when to book cheep flights to australia !

airliebird01

hello ! , the title says it all really !
i am looking to book flight to sydney australia next january , can any one advise em as to the best time to book to get a good deal ,
thanks

Alan_Bowen

Christmas to Easter is high season for flights to Oz, if you want cheap fares, fly April to June. The fares for next January have been on sale for 8 weeks now, fare sales are usually for low season so I would be looking now to see what is available and don't wait too long.

mowlem

Avoid Chinese new year, feb10, 2013, and Buddhist new year which is April 13/14 and the weeks either side of these two dates. Ticket prices in Asia just get silly as everyone is traveling "home".

There are several new low cost Asian carriers like Jetstar, which may be cheaper on the Bangkok/Aus leg. They may not appear on these fare comparison sites.

knighterrant

We flew to Melbourne last January with Singapore Airlines who are excellent. We booked and paid for our flights on 25th June at a total cost of £2,165 for two economy tickets. It seemed pricy but I was willing to pay extra for what I know to be a good airline. For the next 6 months I kept a check on prices, especially when I heard/read about "special offers" but never saw the same flights cheaper.

Careful selection of the day and time can make quite a big difference if you can be flexible. Generally it's cheapest to buy tickets 3 months in advance, but this isn't always the case, although you'll never be far off by going with this rule.

As others have said, there are cheaper airlines such as JetStar (an offshoot of Quantas, not an Asian airline) but you get what you pay for. Seating is invariably tighter and everything else has to be paid for as an extra. For instance JetStar is Australia's equivalent of Ryanair. There are heafty "admin" fees, you can't reserve seats without extra charge and anything other than small cabin baggage is expensive. The only "free" refreshment is water (that you have to go and get yourself) and the food they do serve (at a high price) is poor even by airline standards. You even have to pay for in-flight entertainment. If you're on a very tight budget then it's fine (although don't book at the last minute because they'll cost as much as major airlines), but if you value a bit of comfort during a 24 + hours journey then I'd recommend spending a little bit extra.