When is the best time to book flights

Aurele · 10 October 2019 at 2:00PM

Hi,

We're planning a holiday for February half-term 2020 and would like to fly from London to Cambodia (or possibly to Bangkok and then cross the border to get to Cambodia if prices are cheaper). Dates would roughly be 14th - 24th of Feb and we're currently looking at flights. Several websites are offering price alert emails and we were, therefore, wondering if it was a good idea to wait. I was assuming that, in terms of flight prices, the earlier the better. But am I wrong? I seem to find contradictory information on the Internet about that. Has any of you heard of "Travel Tuesday" (after Cyber Monday) - is it better than securing a price as early as possible? Is it relevant for flights departing from the UK or is it just American? Any other times flights are cheaper?
Any info would be hugely appreciated, as well as any tips regarding best companies/airports/deals. Thanks for your attention!!

EveryWhere · 10 October 2019 at 4:10PM

£423 with Air China to PNH is not terrible for those dates.

maman · 10 October 2019 at 5:46PM

As you're fixed with your half term dates then I wouldn't leave it very long until booking. Cheap flights do come up but more usually for travellers who can be flexible.

peachyprice · 11 October 2019 at 9:06AM

Feb 2020? As in 4 months time? I think you've missed the window for bargains unless you gamble on waiting until a few weeks before, which may or may not pay off.

At this point in time I would be inclined to book flights at a price I was comfortable with, from now on in they're only likely to go up.

As for 'Travel Tuesday' yes, I've found flying on a Tuesday to be sometimes cheaper, . But as you only have 1 week half term presumably that's not an option for you?

maman · 11 October 2019 at 11:27AM

peachyprice wrote: »

F

As for 'Travel Tuesday' yes, I've found flying on a Tuesday to be sometimes cheaper, . But as you only have 1 week half term presumably that's not an option for you?

That's interesting. We've travelled on a Tuesday with easyJet into Dalaman for some years for a sunshine holiday as it's always been best value. This year Wednesday was better for the first time.

The really good news was that the summer flights (both ways at once for the first time) came out on the Thursday before Thomas Cook collapsed.

bylromarha · 11 October 2019 at 7:13PM

I've been travelling to Cambodia since 2007. I love the country. You know there is no direct flight to Cambodia, so you'll have to change planes somewhere.

FWIW, we've always found it cheaper to go via BKK, then get Airasia/Nok/someone cheap to fly us across the border. It adds to the travel time, but saves £100s for our family of 4.

Momondo is really useful for finding good flights, but beware the excessive journey times for cheap flights - e.g. there's a flight on Momondo for your dates, but £283 just isn't worth a 60 hour round trip!

Put lots of alerts into Momondo for LON - BKK, LON -PNH, LON - REP and book when you find a price/flight time/length of flight you find an acceptable combination. Height of the summer, I've never paid more than £600pp to get to PP for up to 18 hours flying time (inc stopover), so that should give you a gauge as to a reasonable price to find.

When is the best time to book flights

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