airline prices

[dazza]

ivw just been looking 4 flights 4 november but most of the airlines what stupid prices.When do the prices start 2 come down .Last november i paid 410 direct with british airways .I want 2 fly with thai if posssible

[MrDK]

The whole thing with airline prices is a gamble. The two main factors are competition and capacity.

It is not uncommon that the prices are higher early on, because the airline is under no pressure to fill the flight and whoever buy that early supports the bottom line. On the other hand there is no assurances that a particular airline will ever drop the prices.

If you are not picky about what airline you fly then my experience is that for long haul flights the sweet spot is 6 to 10 weeks before departure. There has been several member of this board, however, that have been watching prices going down and when they were ready to push the button the price had gone up.

On my last trip I had a particular itinerary in mind and 4 weeks before the departure the price was great. When I went to ticket it the next day it had gone up $2000. I managed to change one flight and got nearly to the low price at the point.

On another occasion I was on the phone with the agent (airline direct) and she would quote me a price and I said book it. She would come back and say that the price just went up a couple of hundred. Disappointingly I said to then book that one. One more time it went up a couple of hundred. This wasn't the agent playing tricks, but proof that the airfare game can be extremely volatile.

To ask anyone when the prices will go down is like asking a stock broker when the a certain stock is going to hit a low or a high.

Again, based on my experience the sweet spot for long haul flights is 6 to 10 weeks, but please don't come back and complain if I was wrong.

[faultytowers]

Originally Posted by dazza

ivw just been looking 4 flights 4 november but most of the airlines what stupid prices.When do the prices start 2 come down .Last november i paid 410 direct with british airways .I want 2 fly with thai if posssible

Haven't flown 'direct' for a while , usually go via Dubai with Emirates , but one thing I found is that a lot of sites give price for "best" flight (times/connections etc).

Did a bit of playing around with days/times/connections and managed to knock over £100 off the price by having a 3 hour stopover in Dubai instead of the "best" flight which had a 2 hour break.

Take a little bit of time comparing departure times/days etc and you can 'usually' find there is quite a difference in price.

Only real advice , when you find a deal which you think is good........book it !!!

O.K , you 'may' spot a better bargain later ( ) but the chances are that prices will go up and you'll end up regretting not have booked your 'original' deal.

[butterflyblonde]

I just had a look at some random dates in November with westeast Travel.(Heathrow - Bangkok)

Best offers with them at the moment were

Emirates £490
Etihad - £487
Thai Air currently more expensive at £577


Was the same kind of prices on Airline-network too, Emirates and Etihad as the best deals under £500

[Denver]

Good advice there from FT and BFB. Trawl around the cheapo websites and have a look at thier offers. Then book it if you can!!!

BFB mentioned airline-network (Thier website sends emails to you as 'airnet' which is disconcerting! Bit Ena Sharples! If you can remember that far back!) I had a chat with them about a flight at the end of the month and after a bit of a search they got me a Emirates open-ended ticket i.e. return from Manchester to Phuket with 3 hours in Dubai for £470 inclusive of taxes which run to around £70 these days!!!! So that's no fannying about in London for me and the Phuket leg sorted out for under £500! I'm happy with that.

Just checked today and the same flight is now £512 within 24 hours! Luckily, I booked it yesterday and had my confirmation last night.

Well worth searching around the t'internet, jotting down a few numbers and then giving them a bell.

Good luck Dazza

D

[steve w]

best to book early,i booked for november last month for£460 with sta travel and already their price for the same ticket has gone up to £504

[Denver]

Just got my 'E-Tickets' through!!! Much prefer those big bits of green cardboard you used to get in the olden days!

What's the world coming too? Tch!!!!

[viper]

Booked through Dial a Flight a couple of years ago and got one night in BKK at some hotel - was decent enough - and 14/15 nights at the Horizon Beach Resort in PHK, NOT GF so I learnt! along with all flights/transfers, came in around £720. This included the internal flights from Jersey to Gatwick and coach transfer to Heathrow.

Last November, I held out till July and got a direct Thai flight through Airline Network - LHR - BKK - for £327 + taxes, which came in around £455 - but had to sort out all internals, I.E Jersey Gatwick + transfer etc, seperate

Have already booked for December this year. Cannot remember who with, as was done by a friend. Depart London 12/12th for 6 weeks, but is a stop over in Dubai and was £565

The one I am doing now, for next week, all being well, is £525 direct with Thai, PHK return included and insurance/taxes etc

Have seen a couple around the £385 mark - via Doha or Dubai etc, but my dates cannot fit the flights/times

[brit]

No one has mentioned yet but I think there would be a difference between going on 1st November vs the 30th. I'd say 4-6 weeks before normally but for the 30th it might pay to book earlier.

In a way it doesn't matter right now - if the prices are stupid well then you just have to wait anyway. See what the situation is during June then re-evaluate.

[Talbotman]

I HAVE just booked my november flights with trailfinders

i fly with china air glasgow-amsterdam-bangkok on friday november 23rd

return bangkok-amstrdam-glasgow on friday december 7th

total price including all taxes is £575

my mate flying same dates same airline but starting from london city airport
is paying £609

you will struggle to get cheaper for that time of year

[Talbotman]

REMEMBER also that uk flights have went up by £40 because of the doubling of the uk passenger duty tax

[brit]

They've gone up to £40 so that's a £20 increase rather than 40. Though maybe add another tenner on for the airport departure tax which they now include on the ticket. To be honest I think your mate has way overpaid @ £609 for an indirect flight. We will see nearer the time I guess.

