will summer 2006 flights drop in price???

[stubb]

hi all

when do you think the prices will drop? At the moment the prices look very high and with the recent hurricanes I wonder if they will remain expensive.

thanks

michelle

 

[carolfoy]

I don't think prices will drop at all, unless acompany does a specific promotion or you get a cheaper last minute allocated on arrival type deal then I think the price in the brochure will be the price you pay, if anything they'll probably go up!

 

[Celestine]

I don't think they will, especially if fuel prices remain high. The government is launching a big drive to encourage families not to take kids out of school with tour operators offering upto £400 off. Not that I'm a cynic, but surely they'll want to recoup these "losses" elsewhere?

 

[carolfoy]

Absoulutely Celestine, if tour companies DO offer any discounts do you think all the staff at the airports/airplanes/ground operators will take a pay cut during august - I think not, in fact there has been NO real last minute bargains this year for anywhere in the summer sun brochures unlike last year when there was Turkey for £99 etc so I think early booking is definately the way to go

 

[wicket2005]

Personally I would not hang around, I would just get booked up.

We came back from the Rosen Centre in Orlando on 30th July by 20th August we had booked up to go back there again. However, we wanted to go on 1st July. The hotel was already booked from 13th June to 15th July, the latter date we booked up for. Now looking on the internet the only time I could stay at the same hotel is from about 29th August. Obviously other hotels will be available but it just shows you how quickly this particular hotel has been booked up, we did get a good discount on the brochure price plus the travel agent found us a better deal on car hire and gave us free insurance. We were well pleased with the deal.

Next year I think we will book as soon as the brochures come out. Carol when do Airtours and Thomas Cook (limited to these because they charge kiddie prices till the kids reach 19) release their summer brochures?

 

[carolfoy]

Bev, I got thomas cook florida in yesterday and Airtours file copy came in 2 weeks ago but hasn't got general distribution yet. HTH

 

[Lisash]

I don't think prices do drop any more. We always book with Virgin online and just keep checking prices until they have a special offer running that will save us that little bit extra. It's definately not worth hanging around. We booked for this Christmas back in Jan/Feb and had a nightmare getting what we wanted and a number of options we have tried for next year around Easter or October half term are already full.

 

[wicket2005]

Bev, I got thomas cook florida in yesterday and Airtours file copy came in 2 weeks ago but hasn't got general distribution yet. HTH

Is this for Summer 2007?

 

[carolfoy]

Sorry Bev no, 2nd editions for next year whoops!!! probably won't get 2007 may - october until may/june next year although they MAY go on sale online before the brochure gets distributed

 

[jna]

In another thread there was comment about July flights/hotels being fully booked, and I know that as far ahead as October 2006 some Virgin flights are taken up. I think that demand for Virgin packages is too strong for discounts to be seen for peak periods, and I guess that we will have to bear the brunt of further hikes in the fuel surcharge.

 

[wicket2005]

Thanks Carol, I will have a look next May/June. I didn't realise they came out so early.

 

[Cochise]

I heard an interiew with some bigwig in the industry stating this year Supply and demand are almost level and next year will be the same, wont be many discounts available apart from the odd last minute deals

 

[carolfoy]

Yes Cochise, ITA since I've been doing this job (around 6 years) I can honestly say the last minute bargain opportunities have got fewer, right across the board for instance we used to do about 3 cruises a year and amaxingly discounted prices ie top cabins at £1200 per person for 2 weeks now you'd struggle to get a low priced cabin for that. My first trip to NY cost me £180 inc tax on a virgin flight now it would cost approx £260 for the same time.

 

[mark&sue]

I had trouble booking the October 2006 flydrive I wanted with Virgin back in August and had to settle with BA. I would have thought a lot of people would have already booked summer 2006. I only need a flight as I already have accommodation with DVC and would not take the risk of not getting a direct flight. I guess the non-direct ones would be available but they are often cheaper anyway.


Susan

 

[Shooby doo]

Let's face it the Tour operators only drop prices if they aren't getting enough "bums on seats" & if anything the trend over the last few years has been the longer you wait the more likely that the prices will increase! When we booked with Jetsave for next Sept,flying with Virgin,they were a couple of hundred £s cheaper but only because they were doing Child places at £199. Now I've seen threads with good flydrive prices just now but we're out of the schoolo holiday periods & a lot of the deals are very last minute & I don't know many employers that let you have holidays on really short notice!
SD aw: