fco110 From United States of America, joined Sep 2008, 79 posts, RR: 0 Posted (10 months 3 weeks 3 days 18 hours ago) and read 3093 times:
What are the general flows of ticket pricing in terms of the best time to buy? i.e. if you were to buy ticket over the Christmas holiday - not say the peak days but over that period - when would be the best time to do it? I see now BA and AA have deals on business through Sept - but not farther. Last year they seemed to have air/hotel combos in November for December. It seems that if you look at BAs 12 month fare calandars the fares trend a little lower the closer you get then rise again when you are in the travel window. As we need to purchase four tickets and usually do WT+ just want to save a little if we can. If this needs to be in a different forum I apologize but seem to have seen some topics like this.
HT From Germany, joined May 2005, 6472 posts, RR: 27 Reply 1, posted (10 months 3 weeks 1 day 2 hours ago) and read 2908 times:
There is no easy and simple answer to this question.
Airlines employ whole departments for their yield management, so if the fare development for a specific flight were predictable 9 months in advance, a whole bunch of people just could get laid off.
Serious: If you want to travel on a certain day / flight and require 4 seats, chances are that any offers you might see have less than 4 seats available. If you feel that the fare is okay, book it.
-HT
Carpe diem ! Life is too short to waste your time ! Keep in mind, that today is the first day of the rest of your life !
jeffry747 From United States of America, joined Jun 2005, 961 posts, RR: 2 Reply 2, posted (10 months 2 weeks 1 day 15 hours ago) and read 2603 times:
From my personal experience mostly flying domestic within the US, fares tend to be at their cheapest approx. 2 weeks before the date of the flight you want to book. Once you get within that two week timeframe, the bulk of travelers booking shifts from travelers planning for vacation to business travelers who HAVE to travel on that date, as well as others who must travel at the last minute. We all know that airlines love to milk it from those who have to go. I don't really travel on holidays, so I don't know if this principle applies at those times. Keep an eye out for fares on the date you want to travel. They will either remain steady or creep down until two weeks in advance, when they will hit rock bottom. Fares will then skyrocket up until travel day. And keep an eye out for those really good deals. The best ones never last long, sometimes only a few hours.
Hawaiian763 From Canada, joined May 2009, 239 posts, RR: 0 Reply 3, posted (10 months 1 week 2 days 2 hours ago) and read 2287 times:
With AC and WS here in Canada I tend to find the cheapest fares are usually 3-5 weeks prior to the date of the flight and it's usually every Wednesday that they release their seats sales. Last week I was watching fares from YYC to YEG and probably about every 12 hours, the price went up $20-$30. In 1 week, the fare went from $79 to well over $200 the day before departure. Keep an eye out for seat sales and every now and than an airline may have a sale that lasts only a few hours and that might be the best chance to get the greatest deal (even though they will likely come with a long list of restrictions and blackout dates).
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