When to get the best last minute deals?

SeagullFTB

Thanks for all the replies. I decided to bite the bullet before availability becomes too restrictive and found a 4 star all inclusive week away just outside of Marrakech for £500 each. Not too bad considering it's in the school holidays.

fifeken

suki1964 wrote: »

If there are empty seats, its costing the airline money. The say the seat is £100, you offer half and see where they go to meet you

That stopped working lots of years ago. If the airlines let it happen there would always be seats sold for peanuts at the last minute and that's just not the case.

They took some short term pain but will have gained in the long run.

zagfles

suki1964 wrote: »

You could pack a case and turn up at the airport, look at the destination board and go see what seats are still available - and haggle hard

So have you done this recently? What kind of deals did you get? Which airlines?

I'd heard all airlines stopped "standby" type fares about 30 years ago, as they make much more money by selling last minute seats to people who need to travel last minute urgently. They couldn't do this if they sold cheap standby fares.