How far out do you start booking your overseas holiday

[irv]

Have been researching our overseas holiday to the US on & off for six months. Had it roughed out a few times but changed dates and locations a number of times. Booked an early bird fare to the US travelling in August and back late September 2015, yes it is in Y but $2,500 return for two people in my opinion is pretty good.

Since I booked the flights I have found I keep scanning sites and making bookings even though 10 months away, however most of them are able to be cancelled if a better deal comes along.

Just wondering how many book a long way out, or how many wait until much closer. Also any feed back on those ubiquitous messages "only two bookings left", I know they are designed to probably get many to impulse book which I have largely ignored, or are they being honest.

Look forward to your replies.

 

[harvyk]

It really depends, that said at $2,500 for two pax to the US return isn't bad at all.

I tend to book around 2 months to 6 weeks out for a big trip, that said it's all dependent on when I'm traveling and the likelihood of a sale fare popping up.

The "only 5 seats left" messages do in fact mean it, however they only mean it in as far as only 5 seats left in that fare bucket (each fare type ie Sales / Red-E-Deals / Flexi all have multiple fare buckets assigned each with a slightly different price) not only 5 left in that class. So if for instance if E bucket = $500 and all the fares in that bucket are then sold, the booking engine might start selling Q bucket fares at $550. It'll still be under the sale / red-e-deal branding, but from a now slightly more expensive bucket, all that said usually with very similar conditions.

It is for this reason that sometimes sale and red-e-deal fares can be upgraded and sometimes they can't.

 

[ashleyn]

Most of my big trips are awards so I tend to lock them in as soon as possible, ie -353 or -330 depending on the carrier.

 

[ajd]

I'm doing SYD-PEK-ICN starting next Friday - we only placed the booking on 14 Oct (2 weeks ago). $2221 return for 2 pax in Y on CZ.

We could've done significantly better had we booked a couple of weeks further back, but I didn't know for certain what my availability was until 1 October, and then arranging leave for both of us and also arranging with Japanese friends for a side trip to Fukuoka took up a bit of time.

(To put this in contrast, I recently saw friends posting on Facebook about planning their hugely exciting big trip 12 months from now - "X Days Left" countdown clock pictures and everything. The destination? New Zealand.)

 

[drron]

Well we have booked our August/September 2016 cruises.
If planning award flights always done as soon as available.
Tend to book hotels 12 months out on a cancellable rate and change if price goes down.

 

[TomVexille]

Anywhere from 6 months to 6 weeks out for a big trip.

 

[irv]

It really depends, that said at $2,500 for two pax to the US return isn't bad at all.

I tend to book around 2 months to 6 weeks out for a big trip, that said it's all dependent on when I'm traveling and the likelihood of a sale fare popping up.

The "only 5 seats left" messages do in fact mean it, however they only mean it in as far as only 5 seats left in that fare bucket (each fare type ie Sales / Red-E-Deals / Flexi all have multiple fare buckets assigned each with a slightly different price) not only 5 left in that class. So if for instance if E bucket = $500 and all the fares in that bucket are then sold, the booking engine might start selling Q bucket fares at $550. It'll still be under the sale / red-e-deal branding, but from a now slightly more expensive bucket, all that said usually with very similar conditions.

It is for this reason that sometimes sale and red-e-deal fares can be upgraded and sometimes they can't.

Hi Harvyk, I should qualify my quote only two bookings left, I should have referred to accommodation through the various sites, aware about the flight availability, as you confirmed $2,500 US return is pretty good. So in your opinion or experience do the accommodation offerers adopt the same "bucket tactic" as the airlines, in anticipation I think that is probably the case

 

[Pushka]

Like drron I book cruises several months out/years and am currently waiting for Princess to release their 2016 Alaska cruises. That wont happen for a while though.

 

[irv]

Well we have booked our August/September 2016 cruises.
If planning award flights always done as soon as available.
Tend to book hotels 12 months out on a cancellable rate and change if price goes down.

Thanks for that, tell Mrs Drron from a post back to me some time to me, we are going to PEI to savor the Falls Flavour Festival which includes lots of Mussels

 

[harvyk]

Hi Harvyk, I should qualify my quote only two bookings left, I should have referred to accommodation through the various sites, aware about the flight availability, as you confirmed $2,500 US return is pretty good. So in your opinion or experience do the accommodation offerers adopt the same "bucket tactic" as the airlines, in anticipation I think that is probably the case

Couldn't tell you if hotels do the same thing or not, however I suspect they probably don't.
I suspect that when they where saying only x number of rooms left, it was for a specific type of room (eg queen bed room) rather than at any specific price point / bucket.

 

[Warks]

For awards you really need to be at the maximum. For cheap fares it can also be in the 9-12 month range although you can chance it with a sale.

Accommodation is another question though. It's easy to be sucked in with advance 'deals' that are actually more expensive than leaving to the last minute (or month). Still it's very nice to have everything booked well in advance.

There seems to be no advantage to booking car hire/rental much in advance. You can book deals as they come up but then cancel them with no penalty when another comes up.

