How far in advance do you book an international flight?

[flasaltwater63]

Greetings Everyone!

 

We are taking out first British isles cruise next year. We are flying from Orlando to Southampton round-trip. At the moment the flights are not available as we are on the October 13th cruise on NCL Star. I have added the air package to our cruise but not sure I want to do this I may book on my own so we can have premiun economy seats . Once the flights become available do you book them immediately, or wait until closer to cruise?

TIA

 

[CruiserBruce]

There is no magic time. If you are researching prices, start with dates you can see, and see how the prices fluctuate in the days after first released. I think you will find high prices for a few days after the seats are first made available.

 

There is rarely good reason for booking them immediately after release. One reason would be if you are seeking a reward seat...the cheapest award seats are usually very soon after first released.

[FlyerTalker]

1 hour ago, CruiserBruce said:

There is rarely good reason for booking them immediately after release. One reason would be if you are seeking a reward seat...the cheapest award seats are usually very soon after first released.

 

Used to be the case.  Now, with dynamic availability and dynamic pricing of award tickets, there isn't the same "gotta do it today" at the release of schedules.

 

In fact, many airlines/routes will be waiting to see how demand shakes out before release of award seats.

[Zach1213]

I'll echo the "who knows" sentiment, unfortunately. There's really no magic time...if there was, everyone would book it then and it wouldn't be magical 🙂

 

You mention flying in to Southampton. While that is definitely possible on KLM via Amsterdam, I do hope you're also looking at London Heathrow and London Gatwick as those will offer many, many, many, many, many, many more flights (including nonstops from Orlando) and they're not far from Southampton. 

[flasaltwater63]

44 minutes ago, Zach1213 said:

I'll echo the "who knows" sentiment, unfortunately. There's really no magic time...if there was, everyone would book it then and it wouldn't be magical 🙂

 

You mention flying in to Southampton. While that is definitely possible on KLM via Amsterdam, I do hope you're also looking at London Heathrow and London Gatwick as those will offer many, many, many, many, many, many more flights (including nonstops from Orlando) and they're not far from Southampton. 

I'm looking at flying direct to London Heathrow from Orando via Delta/Virgin Atlantic. That seams to be the best track from what I can tell. It's when to book the flight I'm not clear on. I want to make sure I don't book to soon, or wait to late. It looks like these flights fill up pretty quick. When I was looking this morning I was surprised to see a flight leaving end of September 2023 with half the seats are taken. 

[Zach1213]

10 minutes ago, flasaltwater63 said:

I'm looking at flying direct to London Heathrow from Orando via Delta/Virgin Atlantic. That seams to be the best track from what I can tell. It's when to book the flight I'm not clear on. I want to make sure I don't book to soon, or wait to late. It looks like these flights fill up pretty quick. When I was looking this morning I was surprised to see a flight leaving end of September 2023 with half the seats are taken. 

 

Okay, good. I was hoping you weren't limiting yourself to Southampton Airport. It's lovely, but the nonstops to Heathrow/Gatwick definitely win out in my book. 

 

It wouldn't surprise me that Orlando-London flights fill up quickly with all of the holiday travel between the two destinations. That being said, seat maps are notoriously unreliable for a couple of reasons and should not, on their own, be used to judge how busy or quiet a flight is:

 

- Tickets can be booked without seat allocations, making it look emptier than it really is

- Seats can be set aside for codeshare partners or for other reasons, making it look busier than it really is

 

I am not sure how open you are to driving a few hours, but keep in mind there are also flights to London from Tampa and Miami.

Edited November 10, 2022 by Zach1213

[Flymia]

I just wait and see. I usually set up a google flight alert and if the price drops to a decent deal I buy it. I would say you usually do not get a good price the moment the flight is out. It is impossible to know when the best price will be, there are tools online that help. If I had to guess I would say 6 months out usually is decent. Again, once it hits a price you are comfortable with you book it. 

 

If you are booking with award travel, then you book as soon as possible. 

[Gardyloo]

Put yourself in the airline's shoes.  (I know, ha ha.)  And answer these questions.

 

• What's the price of Jet A fuel going to be in 10 months' time?  
• Will the economy (whose?) be in recession?  What will interest rates be like?
• Will there be labor shortages or unrest in key occupations?
• Will there be a reemergence of some pandemic or another reason people stay home?

 

If your answer to any/all of the above is, "I don't know," then what would you do relative to pricing your product or service today?

 

1.  Discount the price so that people will commit now.

2.  Set prices high enough now so that the "worst case" still results in profits, however small.

[rkacruiser]

1 hour ago, Gardyloo said:

Put yourself in the airline's shoes.  (I know, ha ha.)  And answer these questions.

 

• What's the price of Jet A fuel going to be in 10 months' time?  
• Will the economy (whose?) be in recession?  What will interest rates be like?
• Will there be labor shortages or unrest in key occupations?
• Will there be a reemergence of some pandemic or another reason people stay home?

 

If your answer to any/all of the above is, "I don't know," then what would you do relative to pricing your product or service today?

