Deals

Apologies if this has been much discussed/answered elsewhere, but is it true that once flights have been released, they are expensive for a month, then the prices drop before going back up again?

Really looking to cut costs for an anniv holiday next Summer.
Thanks in advance

[Neil]

If only it were that simple. There are so many factors which determine the price of flights, and how the fluctuate.

Some things which are pretty much a given:
Sales = cheapest flights

Date/destination affect things so much. So Orlando at Easter, New York at Xmas/4th July period, SYD from Dec-Feb etc etc are all busy and popular times so deals no need for cheap flights. But say Caribbean destinations during July/August, Orlando in January when the demand is low will result in lower flight prices.

Fare codes affect flight prices. When all the cheaper fares codes have gone, the only option is a more expensive one, so naturally prices will have gone up. There are only so many seats per fare code, so waiting could result in the cheaper ones going.

If what younhave suggested was the way it work, nobody would book flights for the first month, then be a mad rush and then nobody book again.

I've been trying to work out how and when they release the cheapest fares for over 5 years and I'm still non the wiser.

The only advise is book when you are happy with the price and then don't check back again.

You can look on line every day for a week and get a different price every time you look - especially for Y seats.
PE and UC are more fixed as these are not sold on the price primarily.

[honey lamb]

When seats first come on sale at the 336 day mark you sometimes find that only the higher buckets are released first but over the next few days or so the lower buckets come into play. Certainly it is not as long as a month and it does not always happen. After that it depends very much on the fare buckets. Once each bucket of fares is filled the price goes up as the fares move into the next bucket for each cabin. In addition sale and demand comes into play as Neil says and low loads can result in a drop in fares of very cheap upgrades depending on loads

You can look on line every day for a week and get a different price every time you look - especially for Y seats.
PE and UC are more fixed as these are not sold on the price primarily.

People doing 'dummy bookings' i.e. just checking prices can also affect the fares shown to other people who are also checking prices.

Usually the prices revert to 'normal' once these dummy bookings time themselves out of the system. The trick is to try and look when no one else is !

Ok, thanks for all of your replies.

Unfortunately as 2 of our party are teachers we have to go peak time (July) - and as it's Vegas it's not like we have tons of options.

I definitely take the point about once booked don't look again - my nerves wouldn't take it!

Ah well, looks like we'll have to bite the bullet soon, take a deep breath and max up our credit cards.

Sue

[Darren Wheeler]

If it's Vegas, look at going via LAX and either driving or doing an internal shuttle.

2 flights a day to LAX.

Thanks Darren - had thought about that but not priced it up yet. We are travelling to LA after Vegas so it could be a tweaking with our plan is in order!