When to book LA flights for July 2010?

Ashok_2

Hi -

Could someone tell me when the best time to book flights for LA from London, to depart middle of July 2010, and return one month later would be?

I thought it would be 330 days before the departure date, but looking on various sites, there are only a couple of fares available, and the cheapest I found was £560 on STA Travel (with student discount).

Does anyone know if this is a reasonable price?

Thanks - I'm hoping to travel with my friends in LA to celebrate the end of A Levels, before we go off to uni!

Nordictat2

I booked quite early last year for my trip to US (we went in May) and after we booked we found a few months later...better offers came so we are holding out this time....unless a major deal pops up that we can't refuse. I checked https://www.kelkoo.co.uk for mid-july for 2 weeks and got £559 without any discount so i would shop around a bit more

Backbiter

Seems reasonable to me - I paid £640 last July with Virgin, booked 330 days in advance.

dmg24

Backbiter wrote: »

Seems reasonable to me - I paid £640 last July with Virgin, booked 330 days in advance.

You should be able to get a flight to LA for half that price! :eek:

OP, I usually start looking three months in advance. However, as you are looking at summer holidays, I would extend that to six months. Most airlines have a sale now and in January (amongst others). The current sale will probably be too soon, so I would aim to book in Jan.

Alternatively, could you save up enough BA Miles to pay for your flight? It is easier than you think!

jayfrancis

Try Dial-a-flight.

Always got the cheapest deal from them.

dmg24

jayfrancis wrote: »

Try Dial-a-flight.

Always got the cheapest deal from them.

Anyone would think that you worked for them!

jayfrancis

dmg24 wrote: »

Anyone would think that you worked for them!

No not me, just a tight trucker who likes a good deal.;)

smk77

dmg24 wrote: »

You should be able to get a flight to LA for half that price! :eek:

I've been looking at flights to the East Coast USA. New York in June is £290. In July it's £545. Both using expedia.

I've just checked on Expedia for LA and it's £650 for July and £450 for June. So, although you may be able to get flights to LA for £320 (half the £640 paid to Virgin by Backbiter) I doubt you could do so in July.

To the OP, is late June possible? 23rd June seems to be the last date for cheap flights from my recent research.

Ashok_2

smk77 wrote: »

I've been looking at flights to the East Coast USA. New York in June is £290. In July it's £545. Both using expedia.

I've just checked on Expedia for LA and it's £650 for July and £450 for June. So, although you may be able to get flights to LA for £320 (half the £640 paid to Virgin by Backbiter) I doubt you could do so in July.

To the OP, is late June possible? 23rd June seems to be the last date for cheap flights from my recent research.

Unfortunately not! I can't go any earlier than 10th July!

I just want to know if the £560 I was quoted is good or not to be honest... it is a student price and I'm worried I could wait till January, and prices would be higher..

No idea what to do!

SimbaSimon

Ashok wrote: »

Unfortunately not! I can't go any earlier than 10th July!

I just want to know if the £560 I was quoted is good or not to be honest... it is a student price and I'm worried I could wait till January, and prices would be higher..

No idea what to do!

My gut instinct would say wait! Flights are generally released 11 months or so in advance. So flights for July would only just have been release and not all carriers will have them yet. However for June most carriers would have released all the tickets by now which may explain the cheaper prices. So wait another month or two, then check again. Chances are it won't go up, and if so not by much, however I think it could go down quite a bit of you got the right one!

Backbiter

dmg24 wrote: »

You should be able to get a flight to LA for half that price! :eek:

I think you'll find this is the 'school holiday supplement', that bumps up fares and holiday prices to punitive levels. Having scoured the web for USA flights in July (school holiday July, not before) for several months in each of the past few years, £320 return fares to California do not exist. Believe me, I've hunted for them.