency to match demand. That means fares will start to rise, if they don't the airline will go bust. If you like a fare that is available now, book it, it will be what it costs you when you get to whereever you are going that will be the big shock for most people in the next 12 months

eslick

i always thought booking early was the cheapest for scheduled flight but you still had to factor in the airline sales. however 6 months ago I was looking for flights to the US over the first two weeks of April, up to the week before the prices were exactly the same as they 6 months ago. Keep checking though out the 6 months and they only moved slightly up and down.

Jazzy_B

Replying to Hungrynurse
Where are you planning to fly from/to. Last year, we (4 of us) went to Toronto in June/July flying with Canadian Affair. We saved about £500 flying from Manchester rather than Glasgow or Edinburgh.I checked Canadian Affair regularly, and the prices never got any lower, even with their sales, than we paid. There were no cheap flights near the time from any airports near us as the flights were full.The prices went up by about £150 in total over the whole period, and they were most expensive in January. Last year I couldn't get cheaper fares anywhere else, and I checked screenscrapers regularly.
This year, we're going to Calgary/ Vancouver in June. Again I did a lot of research, and got cheapest fares from British Airways. Using a screenscraper , I got BA fares £800 cheaper than using BA's own site. I booked in October with them. I've checked the prices half a dozen times since, and the fares have gone up by around £400 on various sites. I think I must have just hit lucky when I booked them. I used an American site when the exchange rate was still good.
The price you've been quoted seems pretty good to me. You just have to keep an eye on things, and hope you get the tickets at the right time.
Have a great holiday.