Didigriff

I am tearing my hair out trying to find reasonable flights to "anywhere" in OZ so that we can validate our visas.

The prices just seem to be staying pretty high with very little fluctuation (I have been searching since February). Our biggest problem is that we need to go in the summer holidays and due to an important family wedding slap bang in the middle of the hols we are pretty restricted on dates to get the longest break over there.

Has anyone any experience of buying flights very, very last minute, a week, several days before - or even the day of departure (don't know if this can be done).

As always your comments are appreciated

Didi x

flodsfive

Have not flown that last minute, all I know is based on personal experince. which is thr flights tend to go up not down the later you leave it. Last christmas flights went up approx £500(for 5 of us) because we waited till a month before we were due to fly. sorry I can't be more positive. perhaps somebody else will come along with better info.

Jaycee1

Try:
www.leestravel.com and check out their offers.
Good luck
J x

Didigriff

Thanks guys

I have heard that flights go up but I am hoping against hope that the airlines decide to sell them off cheaper closer to the departure datejust to get "bums on seats".

I really hope this is the case otherwise we will end up spending a large proportion of our hard earned cash on travel rather than on our intended move.

Cheers anyway.

Burkins

It seems to work leaving it until last minute on charter flights to get cheaper deals but on scheduled flights the first seats they sell are the cheapest and get more expensive the more they sell.

Good luck with the search.

RCoight

Not to put too much of a dampener on your hopes but over the last few years most airlines have reduced capacity to Australia - especially to everywhere other than Sydney - hence the tendency for prices to rise rather than fall nearer the departure date.

Keep hunting however, you may be lucky!

donovandenese

when do you need to validate by? july and august flight prices are pretty high

SheilaClare

Sorry to continue along the same line, but in our experience travelling in the last 10 years (visiting brother and validating visa's) that it's always worked out cheaper to book at least 6 months in advance, if you need to do certain dates. So we know what are costs are going to be we've already booked our flights to go for good in December.

hollykimalan

Every now and then, I check with Emirates own website for the price of 'fairly' last minute flights..say 10 days notice and they seem quite cheap from Glasgow...I have not checked today yet...that reminds me....
Anyone else do this fantasist flights checking with OCD like compulsion...?
Only me?
HKA
x

Burkins

I do this too. Not just flights though, hols, food shopping and shoes!!

Burkins

Have you tried booking a package holiday to somewhere in Asia and then getting a flight from there?

My brother does then when going to Mexico City, books a package to Cancun stays 1 night then gets an internal flight to Mexico City and then returns to Cancun the day before the flight. He went about 2 months ago and paid £270 for 14 nights hol in Cancun then £50 for internal flights. I now Mexico is cheaper but could be an option.

kazza1

I found that looking at the airlines websites directly (Emirates) appears to be cheaper for last minute flights than looking at sites such as Ebookers or Expedia! For last minute flights (end of June), Emirates were about £200 cheaper!

goldchoccycoin

Maybe try what poster #11 suggests and have a look at airasia.com (Kuala Lumpur to Gold Coast) and tigerairways.com (Singapore to Darwin/Melbourne)

I found;
2 x Adults and 2 x Children, Birmingham - Singapore Return 18th - 27th July
3200 quid incl taxes etc. (KLM)

2 x Adults and 2 x Children, Singapore to Darwin Return 19th - 26th July
725 quid incl taxes etc. (tigerairways.com)

Still 4000 quid!

Mikeyc

Try Etihad Airways http://www.etihadairways.com/etihada...atewaypage.htm

Sometimes they have great prices, sometimes not. They are a very nice airline too.

Good Luck.

Mikey

UK-2-OZ

Sorry but I have also to agree that flights go up not down closer to the departure date.