Optimum time to book a flight?
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Optimum time to book a flight?
Is there an optimum time?
The reason I'm asking is that I'm looking to book a acouple of return flights from Manchester to Budapest in Feb 2007. Swiss Air are offering this for just over 200 quid all in (via Zurich). Is the best I can hope for? Jet2 for the same dates are almost £300. But I don't really want to book this early. But will the price go up if I don't? Or will it go down?
Cheers
Flock
The reason I'm asking is that I'm looking to book a acouple of return flights from Manchester to Budapest in Feb 2007. Swiss Air are offering this for just over 200 quid all in (via Zurich). Is the best I can hope for? Jet2 for the same dates are almost £300. But I don't really want to book this early. But will the price go up if I don't? Or will it go down?
Cheers
Flock
Depends on the historical demand for the flight(s) that Swiss has logged on comparable days going back a couple of years, which will be adjusted by current trends in the weeks immediately prior to departure.
So it's crystal-ball stuff to you (which is of course how it should be...)
You could of course chat up a friendly travel agent and get them to have a look at Amadeus' sales display to see if a) any of the lower buckets have limited (or no) capacity (which is a dead giveaway that they're expecting higher demand for higher revenue buckets and that the price is unlikely to degrade) or if all buckets are open for sale (which could mean that the final unconstrained demand will be less than the capacity and could mean that better deals are around the corner.
So it's crystal-ball stuff to you (which is of course how it should be...)
You could of course chat up a friendly travel agent and get them to have a look at Amadeus' sales display to see if a) any of the lower buckets have limited (or no) capacity (which is a dead giveaway that they're expecting higher demand for higher revenue buckets and that the price is unlikely to degrade) or if all buckets are open for sale (which could mean that the final unconstrained demand will be less than the capacity and could mean that better deals are around the corner.
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special webpage?
I always wondered: Is there a webpage that tells you at what time of the year the prices are lowest for certain flights? Like Expedia, only searching not for specific dates but throughout the year for the lowest fare for the desired route? I know when flights are generally cheaper but prices can jump up couple 100 USD within 1 day. Any links greatly appreciated.
So is Farecast - currently in beta and for BOS and SEA only, but an interesting tool anyway. But assume that the RM genii have their collective noses to the grindstone working on counter-strategies...
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Worked in revenue management for an airline a while back.
Prices depend on historical data, business or leisure route, weekday or weekend, time of travel and if there are any shows/exhibitions/events on in that city at that time. Also what we called "booking curve". ie if its empty at the moment it'll be cheap and if it's nearing full it'll be expensive.
Generally speaking though, the earlier you book the better the price.
Skyscanner is a good one to check.
Pay by credit card in case the carrier goes bankrupt or on strike!
Prices depend on historical data, business or leisure route, weekday or weekend, time of travel and if there are any shows/exhibitions/events on in that city at that time. Also what we called "booking curve". ie if its empty at the moment it'll be cheap and if it's nearing full it'll be expensive.
Generally speaking though, the earlier you book the better the price.
Skyscanner is a good one to check.
Pay by credit card in case the carrier goes bankrupt or on strike!
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Thanks for the replies.
El @, the dates have to quite specific, for two nights in duration. Day 1 - fly in and land at a reasonble time. Day 2 sightseeing. Day 3, fly out, once more at a reasonable hour.
The Swiss flights sound very reasonable to me.
Regards
Flock1
El @, the dates have to quite specific, for two nights in duration. Day 1 - fly in and land at a reasonble time. Day 2 sightseeing. Day 3, fly out, once more at a reasonable hour.
The Swiss flights sound very reasonable to me.
Regards
Flock1
