Airfares - to Book Early or Wait for Offer (Singapore to Melbourne)

brownbag on 16/12/2016 - 09:54

I'm flying from Singapore to Melbourne (one way) on 15/10. The rest of the flights are all booked as there was some tight timing and I didn't want to take risks waiting and letting flights get full. But there's plenty of Singapore to Melbourne options, so I'm happy to wait if it is safe.

My question is do I book early to get a guaranteed flight (probably Jetstar) or do I wait for an offer from one of the various companies. The dilemma is that most offers are only for short-term bookings. So you book early and pay more or wait and pay less, but only if they can't fill a flight.

Are there any ways to get warnings that it's time to book your selected flights?

Travel Airfare

Comments

  • altomic on 16/12/2016 - 09:55

    Wait. There will be a deal between now and then.

  • sydsm on 16/12/2016 - 10:01

    This is 10 months away - there will be constant deals if there are many flights - wait till around June as thats when there will be a rush of deals to fill last minute seats. Usually if there is a sale 12 months out..discount airlines will have very sharp pricing.

  • Skramit on 16/12/2016 - 11:45

    Often the deal that pop up (jetstar in particular) are on shitty flights like departing 1am type red-eye flights. So if you're not fussed what day/time you fly, hold off. But I wouldn't hold my breath for a spectacular deal on a flight at a good time….. but you never know you might get lucky.

  • donbot on 18/12/2016 - 10:58

    What would you consider a cheap flight, booking one way Singapore to Melbourne? If you dont know what you're ideally after, its hard to guess when to book.

    Keeping in mind one way tickets are generally more than half the cost of a return journey.

    • brownbag on 19/12/2016 - 09:16

      Thanks Tizey for your thoughts, but I'm not sure why you think I don't know what I'm after. I'm after a one-way flight from Singapore to Melbourne on 15/10. I couldn't be clearer.

      And yes, I'm aware that one way tickets are more than half a return journey - however it works for me in this case.

      • donbot on 19/12/2016 - 11:45
        +1

        I think you might have misunderstood my post, as you were very clear in your post.

        What I meant was, what price do you consider cheap for that flight Singapore to Melbourne? Eg $300, $400? I guess what I was asking is 'whatcha target bargain price?'

        Flights are always fluctuating in price, so knowing what your happy with as a price will help you on your time to book.

        • brownbag on 19/12/2016 - 12:44

          I understand now - I didn't read it correctly and thought there was a typo/autocorrect. sorry about that.

          Oh yes, I'd say $350 is a cheap flight for a full-service airline. I'm starting to think that a price like that is very unlikely unless I wait until the last minute. And the budget options are Scoot and Jetstar and the Scoot flight is a red eye flight leaving at 1:20am which I would pay quite a bit to avoid.

          I notice the Jetstar flight went up over the past few days (from around $220 to $240).

  • brownbag on 16/01/2017 - 14:05
    +1

    Ended up booking on Qantas. They have an amazing sale with $305 one-way tickets. Ended up costing less than Jetstar and Scott (when you allow for extra legroom and baggage). Can't expect to get a much better deal than that on a full service airline.

    Just had to delay our return by one day as the sale is only on selected dates. I think we can cope with an extra day in Singapore. :)

    I'm glad I waited so thanks to those who suggested it.

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