How far in advance to book?

[Flock1]

I'm thinking of going from Manchester to Moscow. I've found a very reasonable price with Swissair (via Zurich). for £208 return - and that's for two people!

So here are my queries:

1. The dates are for next May (28-30 to be exact.) So how can an airline offer seats so early. It's nearly a year away? Which brings me onto my next question.

2. The times offered by Swiss are really good. So what are the chances of these times changing before next May? Or worse, might the flights be cancelled altogether?

Cheers

Flock1

[PAXboy]

Flights are available (depending on the carrier) up to 364 days in advance.
Yes, everything can change! Cancelled, moved forward/back or combined with another flight scheduled for later in the day. They should advise of any changes but you will want to check their timetables a few weeks before travel.

[Avman]

I'm not familiar with demand for travel from MAN to Moscow, but I would suggest that you need not commit yourself to a booking so soon. I believe that booking around mid January time would still give you the same fare options (except if fuel rockets up again of course) and give you a better window of opportunity to see what other offers are available.

[TSR2]

I would doubt that you will get a better fare than £104 per person return.

[PAXboy]

Just to complicate matters ... :E

Calculate the cost to you of spending the money now, as opposed to having the itnerest of that money in your account. Then calcuulate how much the tickets will cost on 1st Jan 2007 and consider the cost!

(Psst: buy the tickets now!) :p

__________________
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[Flock1]

Well I've taken the plunge and booked the flights for next May. £208 plus taxes and everything. Complete bargain!

But here's a question. Since we're going via Zurich, I checked how much a return flight to Zurich would cost by itself. Always fancied going to Switzerland for a city break. So went back on the Swiss website - and did a return jouney, same flight as the Moscow one.The cost was £395 for 2 people! How can this be? How can they charge double for going half way? And what would happen if I booked another Moscow return, but stayed in Zurich and didn't bother with the Moscow section? Is this possible?

[PAXboy]

Flock1 welcome to the joys of revenue generation, marketing and yield management in commercial aviation. :hmm: :ugh:

One quick answer, if you travel to ZRH and then do not make the connection, when you return to the airport for your homeward sector - you will probably find that the ticket has been cancelled.

The reasons why airlines have these ridiculous fare rules and such a strange imbalance can appear, is long and very complex. Many of the rules are based on long standing international agreements and many are based on what the computer calculates people will pay, given previous booking patterns. The cheap run to Moscow may well be because they have excess capacity to ZRH and have found that they can link that onward to other places where there is also spare capacity. If they manage to increase overall bookings, they can help maintain a frequent service to MAN. That is just one possible explanation as there are many and you will not be able to find out the real one! Of course,it may just be a simple loss leader!