How far out do you start booking your overseas holiday

[liparj]

A few years ago I booked a my air travel online at 3pm, quickly booked my accommodation and was at the airport for a 9:30pm departure that evening..

I'm a bit more organised these days, my next two trips (Jan and Apr 2015) were booked months ago..Now I'm planning for October 2015 so I can get rid a few lifemiles.

 

[k_sheep]

I go the opposite away - I just keep an eye out for bargain flights then jump on them, then plan the holiday around that. This can be for flights next week or next year - generally 9 ish months out.

 

[adrian]

Generally for a holiday, I'll book a couple of weeks ahead, rarely more than a month. My last trip to Europe was only booked 3 days out - on a Monday morning last month, I noticed a very good price for a 2 week cruise out of Italy. I checked if there were any award seats available to Italy, and I found 2 seats on Cathay in J & F for the Thursday, which I held. I called the cruise company, confirmed the price, held the cabin, and paid the next day. We had 3 days in Como before the cruise started, it all worked out perfectly. I didn't book our return flights until the day before we left Europe, about 3 weeks later.

 

[Kolo]

We tend to go to Europe in the Australian winter, and start planning towards the end of the year before. But we prefer to not pay anything until January at the earliest, when we are happy to pay deposits on things such as cruises. If we are planning to have a J reward flight, we jump onto it pretty well as soon as they are released, as we don't have much date flexibility. Hotels we book maybe a few months before, as we think there is always something available if our first choice isn't.

 

[van]

Booking flights depends on the type of holiday. If we are cruising somewhere I book the cruise a year in advance to ensure a good cabin and then look at early bird special flights. If we are just visiting a region I wait for flight specials up to a few weeks before departure. Generally we save more than a few thousand dollars.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

International Holiday Travel Flights are only Awards and not bought. As they are in J or F they are mainly booked at the maximum time out. Some Asian flights at only several months though. This also suits my project based work where particular dates are often field a year or so out. So I have to plan gaps suitable for my holiday travels.

However I am as of this month no long bound by school holidays and so that may change things.


Accommodation is normally booked in the last few months though, unless it is rare. ie I just booked 2 lots of accommodation in Kruger SANPARKs the day availability opened in order to get a good cabin (ie great views). quite amazing how much went on that first day.

Rail: In Europe I normally book when the cheap deals first open when I have fixed dates to travel on. These are often connected with my flights. However tat is only months before I travel, whereas the flight may have been booked almost a year out.

 

[OATEK]

Booking flights depends on the type of holiday. If we are cruising somewhere I book the cruise a year in advance to ensure a good cabin and then look at early bird special flights. If we are just visiting a region I wait for flight specials up to a few weeks before departure. Generally we save more than a few thousand dollars.

This post reminded me that timings are often determined by mode of travel. Last year I was determined to travel on an overnight sleeper train in Europe, and bookings for a lot of rail travel only open up a few months out from the travel date. So you can have flights booked, hotels and still be waiting for other bookings to open up. That means the excitement of planning and executing a trip never falls into a lull as you can be still booking up to a few weeks before departure (eg shore excursions on a cruise).

 

[harvyk]

I go the opposite away - I just keep an eye out for bargain flights then jump on them, then plan the holiday around that. This can be for flights next week or next year - generally 9 ish months out.

I'm the same, most of my trips have been around when I could find airfares. The way I figure it is that if I save $3000 on airfares to travel on a Monday rather than a Saturday, that money goes a long way towards activities at the destination. Furthermore unless traveling for a specific event at the destination, the destination will be just a good two days later, some might even argue it would be even better since you're no longer doing battle with weekenders for the attractions at the destination.

Also +1 on the planning being an endless source of joy as the trip itself. There is something so nice about picking out the place, doing your research, and booking things until you have a trip ready to go on. Esp for really complex trips, it's almost like doing a jigsaw puzzle.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

I go the opposite away - I just keep an eye out for bargain flights then jump on them, then plan the holiday around that. .

This used to me, before I acquired the knack of acquiring enough FF points per year to meet my families holiday needs which means that I rarely buy International fares now (well if you ignore the sometimes hefty fuel fines and taxes). "Connecting" short hop flights in Europe is the main exception, but they are pretty cheap.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

I think you almost need to book before you're 100% ready as long as you're fully aware of any penalties to change those arrangements should something unforeseen come up.

For instance if you plan on going to Hawaii in the December school holidays & wanting to use points you'll need to be ready to grab the seats 353 days out even before you know what the date is of the end of year school concert.

If all it costs you to change the date of your award ticket or cancel it altogether is 5,000 points that would be a cheaper option than missing out on award seats altogether & having to buy an airfare.

With accommodation sites like Expedia, Hotels.com, Air BnB etc making it possible to book now pay later or book and pay now but with free cancellation you can secure your booking but have total flexibility to change or cancel.

When you book through a middle man such as a TA that they'll charge you their change fees in addition to what the wholesaler will charge as well.

 

[Limewood]

We are usually 4/5 months out, use US miles and QFF points mostly for long haul these days, been extremely lucky to date finding J award seats so close in.

