australia at xmas 2008

bclark

Finnis did you book direct with the airline in the end?

richardw

finnis wrote: »

Also spoke to a couple of agents, one of whom told me that the seat prices only go one way after release and that's up,

and that is because of good demand, the airlines know when demand is likely to be good and price accordingly.

bclark, yes demand is lower for flights on the 24th/25th because when you get to Aus christmas day is over and most people want to be there in time for it, and hence prices are lower.

finnis

bclark

No, I booked through Airline Network. Very helpful, and let me put a deposit down and pay the balance later on.

Also Singapore Airlines have a matrix system too, allowing you to see how much the prices are affected for different departure and return dates.

SamBee

Point I was trying to make, maybe badly, was that I asked when I booked if I'd have got the fares any cheaper if I'd booked earlier and was told that the fares were pretty much the same when I booked as when they were released at the start of the year. I could have got cheaper prices for Dec 12th departures, but not to fit in with when we wanted to return home. I take your point about there being no advantage to leaving it and hoping the prices come down, but also worth noting that you don't have to book as soon as the seats are released if you're unable to plan that far ahead.

As an extra money saving tip, I took out a Capital One 4% cashback card specifically to pay for the flights so saved a few quid that way.

Sam_Bee

finnis wrote: »

SamBee

Point I was trying to make, maybe badly, was that I asked when I booked if I'd have got the fares any cheaper if I'd booked earlier and was told that the fares were pretty much the same when I booked as when they were released at the start of the year. I could have got cheaper prices for Dec 12th departures, but not to fit in with when we wanted to return home. I take your point about there being no advantage to leaving it and hoping the prices come down, but also worth noting that you don't have to book as soon as the seats are released if you're unable to plan that far ahead.

As an extra money saving tip, I took out a Capital One 4% cashback card specifically to pay for the flights so saved a few quid that way.

Point I was making (!) was that it is the outbound date that affects the price of the flight. If you'd have booked early enough you would have got the flights for £900 irrespective of when you came back.

I don't mean that to sound harsh, but you were not informed right. If you had booked earlier you would have paid less.

But with such a purchase the Cashback Card is a great idea.

bclark

Ok I think I have made my mind up that I am going to aim for a Xmas day flight (in the evening) to save some cash. When would these flights likely be released? I have been told elsewhere that it would be about 11 months before the flight.

finnis

Sam_Bee wrote: »

Point I was making (!) was that it is the outbound date that affects the price of the flight. If you'd have booked early enough you would have got the flights for £900 irrespective of when you came back.

I don't mean that to sound harsh, but you were not informed right. If you had booked earlier you would have paid less.

But with such a purchase the Cashback Card is a great idea.

Oh, I see what you're saying. If I'd booked earlier I'd have got the flights for £900 and the return date wouldn't have affected it? Whereas when I booked, the return date very much did affect the price.

Fortunately, we only decided to go in September and booked pretty much straight away - if we'd decided in Jan and I'd hung on for the price to go down I'd be a bit miffed now!