When is the best time to book long haul flights?

becky1984

Hi,
Was wondering if anyone knows when the best time of year (or distance from flight date) is to book long haul flights - specifically Australia? Looking to be flying out this time next year (September 2006) to the east coast. At present the flight companies are not listing flights for that period but I have been told by Thomsons that they should be listed from about November time.
Have been told by other people who have done long haul flights that it is best to book ASAP, usually approx. a year in advance. Is that true or is there a time of year/distance from flight date that the prices peak and drop??

balloonist

Normally about 11 months from time of departure and I have always found booking them as early as possible gets best price. eg Last year 2 adults and 2 kids to New York we got, albeit with Kuwait Airways for £660 return and this year same to Los Angeles was £1600. Prices significantly rose after we booked.
Also strongly recommend you use https://www.moneysupermarket.com to scan for cheapest flights!!

N9eav

Agreed. Each airline has only a few discount seats in economy. Once they are sold then the price goes up. Eventually you may get a cheap standby if the seats did not sell or were cancelled. But the rule of thumb is too book as early as possible. I booked last Feb for this Christmas. Although I still see cheap deals, the dates are only available one way or limited seats etc.

Wavy_2

This may not be the correct place to post this – if it isn’t then I apologise but I’ve been searching the site and it’s the best fit I can find.

Now for the question….

I’m trying to organise a trip to Australia, going next year (probably July) to celebrate our 30th Wedding Anniversary which is on 5th July. We have decided to travel Club/Business Class because I have had some bad health in the recent past (not enough to stop me flying but plenty to want a bit of extra comfort) – and the main requirement is a “flat bed”, the kind that BA & Quantas have (although I’m sure there are others)

We hope to have a stopover on the way there, we’re not too bothered where but the choice of airline may push us in a certain direction. In Australia we will visit Darwin & Brisbane then my wife wants to go to China to see the Terracotta Army, Great Wall & a few other choice tourist places. It looks as if we will need to travel from Australia to Hong Kong then take a tour from there.

I want to make a good job of this as my wife lost her mother some while ago and now her dad is not at all well, along with that she had a rough time when I had major surgery for the second time. She deserves to have a holiday of a lifetime.

As you can imagine this will be a very expensive trip and with expense there is the opportunity to cut cost without quality.

Any ideas would be welcome. Thanks in anticipation.

wolvoman

Wavy wrote:

This may not be the correct place to post this – if it isn’t then I apologise but I’ve been searching the site and it’s the best fit I can find.

Now for the question….

I’m trying to organise a trip to Australia, going next year (probably July) to celebrate our 30th Wedding Anniversary which is on 5th July. We have decided to travel Club/Business Class because I have had some bad health in the recent past (not enough to stop me flying but plenty to want a bit of extra comfort) – and the main requirement is a “flat bed”, the kind that BA & Quantas have (although I’m sure there are others)

We hope to have a stopover on the way there, we’re not too bothered where but the choice of airline may push us in a certain direction. In Australia we will visit Darwin & Brisbane then my wife wants to go to China to see the Terracotta Army, Great Wall & a few other choice tourist places. It looks as if we will need to travel from Australia to Hong Kong then take a tour from there.

I want to make a good job of this as my wife lost her mother some while ago and now her dad is not at all well, along with that she had a rough time when I had major surgery for the second time. She deserves to have a holiday of a lifetime.

As you can imagine this will be a very expensive trip and with expense there is the opportunity to cut cost without quality.

Any ideas would be welcome. Thanks in anticipation.

I'd suggest going via HKG with Cathay Pacific. Overall flying time to Oz is slightly more, but you have more availability of flights so may help prices. Plus it caters for the China element and Cathay service is phenomenal. Just note that although it is a flat bed, it is of the slightly sloping kind and not entirely horizontal like the BA bed.

Price: £3,500 each


Or Virgin, proper flat bed suite, but not as good service. £3,000 each in upper class.

Wavy_2

Thanks for that - as luck would have it I'm "vertically challenged" - so smaller or sloping beds tend to be easier to deal with for me. I will have a look and hopefully get sorted. Do you have any opinion of Quantas, because I would have anticipated they would be a good bet. Mind you, I'm getting mixed reports about them...very confusing if you are not experienced. Once again...thanks

blindman

If you're spending that kind of money on flights then it may be worth looking at this site which gives reviews of airlines etc.

I would also say that whichever airline you choose, to sign up to their frequent flyer program because if you book direct with them you'll proably get enough airmiles to have another European flight (each) 'free'.

Look at Flyertalk forum as well as they tend to fly in the better classes and can give pertinent advice.

Get your Aussie visa on line as it's cheaper (about £9.00 each).

Get your travel insurance free through A&L account (though only covers stuff up to £300 and 30 days).

Cheaper to buy a tour of China when in Hong Kong as opposed to buying it here (or so I've heard).


Have fun

richardw

Because BA and Qantas QF codeshare on routes you could experience both of their Business class beds on different sectors of the journey. https://www.seatguru.com is also worth a look.