When to book flights

[KellO]

Hi all,

As recommended by others in here before, my friend and I have reserved our resort dates for Sep 2021 (Orlando) with DU. I'm currently trying to figure out when they best deals might be for flights. I know I've just missed the Black Friday sales but does Virgin Atlantic normally have sales in January? I know this may well be different, given the mess this year has been, but just going with the 'just in case'. I have alerts set up, but trying to make sure I'm ready for a good deal, if one pops up. We'll be flying from Manchester (UK) to Orlando Int.

 

[rob191186]

To be honest the flight prices now for September are the cheapest I’ve seen them. I always go in sept and usually pay between £450-£550 return. I checked the other day and I’m sure they were showing as £350-400

 

[KellO]

To be honest the flight prices now for September are the cheapest I’ve seen them. I always go in sept and usually pay between £450-£550 return. I checked the other day and I’m sure they were showing as £350-400

I wondered if they were as I've certainly never seen flights that cheap to the US. I've paid up to around £700 return in the past, but I've never been to Orlando so wasn't sure what the going rate for that was. Virgin seems to be the only one doing direct flights at the moment too.

 

[Lucys dad]

VA sale on again today, no doubt they are still struggling. Still a complete gamble/lottery buying flights for 2021 IMO.

 

[Kevin Stringer]

I wouldn't worry too much about sales. If you find a price you are happy with, book it.
I recently booked flights into Tampa and out of Orlando for next October/November with BA. A week later they had the Black Friday sale, which was supposed to save 20%. Well it did knock 20% off, but the starting price was more than 20% higher than when I booked! Overall the price in the sale was higher than the price prior to the sale.
Both BA and Virgin usually do have sales in between Christmas and New Year, but who knows what will happen in the current climate.

 

[I_love_Cruising]

I'm planing for November 2021, but I'll wait to book my flights. I don't want to risk it, especially with sales that are often not refundable.
I think that people will be reluctant to go on vacation in 2021 and flight prices will keep dropping or at least stay stable.
Cheapest flight I ever got was 350 € with Virgin and I booked about 2 months before the flight.

 

[Plague]

I too am holding off booking flights for October 2021. It was a trial getting a refund for this year and I certainly won't commit that sort of money back to an airline until there is a much better chance a) I'll be going and b) the airline will still be extant.
Too many false dawns - and there is a lot we still don't know about this disease or the vaccines.

 

[KellO]

I wouldn't worry too much about sales. If you find a price you are happy with, book it.
I recently booked flights into Tampa and out of Orlando for next October/November with BA. A week later they had the Black Friday sale, which was supposed to save 20%. Well it did knock 20% off, but the starting price was more than 20% higher than when I booked! Overall the price in the sale was higher than the price prior to the sale.
Both BA and Virgin usually do have sales in between Christmas and New Year, but who knows what will happen in the current climate.

Yeah I was wondering if the prices would actually go up in the New Year, as people start to get more confident about travelling.

 

[KellO]

I too am holding off booking flights for October 2021. It was a trial getting a refund for this year and I certainly won't commit that sort of money back to an airline until there is a much better chance a) I'll be going and b) the airline will still be extant.
Too many false dawns - and there is a lot we still don't know about this disease or the vaccines.

They've introduced flexi dates and free Covid insurance apparently too, so I feel pretty comfortable booking whenever.

 

[Plague]

They've introduced flexi dates and free Covid insurance apparently too, so I feel pretty comfortable booking whenever.

OK. I hadn't heard about that. Have to go have root around (and read the fine print ).
When my miles/points have been refunded of course ...

