International Travel...ticket prices, booking well in advance?

[LittleBox]

I've searched the forum but I couldn't find anything similar (unless I've missed something, in which case please link me). We were planning to have him fly up here in September 2013 but recently we've been taking about the possibility of me spending a week or so in the UK in July 2013. I'm absoloutely astounded by how expensive flights are when going from Canada to the UK (it seemed cheaper when he looked up the costs for him traveling to me). I'm 18 and I've never been out of the country, I've only hopped over to Quebec which doesn't count :P Its a tad aggravating that there's really no halfway point, unless you count Greenland. grrr. So, couple of questions:
1. Is it true that the earlier you book the cheaper the flights?
2. Are there certain "seasons" when its more expensive to fly?
3. How well in advance do you book? If you do book in advance are dates changeable or do you have to pay extra for that?
4. Would you book online or through a travel agent? Just wondering if Travel Agents have the flexibility of applying discounts that you wouldn't otherwise be accessible if you book online.

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

[Tooki]

1. Generally, yes. It's hit and miss though, because my flights stay around the same price 1 year in advance, up to 4 months in advance.

2. Yes, July (European Summer) is the most expensive time to fly to Europe by far. Flying before and after Christmas is a bit cheaper, flying in spring or autumn is even more cheaper. Supply and Demand.

3. I usually book around 3 months in advance, because that is when I have the money for my flights. You can pay more money for flexible tickets (where you can change the dates (plus the price difference) for no fee or a small fee.) Bear in mind that there are some nice 'last minute deals' occasionally (I missed out on some really nice ones with Qatar Airways and Emirates by about 3 weeks)

4. I book my tickets via the Finnair website, as they are the only airline that does the Helsinki-Asia route. If I am really unsure, I might go to a Travel Agent and get a quote off of them. Usually they will match a lower offer (I could have done this when I went to Europe last time, but my flight was much better). I get emails from some travel agent companies in Australia for whenever a cheap deal is occuring.

[LittleBox]

Thanks for the tips

[kittyo9]

Just to add some of my own info...

1. Again, generally, yes, but it's not a rule by any means.
2. Yes @_@ Holidays are usually very bad times to fly, price-wise, and July/August are considered "vacation months" in the northern hemisphere and so are also generally more expensive. That's not to say that you can't find a good deal during those times-- it's just the "trend." Flights during October/March-ish will usually be cheaper.
3. Personally, if I have a trip planned, I like to start looking at prices like 6 months ahead of time and try to book by 3 months. Up until about 5 or 6 weeks before your flight, prices will tend to be fairly steady, with dips or jumps here and there. I've looked at getting tickets with changeable dates, but I always find that they are more expensive, at least to me, than they are worth. If you have the money and you really aren't sure what your dates are, it might be a good idea, but for me, I moved my schedule to fit around my flight.
4. I always buy my tickets online, and from the airline's website directly if I can. This last time I flew, though, I could only find this one discounted rate on studentuniverse and travelocity, and NOT on the airline's website, so I just booked through SU.

My general suggestions are to be as flexible as possible with your dates (especially look at mid-week dates, as those are usually the cheapest) and to start looking at prices once you have a date range that you'd like to travel and monitor them for a little while to get a feel for them. You don't need to check every day, but maybe twice a week would be fine. I have found that prices can vary dramatically and have never really gotten any help from "sale" emails-- I just happened to be checking during a time when the tickets were deeply discounted and figured "well, they aren't getting any cheaper" and bought my tickets right then. Sometimes you have to like... sneak up on them.

[Carenza LaRue]

ooo and it pays to look at different airports too..... so I noticed...

my love lives in the Philadelphia region.... and I normally fly from Amsterdam.... but it would cost me around 800 euro and that wasn't even a non stop flight. it was amsterdam- new york and from there to philly ....

I looked at other airports in the region.... and I came up with a non stop flight from frankfurt to Philly...... for 495 euro...!.... high speed train to frankfurt.... and return.... cost me 80 euro..... so in the end, it's even cheaper to take the train and fly non stop ...

I was surprised to see how the prices seem to fluctuate by the day..... but I was told that the best time to book a flight is around 3 months for departure....

best of luck!

[Verojoon]

Your best bet is to study the prices so you can figure out patterns for where you fly. I seem to now be able to get my Ottawa to Dallas flights for about $400 each time even flying on holidays! Of course I need to continue studying the prices so that I can stay up to date with the trends, etc. This year, for my flights, I have to book about 60 days in advance for the best prices from premium airlines, but could risk it and hold off to about 30 days in advance if I want the same prices from budget airlines... that being said, during peak times, the 30 days is cutting it close as the cheap seats do sometimes get booked up before then and it can end up costing me $100- 200 more... Anything with less than 30 days notice seem to cost at least double if not triple what I usually pay!

[LittleBox]

Thanks for all the suggestions! I didn't even think of the weekend vs. weekday costs or taking the train but I suppose flying to any of the airports in London would be the best option at this point and then he can just come pick me up from there (:

We've talked about booking 2-3 months in advance. Right now ticket prices are looking at coming in around $800-$870 D: So far September is looking pretty feasible. Although it will cut into Uni for me (he doesn't start until the last week of September and at the most will only miss 2-3 days) I should be able to still keep up through checking in online.

[Alle1770]

I'm gonna copy + paste what I posted on another thread, and hopefully it'll be of some help at least!

"I've noticed that travelling on a weekday such as Tuesdays or Wednesdays are a lot cheaper than travelling on the weekends. When I was looking at tickets for travelling to my SO, the tickets on a Tuesday (Returning on a Thursday) were about 1330 dollars, while travelling on a Saturday and back on a Friday was almost 3000! However, my SO and I also figured something out.... Depending on the currencies you and your SO are using, there might be an advantage in buying the tickets in the country of your SO! Because of the economical situation in Argentina, my SO bought my tickets in argentinian pesos, and I will bring US dollars to pay him with, that they can trade in for a higher value, meaning we decreased the ticketprice to only 1000 dollars! So you should check out how that would work, and see if there's a difference "

[BXtoBA]

Actually Iceland would be a great midway point and is quite nice in the summer!

1. Flexible Dates. Easily most important factor is to not be tied to any single day.

2.I would recommend you try to leave Tuesday's or Wednesday's and look to return on those same days. Mid-week can have lower prices.

3.Search every online booking website you can think of and then try their US version, or other country's version. Don't rely on just one site.

4.Use multi-city search tools and if your area has multiple airports, leaving from one and returning to another could lower prices. great tool for this is ita matrix software website that was bought by google.

5. Frequent flyer miles. This is what I do and it is amazing. I get last minute flights to Buenos Aires for 12,500 miles instead of US$2,000. They are my job, quite literally, and if you need help getting started let me know.

good luck.