When to Book flights

connee01

I am planning to visit India (Delhi) in December with my wife and 2 kids. I am very restricted in terms of which airline / airport I fly from (Leeds / KLM) but very flexible in terms of the date of departure / return. (Other than we want to be in Delhi over xmas and new year and stay for nearly 4 weeks)

My query is that if I request a quote on the above now the costs are very high (4k) However if I try and book the same flights for say Oct-Nov the costs go down to 2-2.5k)

Are you penalised if you try and book flights too far in advance. Should I try and wait for a few months in the hope the costs come down. Ideally I dont want to pay more then £3000.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

lfc321

You're being penalised for flying near xmas. Prices ramp up through December and just after new year. If you must be there for xmas then going earlier would be the best bet.

e.g. (this assumes your kids are under 15):

28 Nov - 1 Jan = £2571 for the 4 of you

compared with

15 Dec - 9 Jan = £4715.

IME flights around Xmas rarely get cheaper. Possible, but I wouldn't count on it.

fifeken

Similar to lfc321, my experience is that you must leave early in December (in my case the 9th December) before the price gets hiked and/or delay the return - you might have to go to just over 4 weeks. Alternatively, and this won't suit you by the sound of it, leaving on Christmas Eve or Christmas day sees a cut in price as does returning on 31st December or 1st January.

spiro

Why does it have to be Leeds and KLM?

connee01

Well we live in Leeds and using different airports/travelling via London just does not appeal. Also I cant stand Emirates or other airlines travelling through the gulf. KLM are not the best airline but they do offer great connectivity to UK regional airports.

Its strange becasue we went to India between 14th Dec 09 until 9 Jan 2010 and we managed 2 adults, 1 child and 1 infant from Leeds using KLM for £2100. I expected to pay more because our infant will be classified as a child but not nearly double.

KLM dont appear to like given cheap flights for travel dates which are the maximum of what can be booked. This is why I wondered if I left booking until March the cost might come down from its inflated prices.

Thanks for your advice/comments