Flight to Riga (Latvia)

blondends

Hi All,

I am currently organising a stag weekend to Riga - we hope to go during the last weekend of March 2007 (Fri - Sun).

Ryaniar are going to be the cheapest - but at the moment the Friday is cheap but the Sunday is very expensive (in comparison). It seems to me that 5 months to this date the flights are more expensive and only become cheap once less than 5 months away.

My questions being.... Does anyone know what the pricing rules are at Ryanair? Will it better to wait a few weeks for the flight prices to drop or not?

I hope I make sense here - if not please just ask me to clarify on any points that you like.

Cheers,

Chris

coral

It does seem that way with Ryanair - they price "peak" flights high to see how many people they can book at those prices & then around 5 months review the bookings & adjust the price accordingly. I would not worry about booking these flights just yet.

I once got caught out on a Bank Holiday return from Spain, €69 each - thought it wouldn't come down so booked - few weeks later it was €9.99!

One other tip, check the price for one person, sometimes they only have one cheap seat left but if you book two seats it books you two higher priced seats, so making seperate reservations allows you to purchase at the best prices.

blondends

Excellent news - I will have to keep checking up using the flightchecker to ensure that I catch the flights at the right time.

Although it does seem silly that they always push for people to book far in advance to get the cheap prices - when 5 months and over the prices are not at their lowest.

Thanks for your advice.

madduck

Ryanair's pricing can be quite difficult to make sense of some times to be honest. I'd keep a close eye on it. Strong suspicion would be that the price going out is cheap - for headlines - and Sunday return flight is expensive for two reasons:

* way of making up subsidy for outward flight
* they realise that many people are going for weekend (Riga is now a big weekend break destination) and most of them will be coming back on the Sunday

Most Ryanair destinations will be similar. Couple of suggestions:

1 do you need to return on the Sunday? I travel several times a year with Ryanair and to avoid this scenario I tend to leave on a Saturday and return Tuesday. Flight costs work out so much cheaper.
2 keep an eye out for Ryanair flight sales. I had looked at the cost of return tickets to Rome earlier in the year and was going to book at around £90 return (inclusive of tax). Held off until next sale weekend and got the exact same flights for only £30 each return.

Hope this helps.

madduck

Just had another thought. As well as using flightchecker - keep an eye on the Ryanair website. You can use it to search for lowest flight costs. Click on the tab on the top right hand side of the home page and all you need to do is enter departure/arrival airport and earliest/latest departure/arrival dates. It will automatically show you the costs of flights +/- about 20 days from your stated dates. You can then check to see if there are any particular dates that are very expensive/cheap.

blondends

Thanks Madduck - excellent suggestions.

I am now seriously considering going from Saturday to Monday/Tuesday now.

Thanks again.

vr6lad

Just a suggestion, but have you also tried prices with the 'traditional' carriers? BA are selling flights to Riga for as little as £58 return all in (this includes weekends). Air Baltic fly direct to Riga too.

Flightchecker is useful, but across a limited choice of airlines. Also try https://www.skyscanner.net.

The only problem with booking so long in advance is actually when to book - and who with!!

As Madduck suggests, I'd probably leave it a little longer before booking, but I wouldn't restrict myself to just Ryanair.