 

[harvyk]

With accommodation sites like Expedia, Hotels.com, Air BnB etc making it possible to book now pay later or book and pay now but with free cancellation you can secure your booking but have total flexibility to change or cancel.

Make sure you read the fine print very carefully on those "book now pay later" websites. I got caught out with booking.com earlier this year, and it turns out a few of my friends have as well.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Make sure you read the fine print very carefully on those "book now pay later" websites. I got caught out with booking.com earlier this year, and it turns out a few of my friends have as well.

What happened?

 

[harvyk]

What happened?

2 of the 3 hotels for my USA trip earlier in the year tried to charge my card within a couple of days of making the booking. This was a problem since there wasn't enough money in the cards to cover the hotel costs (and I hadn't planned on there being any money until the day we left).

When I complained to booking.com I was simply told "not their problem" and that I should have read the fine print. Whilst I agree that the fine print is important, one could also argue that the fine print should not be able to override what is printed on the front page of your website in big letters.

 

[amaroo]

Make sure you read the fine print very carefully on those "book now pay later" websites. I got caught out with booking.com earlier this year, and it turns out a few of my friends have as well.

Not just third party operators. Noticed a recent booking at Park Hyatt MEL during the recent mass JW invasion that all bookings were subject to 14 day cancellation .... normally it's 24hrs.

 

[van]

We purchase all our bookings on AMEX Platinum. Then if the journey has to be cancelled, as happened this year, we get most of the cost refunded through the associated travel insurance. We have recently booked airfares and cruise fares for June 2015 and already received complimentary upgrades. Hotels and rental cars are booked nearer departure date as we wait for special offers. We always book through the company website with which we have club membership. This ensures upgrades and free nights/cars on future trips. Cost is no more than going through a booking search engine.

 

[Flying mermaid]

I think you almost need to book before you're 100% ready as long as you're fully aware of any penalties to change those arrangements should something unforeseen come up.

For instance if you plan on going to Hawaii in the December school holidays & wanting to use points you'll need to be ready to grab the seats 353 days out even before you know what the date is of the end of year school concert.

If all it costs you to change the date of your award ticket or cancel it altogether is 5,000 points that would be a cheaper option than missing out on award seats altogether & having to buy an airfare.

With accommodation sites like Expedia, Hotels.com, Air BnB etc making it possible to book now pay later or book and pay now but with free cancellation you can secure your booking but have total flexibility to change or cancel.

When you book through a middle man such as a TA that they'll charge you their change fees in addition to what the wholesaler will charge as well.

I normally find booking directly with the hotel is the same or cheaper than through other sites - particularly for the level of accommodation we book. TAs and their wholesalers are useless. I once booked a suite at the Grand Floridian in Orlando directly with Disney and it was literally thousands of dollars cheaper than what Flight Centre was quoting!

 

[harvyk]

I normally find booking directly with the hotel is the same or cheaper than through other sites - particularly for the level of accommodation we book. TAs and their wholesalers are useless. I once booked a suite at the Grand Floridian in Orlando directly with Disney and it was literally thousands of dollars cheaper than what Flight Centre was quoting!

My experience with FC is it's only cheaper if you have already done the leg work in finding the actual cheapest booking price on an Australian website and you tell them about it. Typically when I use FC it's mainly because I want an eftpos option for payment (which they will provide even if the website itself doesn't), and when I do use them I'll virtually micromanage them until I get the appropriate piece of paper in my hot little hands.

A couple of years ago I ended up getting hotel vouchers faxed to the BNE Int J Lounge after FC forgot to get them to me before I left. I was on the phone right up to boarding my CBR-BNE flight trying to arrange them to fax the vouchers, and it wasn't exactly a complex booking or anything like that and they had weeks to organise things in.

 

[RooFlyer]

I normally find booking directly with the hotel is the same or cheaper than through other sites - particularly for the level of accommodation we book. TAs and their wholesalers are useless. I once booked a suite at the Grand Floridian in Orlando directly with Disney and it was literally thousands of dollars cheaper than what Flight Centre was quoting!

I think we've had this discussion before . I research the hotels I want (usually Accor), and price them on-line. Then I give my TA the list and a 'target price'. If she gets that price (or close), she books it; if not she passes it back to book myself.

Why not just book them when I research? Sometimes the TA gets better prices (sometimes very worthwhile difference - especially upmarket places) and she gives me great service otherwise, so I'm happy for her to get an easy set of commissions.

 

[k_sheep]

This used to me, before I acquired the knack of acquiring enough FF points per year to meet my families holiday needs which means that I rarely buy International fares now (well if you ignore the sometimes hefty fuel fines and taxes). "Connecting" short hop flights in Europe is the main exception, but they are pretty cheap.

I'm starting to go quality over quantity now that I have limited leave and a reasonable income. Yes I just went to MNL for $300 return, but next year I'm going to use USDM to go to ... somewhere ...

Luckily work just told me I need to start taking some leave as I've accrued too much ... what a pity :mrgreen: