Ozzy Fever

I am going back to UK this October and at the moment looking at flights the cheapest I have seen is $1,925 - Adelaide to London, does this seem a good price?

Do flight prices get cheaper the closer you book them to departure?

I am flexible on my travel dates with money being a bit tight looking for the cheapest flight

hotfuss

Now!!

http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-...ml?autostart=1

sassie

apparently these flights have all sold out!

hotfuss

No surprise there I guess!

As for the original query - I wish I knew! I'm visiting Ireland in September and missed out on an Etihad sale in March, then just monitored their site every day to see if the fares changed. They dropped by $400 one day so I booked but I really think it's so hit and miss as to when the prices change that it's hard to tell. Maybe a travel agent would be able to help?

Centurion

Within each cabin of a flight there are a number of seats allocated to different fare types (fare buckets). The first ones to be sold will be the discounted ones, then the less discounted all the way to the full fare.

The closer to the time you book, the less availability there will be of any discount fares. Moral of the story - book as early as you can.

The only caveat is that from time to time an airline might run a promotion on a few routes near to the time you want to fly.

Use zuji.com and expedia.com.au to find decent low net fares but also check the airline themselves. Rarely will an airline directly be more expensive than any online agent and there are tremendous advantages to booking direct such as early seating allocation with some carriers.

Bon chance !

hotfuss

Interesting.. Why then when I was checking flights with Etihad in April, I checked the website regularly and one week the prices for the dates I wanted had dropped by $400 return to what they had been listed the previous week? This wasn't listed under a special sale or anything like that either..

If it's as simple as the airlines selling the cheapest flights first and then prices increasing, this doesn't make sense given my recent experience.

Just trying to make sense of it all!

bcworld

The airlines employ people to manage revenue, and they will be continually tinkering with the number of seats available at particular fares in order to generate the most revenue. Some fares have advance purchase restrictions, therefore they will disappear earlier.

I've seen some really weird theories written on this website by people who think they've worked out when to get the cheapest fares...suffice to say there is no right answer, too many variables.

hotfuss

That makes sense.. and I guess if there was a straightforward answer then everyone would want to buy at the same time so they have to keep us guessing!

Kapri

Are you back for holiday or for good hon?

Ozzy Fever

Just a 2 week visit to stock up on some clothes and see the family

Willin

I'm flying back same time from Sydney.
Basically monitoring fares daily.

Hoping that in the next few months someone will offer buy one get one free or heavy discount on any class of fare.

It's the lowest season for London so should be some airlines looking for business at some stage.

canadaeh

Lufthansa has a special this week $1500 - $1900 including all taxes etc to many destinations across Europe and from most cities in Australia.