best time to book flights

[bex7583]

early or leave it untill the last minuite ? also are any months cheaper than others for flights? i have aways been to florida in july in the past but i think that will be too hot n sweaty for my kids

 

[wayneg]

Cheapest time for last minute is now, there are flights around for £153 (plus luggage)
http://flights.thomson.co.uk/thomso...=0&duration=0&destA=SFB&destB=none&destC=none
Best times of year are when kids are in school, most expensive times are school holidays.

Should you leave it til last minute? totally upto you but beware you could end up staying at home. We once tried last minute at Xmas, ended up not going anywhere. Also tried last minute in summer, ended up paying more than booking early.

 

[chmurf]

last minute can get cheaper, but there is no guarantee that you'll get a cheaper seat or that you'll get a seat at all.

last minute also means that if your flight is full, you might not be able to get seats together

basically, going for last minute means that you accept the possibility of worst case scenarios

you can also get cheaper flights several months out. Of course it will never get as good as last minute (cost-wise) but it will come cheaper.

I always book at least 6 months in advance (if not 8) once I find the fare to be fair. Usually, after one or 2 weeks I see a price hike of tens or even hundreds of quids for that same flight.

The best way to know if a period is cheaper than another is to make simulations on websites. Try to find the same flights (by flight number and schedule) and see how the price varies.
Also use the flexible dates option on those websites, sometimes you'll see that flying on some days will come much cheaper than flying the next day and sometimes cheaper flights do not fall the same days as cheaper stays at Disney's
Here's my story for our october trip : we booked POP before our flight, but when we looked for a flight it was much more expensive than flying in one day before. So we added an extra day, offsite, and an extra car rental day. In the end, adding this extra day, came off cheaper than flying the next day.
One more day in florida for free and with some extra spending money ... being flexible comes in handy

 

[JintyB]

Wow! Those are cheap flights! Makes me wish I wasn't a teacher...imagine being able to go away at any time other than school holidays...sigh. I actually had someone I work with telling me that in four or five years I'd be able to go because my daughter would have left school...I had to point out that whilst she might have, I would still be there!

 

[luke]

Wow! Those are cheap flights! Makes me wish I wasn't a teacher...imagine being able to go away at any time other than school holidays...sigh. I actually had someone I work with telling me that in four or five years I'd be able to go because my daughter would have left school...I had to point out that whilst she might have, I would still be there!

Another jealous teacher here too. When people go on about how many 'holidays' we get my first reply is always about how expensive it is to actually do anything during them!

 

[wayneg]

Another jealous teacher here too. When people go on about how many 'holidays' we get my first reply is always about how expensive it is to actually do anything during them!

13 weeks a year off, earn 2-3 times my income, finish at what? 3:30pm? good pension.

Easy life.......Not. Rather you than me, wouldn't do it for double your wage. Keep up the good work Luke

 

[Disney Princesses LW]

early or leave it untill the last minuite ? also are any months cheaper than others for flights? i have aways been to florida in july in the past but i think that will be too hot n sweaty for my kids

I always wonder the same thing and have priced up flights too we always go September and because we're planning months in advance 2014 I have done some dummy booking and am watching and wondered if any difference in costs.
I show you my findings based on the last 2 weeks of a month
April direct with virgin was £642 Thomas cook was £181
May direct virgin was £646 Thompson was £334
June direct Virgin was £625 Thompson was £420
July & August came in approx £900 forget it!!!
Sept was Virgin £500 Thomas Cook £400
(searched done last sunday night!!)

I decided April would be a good month Let me know what you decide I would be interested

 

[JintyB]

13 weeks a year off, earn 2-3 times my income, finish at what? 3:30pm? good pension.

Easy life.......Not. Rather you than me, wouldn't do it for double your wage. Keep up the good work Luke

Should I keep up the good work, or do I have permission to slack off? After all, there's only 6 and a half weeks until half term so I should probably start winding down...

 

[wayneg]

Should I keep up the good work, or do I have permission to slack off? After all, there's only 6 and a half weeks until half term so I should probably start winding down...

Oh, I forgot you don't even work weekends

With a Son going thru his A levels I have full respect for everyone who works in our education system (except the numpties who devised the student finance pages on the government website, spent a fun hour on there this evening)

 

[JintyB]

If you ever start a free school Wayne, I want to work in it

 

[Debbyt28]

Cheapest time for last minute is now, there are flights around for £153 (plus luggage)
http://flights.thomson.co.uk/thomso...=0&duration=0&destA=SFB&destB=none&destC=none
Best times of year are when kids are in school, most expensive times are school holidays.

Should you leave it til last minute? totally upto you but beware you could end up staying at home. We once tried last minute at Xmas, ended up not going anywhere. Also tried last minute in summer, ended up paying more than
booking early.

Wow these are great prices my query is I've decided to go to Disney solo in sept for 10 days I'm hoping that flight prices will come down maybe not as low as this but maybe 350 plus that's what I'm budgeting for so any advice on what time to book btw I have been numerous times but always as part of a family so booked in advance , I'm hoping solo will give an advantage on flights

 

[wayneg]

Wow these are great prices my query is I've decided to go to Disney solo in sept for 10 days I'm hoping that flight prices will come down maybe not as low as this but maybe 350 plus that's what I'm budgeting for so any advice on what time to book btw I have been numerous times but always as part of a family so booked in advance , I'm hoping solo will give an advantage on flights

To get price down to £350 your only option is last minute and hope. VA & BA don't come down much under £450 offpeak, Indirect slightly under mabye £420ish but gone are the days of £350 unless its a late deal. Only problem is you might not get anything, I tried last oct, ended up booking at £490pp with American Airlines which then gave me enough airmiles for a hotel worth £60 meaning the flight actually cost around £430. I did keep watching the Charter flights but they never came down for the dates we wanted.

 

[Debbyt28]

To get price down to £350 your only option is last minute and hope. VA & BA don't come down much under £450 offpeak, Indirect slightly under mabye £420ish but gone are the days of £350 unless its a late deal. Only problem is you might not get anything, I tried last oct, ended up booking at £490pp with American Airlines which then gave me enough airmiles for a hotel worth £60 meaning the flight actually cost around £430. I did keep watching the Charter flights but they never came down for the dates we wanted.

Thanks Wayne
I know virgin are doing a 4 day sale for may June and the least is 460 so looks like thetas what it will be for sept I was hoping for less to stay at POFQ but am happy to go for POP but will go for preferred room for safety

 

[wayneg]

Thanks Wayne
I know virgin are doing a 4 day sale for may June and the least is 460 so looks like thetas what it will be for sept I was hoping for less to stay at POFQ but am happy to go for POP but will go for preferred room for safety

If you have the money ready just keep looking every day, 2-3 times a day if possible, you never know when you might come across an offer or a misprice. Good luck.