airline seat price fluctuations question

mikeouk

i tend to book flights indipendantly i.e. not package holidays, and in the past its usualy been with budget european airlines, thay all seem to work on the same basis of selling the seats cheap at first and as the flight fills up, so the prices hikes up.
My girlfriend lives near philadelphia, ive been out there twice sinse august, first time i flew to jfk with delta and then a connection to philly, never again!!!id have been quicker getting a bus from jfk. Last time i went, I flew direct man/philly with usairways,this was great and i only paid just over £250. Anyway,im looking at booking a flight for mid feb,again with usairways. Last thursday airlineticketnetwork had loads of flights for £250 and stupidly i put off booking until the weekend, at the time booking direct with usairways was £200 dearer, when i went back to book with them all the flights had disapeared and the price with usairways direct had dropped to £250, i tried to book online but couldnt and when i looked on monday the price had gone up to just over £300. All the flights are the same price around the time i want to go. Id like to know do the airlines hand over options on seats to 3rd party travel companies and then take them back if they arnt selling and also is the price likely to drop again with usairways or should i book it now at £300?

hammy_the_hammer

it's a gamble but i'd probably book it ...at £250 you should have bitten their hand off

mikeouk

hammy_the_hammer wrote: »

it's a gamble but i'd probably book it ...at £250 you should have bitten their hand off

yeh i know, i thought with the amount of options the seats would be around for a few days at least, just goes to show you should book straight away if you see a good price

GlennTheBaker

mikeouk wrote: »

... just goes to show you should book straight away if you see a good price

And don't look again after you've booked in case the price has gone down!

Alan_Bowen

Particularly with US and Far Eastern airlines they frequently offer a special deal to just one or two major agents, airlinenetwork being one. The deals are to stimulate bookings when business is poor, they often have a booking period of less than 7 days, if you see it, book it there and then. If business is bad in January there may be another sale but mid Februray rings alarm bells as it conflicts with school half terms when the deals may be hard to find

wildbri

I have just booked 3 seats from Manchester to Washington in April through airlinenetwork.co.uk for £104 plus tax = £194 each. return May, this is the lowest fare I could find and much cheaper than the Delta airline quote whose flight we are booked on. Tip...... click on quote more than once, I tried six times and the lowest price went down each time! regards.....bri:j

mikeouk

I ended up getting the philly flights for £270, booked them right at the end of december. Also got flights with delta end of april to jfk for £154 inc tax return,,,,,couldnt beleve that one!!!! just shows theres deals out there, sometimes cheaper to book with the airline and sometimes with a 3rd party, there doesnt seem to be a rule of thumb

caz182

I work in travel and any travel agent should have access to the same deals (or usually better) than going direct to the airline. The problem is some agents aren't that experienced in where to find these deals or choose to switch sell to another airline as they may get a higher percentage commission that way. Generally the earlier you book the cheaper it will be