Hey gang,
My wife and I are looking to go to the Netherlands in October for 6 weeks and it special trip for us and want to go business. Wondering when usually the best time to start looking at ticket prices?
I've been looking over the last couple of days and I'm not sure if its because its currently school holidays but prices have seem to have gone up since a i first looked.
If anyone can give me any advise or tips that would be great
TIA
OP should bring tents. Cheers
tents makes sents thenks
On April 20th.
Na.. April 16th was the go…
And to add more
"prices have seem to have gone up since a i first looked.":
Does OP realise we have :
a) global inflation
b) rising oil prices
c) Collapsing AUD.
So as Muzeeb said:
4.20pm
No doubt Muzeeb means NOW!
Arguably the sales for that period have past and youll be relying on last minute backfill deals from airlines.
Manila to Barcelona is $2700 in Etihad business in October. Easy to catch a flight or train to Amsterdam.
What makes you think op wants to fly from Manila?
It’s called a positioning flight. It’s very easy and cheap to get to Manila from Sydney, either paid in cash or points, then you get 2/3 of the trip in business, avoiding the Australia tax.
Rather than paying 8k I’m giving OP a $3800 option.
When Is The Best Time to Look at Europe Return Ticket Prices
When they're on sale.
Right now is when to start looking.
Perhaps start with Google Flights.
Timing of the purchase is trickier although as a general rule, fares do tend to go up once you're within 6 months of departure.
Don't limit yourself to AMS either; there are many airlines flying out of CDG and FRA that are good value.
sydney (I assume sydney is cheaper to fly out of) to Amsterdam Mon 14 Oct 2024 , return Fri 29 Nov 2024 A$1,426 pp
Otherwise hope for another China Southern deal
I've just been through this too. I use skyscanner. Kayak and google flights are also good. Strangely, they don't always come up with the same deals, so if you can bear it, check more than one. But you can end up with a zillion tabs and go mad. Realistically I don't think you can expect to make huge savings on civilized flights without some other compromises, but you can still compare acceptable prices with these websites.
A few tips
If your destination is flexible, it's worth playing around with options. Eg on skyscanner I found it was $600 cheaper to fly to London than to Berlin, same day, same duration of flight. I could then hop from London to Berlin on a cheap euro carrier for $150.
Set up price alerts for flights you like, or if your dates are flexible you can use the 'month' option to see which days are cheapest.
if you see an absolute bargain, grab it - it won't last. Flight prices and deals change constantly. I've seen them disappear before my eyes as I was trying to book. There are student deals and things which pop up and vanish asap.
You can also search multi city so you can fly in to one place and out of another, which is nice for Europe, and you can get decent return deals from different destinations. Sometimes some surprisingly good deals appear within or across airlines. Keep an eye out for the trip duration - sometimes a saving of a meagre 200 dollars on a flight includes you a 19hour stopover which is only worth it if you're a backpacker.
Fare splitting can also work - I forget what tools are out there, but a quick google should give you some suggestions. eg if you want a two day break in Kuala Lumpur or something, you may be able cut the price of your flights significantly (but you have to pay for two days in KL, so…)
I had heard that 11 weeks before flights is the optimal time to book, but I think that was based on American domestic flights data. I've set up price alerts and seen the prices stay constant for months, with a few dips down now and then - so "buy on the dip" if you have a set flight you like but want to save where you can.
Incidentally I didn't see any general improvement in prices pre 6 months, but I'd expect the availability of special deals is better earlier on.
Good luck!
thank you so very very much
Netherlands is where her family lives, so heading their first and doing all that jazz and then taking off on train around Europe
Amsterdam business class??
How about travelling alone and have some real fun there with the savings?
Look at round the world flights to start with, FLATBEDS are a good website to start with - they had some good deals recently. I suggest look around and IF you find that deal talk and book through an agent. Ours has matched and at times bettered OUR found price. Our Hello World agent has saved us several times, hundreds of dollars, when a trip has gone pear shaped. I avoid direct booking, as you are at the mercy of the Airline or website agent, I have a great relationship with our small agent - 3 people! great service as they know us well.
What happened when it went pear shaped?
Asking as the sentiment here seems to be to book direct so you can do name changes etc directly with the airline. I've always used a travel agent but was toying with going direct next time.
Google Flights usually tells you the best time to book and if the current price is above/below the average
Typical advice I've seen is 33 days before leaving. In reality, keep looking from now on until you find a deal you're happy with.
4:20pm