Best time to book flights

[maddiemoochoo]

Planning a trip to the US in December 2013. Is it best to book flights as soon as they are released or waiting until closer to the travel date? I am looking for the best price as we will be travelling over Christmas/New Year. Also, would like to try and book this trip without using a travel agent, is this risky?

Thanks

 

[markis10]

Book as soon as you can, pretty rare for a special over Christmas.

 

[ms1]

On the topic, I wanted to travel to Europe around March 2013 and return in April. Flights seem to be around 1600-1800 at the moment. When can we expect some good sales for travel around this time?

 

[Hvr]

On the topic, I wanted to travel to Europe around March 2013 and return in April. Flights seem to be around 1600-1800 at the moment. When can we expect some good sales for travel around this time?

Given you're travelling over Easter I'd suggest you purchase the tickets now while they are still available.

 

[Must...Fly!]

On the topic, I wanted to travel to Europe around March 2013 and return in April. Flights seem to be around 1600-1800 at the moment. When can we expect some good sales for travel around this time?

That's a pretty good price as it is...

 

[cma1957]

I would book as soon as you can when you find a good deal from sussing out a couple of sites...I booked a flight from MEL-HNL-LAX-JFK-MELB for $1661 (Economy fare) for mid March with Qantas. A week later Qantas had their International sale and even with the sale fares & same flight times, I had saved between $550/$600.
Shop around on different travel sites until you come up with a fare your happy with!

 

[timster]

Answering this question would be easier if airlines' "early bird" sales dates were all documented somewhere (obviously they aren't going to do that for us). Many seem to come up at the same time each year. For example several airlines seem to be starting these now for the northern summer in 2013. It would also be good to know just how much of a saving is possible if you do jump in early, or if just shopping around a bit later can be just as good. Maybe we should start such a resource here ?

But in general book ASAP for peak times.

 

[Baysider]

There are a few factors and all are unpredictable. Firstly with US flights the seats will be linked to the USD (due to US airline competition) and the AUD cost will depend on the exchange rate. This could go either way but odds are that the AUD is more likely to fall against the USD than increase, which means fares would go up. The second factor is the Australian and US economies. If the economy picks up there will be full flights and no sales in the busy season. However if the economies struggle airlines will have empty seats and sales may come up. Could come down to your best bet on the future of the mining boom.

 

[harvyk]

I'm with the others, book as early as you can. It's highly unlikely that any sort of sale airfares would be released close to Christmas.

Also there is no problem with booking US trips direct on an airline website without a TA with a few caveats. First remember that unless the airline is offering SYD-LAX-LAS for example where the airlines will get you all the way to LAS in the event of a problem. If you book two tickets, a SYD-LAX, and then booking an LAX-LAS ticket separately (say on a much cheaper airline) could mean that you end up stuck in LAX if you miss your connection, the airlines have no responsibility to help.

I've booked my last couple of US trips directly via the web without a TA and didn't have a problem. In fact the one thing I left up to the TA to book on my last trip, they managed to screw up (it was flight centre, you don't need to read very much here to get the general feeling about them). So a TA is no guarantee that things will run smoothly.

 

[Baysider]

In the last few days I have booked flights on 3 US travel websites: vayama.com, bookit.com, and airticketsdirect.com. All produced lower fares than those the Australian sites were throwing up (and lower than the airline websites) and all accepted my Aussie credit cards with no problems.