[brit]

lastminute.com 23rd Nov to 7th Dec Royal Jordanian for...£399

Come on guys search search search. Dawsey even made a nice sticky thread with all the links.

[Sirgezza]

Originally Posted by brit

They've gone up to £40 so that's a £20 increase rather than 40. Though maybe add another tenner on for the airport departure tax which they now include on the ticket. To be honest I think your mate has way overpaid @ £609 for an indirect flight. We will see nearer the time I guess.

Isn't a long haul flight £80 return for the passenger tax?

[brit]

Originally Posted by Sirgezza

Isn't a long haul flight £80 return for the passenger tax?

For business and first class.

[Dodger]

Dazza, here's a little extra tip from a seasoned Thai holidayer before coming to live here, check out all the internet sites and get you best deal, then ring BA courier desk, it goes via their travel section but here is the direct number 08703200301 (you may have to ask for courier flights or it may be a press number thingy ofr travel desk then ask).

Flights start at £500ish quid and reduce the closer you get to the date you wish to travel, peak season you must take them fairly early but the rest of the year if your travel dates are flexible by a day or so leave it late, say 2/3 weeks before departure. When ringing you give them your return date, cos thats when you will bring the parcel, letter etc back for them in your new role as courier. Durations of over 2 weeks they charge £50 for every extra week, so no good for long term holidays but brilliant for 2/3 weeks breaks cos I've waited and got flights as low as £250/300, and always direct.

If you get better from internet book it, if not this is a good second option and usually the cheapest deal you'll find.

They also do courier flights to Hong Kong, Maldives and New York, same sort of discount, usually 30% off initially to over 50% closer you wait. Other companies must offer courier flights but only ever found one other to BA and that was to America, can't remember who, didn't want to go there at the time, Marc26 was still in Boston, be okay now though!!.

[Talbotman]

NO OFFENCE brit !

but i could find any number of flights cheap with arab and russian airlines but i would not personally consider them for 1 minute
i just did a return trip glasgow-dubai-bangkok with emerites and i would not do it again from amsterdam my flight time to los is 10 hours 30 mins my flight time from galsgow to dubai was 7 hours 40 mins then dubai to bangkok 5 hours 40 mins thats a total of 13 hours 30 minutes plus a 2 hour 30 minute wait at dubai each way with no local money to buy food drink (not for me i am afraid)

direct flights are also out of the question for me also being from scotland i have 3 choices fly from glasgow to connect at LONDON HEATHROW/AMSTERDAM/DUBAI so its much preferable for me to connect at amsterdam because heathrow is my idea of hell on earth !

my firend lives in east london (i lived there for 14 years) it would take us over 2 hours to get to heathrow from east london travelling on the tube with baggage with punters moaning because you are taking up space
london city airport is a 7 minute taxi ride away from there you can fly to amsterdam/zurich/frankfurt and connect to chinair/klm/swissair/lufthansa

in the end i am sorry but if i had to endure 3 hours 30 mins extra flying time plus unreliable service (cancelations etc) just top save myself £70-£100 quid then i simply would not go !!!!! and i am not a rich guy so money is important to me but i will pay extra to get the flights i want !

[shanghai]

I am looking at flights for Late July at the moment. TravelSelect - cheap flights seem to be very good. Great deal manchester - ams - bkk with China airlines.

Let us know what you end up paying!

[dazza]

cheapest ive seen so far is 569 with thg travel ur theyr website thg.co.uk

[Talbotman]

CARDIFF-AMSTERDAM-BANGKOK with china air £545 booked through trailfinders called them up and asked for price on your dates !

[t0rn]

Originally Posted by dazza

cheapest ive seen so far is 569 with thg travel ur theyr website thg.co.uk

I don't believe you've posted your dates beyond saying November - might get more help if you did.....

[Nanook]

Originally Posted by Talbotman

CARDIFF-AMSTERDAM-BANGKOK with china air £545 booked through trailfinders called them up and asked for price on your dates !

For my China Airlines flight AMS-BKK-AMS later this week I paid € 653 which is approx. GBP 450 I think. Not bad.

[Dodger]

Originally Posted by dazza

cheapest ive seen so far is 569 with thg travel ur theyr website thg.co.uk

I also used THG a lot as well, you need to get their direct number for thier swansea office, cos if not they are part of Thompsons and you can get redirected to other group offices who are not as competitive as the swansea office for Thailand.

Also ask them if they know of any discounts that are going to be offered in the near future. One guy there, think it was Neal, always used to seem to know and tell me to wait until this period of time as Thai were about to offer a special deal etc.

Have you given the courier line a ring yet? how much were they? although with so long to go suppose it will be thier top price now, it reduces as you get closer to time of departure.

[steve w]

sta travel qatar air for november £450 booked last month ,now £504 .should always try to book as early as possible innit.
i really cannot find anything under £500 now unless you wanna go jordanian out of gatwick,with a long connecting wait in amman!