Travel agents. A question.

How far out from travel is one likely to get the best airfares?

International airfares are released approx 10 months prior to travel. Keeping in mind you will need to look 10 months from the return date in order to get availability for a return flight.

Domestic airfares are released approx 11 to 11.5 months in advance.

Airfares work on a capacity basis. The fuller the plane, the higher the fare so it always best to book as soon as the flights are released. Hope this helps, feel free to let me know if you have any other questions.

x

So if I want to go to Japan in January I need to book ASAP?

Yep, I would def be booking asap, especially because it is school holidays as well!

Sorry, one more dumb question....
One of the ski tour companies is running a promotion with Jetstar. They posted on FB last week and sent out an email...... they have some deals going on 'sale' on Thursday through the Jetstar site. My question is..... are the flights likely to be discounted or should I book now before more seats are booked out on Thursday.

Can i butt in and ask if those intermediary sigjts such as lastminute and bestflights etc are legit, ie, two days before your due to fly you wont find out you actually dont have a seat? Sorry onyx....

Onyx - My advice, stay as FAR AWAY from jetstar as you can. We have nothing but absolute trouble with them at work. Just last week I had 16 people (group booking) bumped off a flight because they had convieniently overbooked the flight. They constantly have schedule change and are a nightmare to deal with. If you do decide to go against this and book with them anyway then I guess it depends if you are flexible on your dates. Ie. If you wait until Thursday and you can't get the dates that you want will you be happy to change them?

Booboo - It depends on the site. You need to be careful, a lot of them will show seats as available and you think you have gotten an absolute bargain but when you get to the payment stage it says the seats are no longer available. In my advice, do your research and then take it in to a travel agent to book it for you. The company I work for have a pricebeat promise so if you print it off and take it straight in and the seats are still available then we wil beat that price by $1.00 per person. I know that doesn't seem like much but at least you know it is booked properly.

Aim

I use webjet and it's always worked out for me. They have live chat and you can phone them too (you will talk to someone in Melbourne). No idea about the others.
I wouldn't use one that I couldn't talk to a real person.

I've used expedia and hotels for hotel bookings and they have been fine. Never used expedia for flights because they always seem to cost more through them.

Thanks Amy. I had pretty much decided against Jet* anyway because by the time I had added all the extras (that you must have when you travel with kids lol) it cost pretty much the same as all the other flights and I don't see the point of paying full price to fly with a budget carrier.
The only other reason I liked them was the direct flights but they have a stop at the Gold Coast from our place and the Coolangatta airport isn't the nicest place to stop for a couple of hours.

Thanks for your help. I get a bit anxious booking flights and dilly dally for days. It drives DH nuts that I can't just make up my mind.

What company do you work for? Is it one of the big ones?

Yeah to be honest we find that a lot. Jet* is good for the direct flights if you live in the Gold Coast but if not I wouldn't bother.

I work for Fl**ht Ce**re if you need anything else of you want me to get some prices for you, let me know and ill PM you my email address.

Aim