 

[harvyk]

For awards you really need to be at the maximum.

It depends on the award, the class, the route. I've snagged some very good J award fares a couple of months / weeks out for things like SYD-HKG, MEL-AKL etc... That said trans-pac or kangaroo I wouldn't be holding my breath for good awards.
I guess part of the thing is that I'm always flexible when I'll travel, and will happily delay a trip by a day or two just because it'll mean I get the fare that I want.

 

[DaveB]

Regarding remaining booking numbers, a few weeks ago I had a crazy experience where I needed to book 6 rooms for the office staff at Vibe Hotel, Rushcutters Bay being well located following a planned day out sail on the harbour and offshore.
Most reputable hotel booking sites (Booking.com, hotel.com, Expedia, Agoda etc) showed no rooms available, though a few dodgy travel booking sites linked to Tripadvisor showing one or two rooms remaining which I was reluctant to book through and could see myself not being able to get all the rooms required.
The Vibe/Medina chain website showed no rooms available and on phoning them, they explained the rooms were probably available, though they could not access them themselves providing me with the hotel contact number. The hotel advised me the rooms were indeed available, but I would have to book each room for two nights and also at a significant premium (30-40% more per night) to the dodgy booking sites which they were not prepared to match.
I decided to contact the most 'reputable' of the dodgy hotel websites being Amoma.com, a Swiss owned company with an Oz 02 contact number. My fears were soon realised when my call was immediately directed to their Romanian based sales staff, though the Amoma sales staff could not have been more helpful. She not only was able to book me the three rooms she had available but was also able to track down and buy the other 3 rooms needed from other website allocations at the significantly reduced rates. Advising her I did not want to proceed unless I could get all six rooms, she was fabulous as she placed all the deals on hold until she could confirm all 6 rooms taking close to an hour on the phone to achieve.
I contacted the Vibe Hotel the next day and they confirmed all bookings had been successfully being most helpful allocating names for each room booking and taking my credit card details so there would be no issues on arrival.

 

[mole]

I think with car hire it really depends on the destination. On our trip to Alaska this year I took the advice of most on trip advisor and booked our car hire (Anchorage, Denali, Seward) 9 months out at a cost of $386 (credit card guarantee only) for 7 days, a couple of months later it went up to 700+ and then nearer the time went over $1,000 as demand went up and supply down. Alaska has such a short window available for visiting so for destinations such as this car hire and hotels need to be booked well in advance.

 

[Cynicor]

I book when I think about the trip. I'm in Bali currently, booked 3 months out. I'll be back in 3 weeks with a different friend, booked only about 6 weeks ago.

Niseko this Dec was booked by January, so 12 months out. Niseko next Jan was booked in about April/May.

My thoughts are find a fully refundable rate for accom that you are happy with, then check it all the time and subscribe to their various mailing lists to get a heads up on sales.

I would agree with mainstream car rental, again book refundable but they don't always seem to change much in the larger destinations.

Airfares- earlier and on sale is frequently the best. SQ offer a price guarantee on their early bird fares IIRC, which always boost booking confidence.

And as for the last rooms available messages? Depends. If the hotel's own website isn't selling, then they must be relatively low on stock. Wholesalers often have a set allocation so they may be sold out of their own rooms at price point X, but you may be able to book elsewhere/direct etc for more or less money.

 

[ellen10]

I have just booked award flights to the US next September/October, you red to book them as far ahead as possible.
Most big touring holidays I start planning 9 months ahead. Not really booking hotels but keeping an eye on them.

Car hire overseas, I have always found it is cheaper to book well ahead.

I love the planning stage!

 

[Pushka]

I have just booked award flights to the US next September/October, you red to book them as far ahead as possible.
Most big touring holidays I start planning 9 months ahead. Not really booking hotels but keeping an eye on them.

Car hire overseas, I have always found it is cheaper to book well ahead.

I love the planning stage!

I almost feel something is missing or I've been short changed if I need to book a trip in a hurry.

 

[Warks]

I almost feel something is missing or I've been short changed if I need to book a trip in a hurry.

Yes it's all about the anticipation!

We booked a NZ trip for January about 12 months out but then a few months ago decided we'd do a USA trip for our big anniversary, visiting NY and Orlando in June-July. Got great airfares 9 months out but the planning switched from NZ to the US trip, taking the gloss off NZ a bit. However now NZ is less than two months off we can focus on that. What a first world problem to have!

 

[Alanslegal]

I book flights based on premium award availability and/or ticket sales. I guess it is easy for me as I am generally pretty flexible when I can travel.

 

[dajop]

For awards you really need to be at the maximum.

It depends on the airline and time of year for travel. On some airlines (eg. SQ) if it is not a peak travel period (school holidays, Xmas/NY, end or start if university semesters, Chinese New Year) awards often open up 2-3 weeks out. So opportunistic travel is possible.

Even QF (non peak travel time) awards can be managed with far less notice than 12 months if happy to travel midweek and in economy, although probably the reason for this is the +++'s on such awards mean that it is better to just buy a fare and use the points for woollies vouchers.