Lucas_Dad

I took my boys back to the UK for the first time this year. The flights with SIA were just a shade over $5,000, booked 9 months in advance.

I've negotiated a return trip with my ex-wife for next September. Same airline, same route, price is looking to be just over $6,600. This is direct with SIA. The flight search sites that go that far ahead (e.g. BYOJet who I booked with last time) are coming in about $500 more expensive in total. Eldest son was child fare last time, and will be 12 next time so is an adult according to air fares but that only accounts for about a $600 increase on his fare. I don't suppose I should book him as he is now - 11 - and risk problems next September...?

What are the BE-ers thoughts? Book now, secure the seats, it'll only going up in future? Wait for a sale that might not happen?

I could look at the likes of Air India ($1,700 each rather than $2,500 each) but my youngest son has ADHD and L2 Autism - the familiarity of going with the same airline, same facilities (free wifi the whole flight was awesome for them), same stopover, etc. will make all our lives more comfortable.

Cheers, as ever.

Beoz

Airlines never throw a sale on a year out. I did a big European trip in August. I first looked a year prior because we knew we had to attend a wedding. Ended up booking a month out for the same price it was a year out. 6 months out prices were better but we were debating whether to go or not at that point so missed a deal.

No point throwing a sale on a year out. If you can fill planes at a high price early then thats business. If the planes don't sell out then airlines have lots of time to tinker with pricing as the year progresses.

Pollyana

With regard to the age thing - you need to book for the age he will be when travelling.

christmasoompa

Have you tried Skyscanner or a similar tool like Google flights? If your dates aren't fixed and you can be flexible, that's usually how I find good cheap flights. I obviously don't know which route you want to fly or if you have specific dates etc, but I've just checked for next September using their 'whole month' search and I'm finding flights from Sydney to London with SIA for $5877. Still more expensive than you paid last year but a bit cheaper at least.

Lucas_Dad

Thanks all. I booked directly with SIA. The son who will be 12 was actually a little cheaper than my fare by a fairly healthy margin (about $300 I think).Slightly annoying that it didn't show this cheaper fare until checkout though.

We each had 13,000 Kris miles from our previous trip so I pooled those together which amounted to a $400 discount. Total paid $6052. The extra $1,000 compared to our last trip is not ideal, but I'm not unhappy with that final price. The countdown begins again. Only 326 sleeps to go!