 

[gismo1554]

BA I'm having all sorts of trouble with. I used airmiles to upgrade a flight for next May and getting anything back on the flight is proving to be a nightmare. I can either get a refund voucher which has to be used on a flight which uses airmiles as part of the booking or just get the airmiles back. I can't appear to use them for anything else and the T&C with BA seem to be pretty much unless you pay triple the price you can only get a travel voucher and this is only valid for flights before August next year (was looking at November). However I did spot that if you book a hotel (even for just 1 night pre flight) it classes as a holiday and you can pay a small deposit which is all you then loose if you choose to cancel. This may be the option I take on my next flight. Annoyingly BA are the only airline that do the route I need otherwise I wouldn't even be using them as I still can't find any stipulation that says I can't get a refund on a flight upgraded by Avios or that I have to use Avios on my next flight to get the refund.

 

[KellO]

BA I'm having all sorts of trouble with. I used airmiles to upgrade a flight for next May and getting anything back on the flight is proving to be a nightmare. I can either get a refund voucher which has to be used on a flight which uses airmiles as part of the booking or just get the airmiles back. I can't appear to use them for anything else and the T&C with BA seem to be pretty much unless you pay triple the price you can only get a travel voucher and this is only valid for flights before August next year (was looking at November). However I did spot that if you book a hotel (even for just 1 night pre flight) it classes as a holiday and you can pay a small deposit which is all you then loose if you choose to cancel. This may be the option I take on my next flight. Annoyingly BA are the only airline that do the route I need otherwise I wouldn't even be using them as I still can't find any stipulation that says I can't get a refund on a flight upgraded by Avios or that I have to use Avios on my next flight to get the refund.

That sounds like a pretty sh*tty situation. Hope you're able to sort it!

 

[gismo1554]

That sounds like a pretty sh*tty situation. Hope you're able to sort it!

Luckily its not a huge amount of money but just so frustrating!

 

[cjlong88]

I’ve never flown out of Manchester, but this seems like a pretty darn good deal right now.



Cheapest flight I ever found between the US and Europe was $250 RT from Minneapolis to Barcelona. I used Thrifty Traveler.

 

[Ronaldo17]

We're just going to wait, too much uncertainty still, both in UK and USA.

 

[nursejackie]

Are you booking even though ESTA visas are suspended? I've been unsure what to do as I can't see anything written about getting a refund if we can't get a valid visa. Does anyone have any information on that?

 

[KellO]

Are you booking even though ESTA visas are suspended? I've been unsure what to do as I can't see anything written about getting a refund if we can't get a valid visa. Does anyone have any information on that?

I’ve reserved the resort as the terms are really flexible - can reschedule to another year up until a couple of days before, I think.

It’s the flight that’s more of an issue. The Virgin sale is on and just read some of the small print around the “COVID insurance” and it’s only guaranteed up until Aug so think I’ll wait a little longer for that.

 

[Plague]

It’s the flight that’s more of an issue. The Virgin sale is on and just read some of the small print around the “COVID insurance” and it’s only guaranteed up until Aug so think I’ll wait a little longer for that.

Yeah, per my post #10 above I did go have a look and decided for what they covered it really wasn't worth the risk at present.

I'm actually thinking even autumn 2021 may be a wash for me the way things are going. Infections worldwide are so high that we are enabling a lot of new mutations to get a foothold ... If one of them is resistant to current vaccines they'll have to spring new versions in a hurry which will take a few months.
Rinse and repeat until 2022


I really hope I'm wrong.

 

[disneyholic family]

we've cancelled our summer 2021 trip, but my daughter and son in law are still planning on going in August.
They have a WDW resort booked, but they're not going to book the flights until much closer.
they had a trip booked for August 2020, but obviously didn't go since WDW was closed as was the airline.
The airline gave them a voucher worth 125% of the tickets they had, so they'll use that.
But they're not in a rush to book yet.
.

 

[KellO]

Infections worldwide are so high that we are enabling a lot of new mutations to get a foothold ... If one of them is resistant to current vaccines they'll have spring new versions in a hurry which will take a few months.
Rinse and repeat until 2022


I really hope I'm wrong.

I was really surprised to see US friends posting about a relatively “normal” Christmas, such as eating out at buffet restaurants and such. I know we haven’t been amazing over here In the UK, but that really did surprise me. It definitely isn’t going to go away quickly, that’s for sure.