carmele

When do flights become available to book for a trip UK-Oz-UK for December '08 returning January '09?

Only seem to go up to 15th December and can't see any return flights....

Ta
Carmel

bcworld

Typically 330 -350 days before the travel time. Just looking at one ways I can see availability right through Jan 09 for Aus - London though....some pretty good fares on Etihad as well.

Red_V_Roger

Yes - always used to be about 300 days.

bex1812

hi,

i did a search y'day just on cheapflights.co.uk and could book up to 7th Jan 09 if that helps.

not sure which websites you were trying but this gave me options for all airlines to oz.

bex

carmele

Wanted to give family some optional dates of return flights thru january '09 and to be as cheap as possible hence trying to book them asap.....

thanks i'll try the above
ta
Carmel

bcworld

Hi Carmel,

Consider the option of 2 one ways....as I said I can see flights right through Jan....at that time of year it might not be any more expensive than a return anyway.

B

carmele

ok thanks,

how come it's not poss to book return but it is poss to book 2 one ways....

Just looking on singapore airlines... mum flew bhx - syd in sept '07.

BHX not showing as an option on their website ..... do you reckon this is seasonal....?

Carmel

bcworld

No, Singapore Airlines has never flown from BHX...are you sure you're not thinking of Emirates - they are the only one of the airlines that flies to Oz that operates from BHX. Singapore flies only from Heathrow and Manchester.

Really, I have no ideas why the later dates dont show up on the returns - what kind of departure date did you have in mind and for how long?

carmele

hey yeh you're right....... it was emirates! ooops! ...... thanks for that.. I tried their website and couldn't book that far in advance 2 days ago....

depart UK mid december '08 return UK mid to end of jan '09.

just wanna book the cheapest possible flights..... well from bhx

Thanks

Carmel

fedupwithbritain

BA and Qantas are available now for Jan 09
If you want to risk your luggage going missing.

Wheeler-Jones

Hi Carmele

Its great you have forethought but for flights in January departing the UK, this is usually considered low season so you need not be quite so concerned about booking in advance so far. All UK school holidays (and about 1-2 weeks prior) are considered high season or thereabouts.

Low season you can usually afford to wait a bit closer and then you have the chance to book sales when they come. Start looking for prices - other mentioned 300 odd days - when I was a travel agent it was usually 364 days at the most, but alot of the airlines didn't list prices until 11 months prior or even later.

January is probably comparable to September/October prices so you could have a look at Sept/Oct and compare them - if much higher then you should probably wait a bit. Please note this is all advise but tends to work for me - I always book online.

I usually visit opodo.co.uk to get a list of the top three airline prices and then go visit the individual airlines website.

bcworld

Hi Carmel,

The key thing here is the mid-Dec part.....generally on or around 10 Dec prices skyrocket for Xmas....if they can depart before that then the fares are likely to be a lot better.

Also, because the stay is longer than 30/35 days you might expect to pay a bit more than some of the fares you see which may have 30 or 35 day max stay.


As a rough guide the best Emirates fare I can see ex-BHX is on 8th Dec at GBP950 - after that it spikes up to GBP1440. The fare seems to have 12 months validity so you should be able to return late Jan....although the website isnt offering this option....might be worth calling Emirates to see if they can help you.

B

carmele

under 1000 gbp sounds very reasonable over the festive season, will give them a call.

Thanks for that

carmel