 

1.  Discount the price so that people will commit now.

2.  Set prices high enough now so that the "worst case" still results in profits, however small.

 

A very good post and points with which I agree.

 

Responding to the OP. I am a traveler that is a bit choosy over what airlines I fly and like to have control (as much as I can have) over my itinerary.  When flights become available after I have booked a cruise, I will tend to book my flights as soon as I am as certain as I could then be than the cruise/flights will take place.  Price?  If it is outlandish, then, I will do some shopping and engage my travel agent to do some as well.  She has often found better pricing, for the same flights that I originally wanted, than I was able to do.  Patience is, I think, a good operative word for my situations.  

[jollyjones]

 

A simple answer to the OP.

I have found from experience over many years that I tend to get the best combination of availability and price at about nine months out for revenue flying, earlier for an award seat.

Post Covid, it's been more of a mess, but as schedules seem to be beginning to stabilise again it seems to be tending back to this again.

 

There are of course, many exceptions, you just need to keep looking, but in general the later you leave it the fewer good options you will have.

 

PS Once you've bought a flight consider it done, don't go back and check prices, that way lies heartache ...

 

PPS But do go back regularly and check schedule changes, if you don't that also leads to heartache ...

 

Edited November 11, 2022 by jollyjones

[waterbug123]

22 hours ago, flasaltwater63 said:

I'm looking at flying direct to London Heathrow from Orando via Delta/Virgin Atlantic. That seams to be the best track from what I can tell. It's when to book the flight I'm not clear on. I want to make sure I don't book to soon, or wait to late. It looks like these flights fill up pretty quick. When I was looking this morning I was surprised to see a flight leaving end of September 2023 with half the seats are taken. 

 

1.  There is no way to "make sure" you don't book too soon or wait too late.  It's impossible.  As others have said, there is no magic time that's best so on some level it's always going to be a guessing game. 

 

2. You say the flights you're interested in fill up pretty quick.  How do you know that?   Are you searching on Delta and it says "only 5 seats left at this price?"  Because very often they will refill that very fare bucket the minute you buy your ticket.  It just means that right now in this very moment, that's the number of seats their algorithm says to offer in that particular fare bucket.   Are you looking at the seat map and seeing seats blocked off?  Not reliable AT ALL.  They may show blocked seats simply because those seats aren't available for you, at your particular loyalty level, to select. Doesn't mean they are actually booked.  Could be other things but you get the point.  

[CruiserBruce]

9 hours ago, jollyjones said:

 

A simple answer to the OP.

I have found from experience over many years that I tend to get the best combination of availability and price at about nine months out for revenue flying, earlier for an award seat.

Post Covid, it's been more of a mess, but as schedules seem to be beginning to stabilise again it seems to be tending back to this again.

 

There are of course, many exceptions, you just need to keep looking, but in general the later you leave it the fewer good options you will have.

 

PS Once you've bought a flight consider it done, don't go back and check prices, that way lies heartache ...

 

PPS But do go back regularly and check schedule changes, if you don't that also leads to heartache ...

 

Totally agree. Including booking two Saver Awards flights for next summer, to Europe, about two weeks after the seats came out. I monitor these things closely, and determine the trends when (if) discounted Award seats are released.

[flasaltwater63]

10 hours ago, waterbug123 said:

 

1.  There is no way to "make sure" you don't book too soon or wait too late.  It's impossible.  As others have said, there is no magic time that's best so on some level it's always going to be a guessing game. 

 

2. You say the flights you're interested in fill up pretty quick.  How do you know that?   Are you searching on Delta and it says "only 5 seats left at this price?"  Because very often they will refill that very fare bucket the minute you buy your ticket.  It just means that right now in this very moment, that's the number of seats their algorithm says to offer in that particular fare bucket.   Are you looking at the seat map and seeing seats blocked off?  Not reliable AT ALL.  They may show blocked seats simply because those seats aren't available for you, at your particular loyalty level, to select. Doesn't mean they are actually booked.  Could be other things but you get the point.  

This explains why the seats had x marked on them.

It was my guess they were booked seats because they were not available. Apparently that's not the case. 

This explains a lot. Thanks so much! 

[flasaltwater63]

16 hours ago, jollyjones said:

 

A simple answer to the OP.

I have found from experience over many years that I tend to get the best combination of availability and price at about nine months out for revenue flying, earlier for an award seat.

Post Covid, it's been more of a mess, but as schedules seem to be beginning to stabilise again it seems to be tending back to this again.

 

There are of course, many exceptions, you just need to keep looking, but in general the later you leave it the fewer good options you will have.

 

PS Once you've bought a flight consider it done, don't go back and check prices, that way lies heartache ...

 

PPS But do go back regularly and check schedule changes, if you don't that also leads to heartache ...

 

Were fortunate enough to live near Port Canaveral so we don't fly much for cruising. What do you mean by award seats?

 

 

[CruiserBruce]

1 hour ago, flasaltwater63 said:

Were fortunate enough to live near Port Canaveral so we don't fly much for cruising. What do you mean by award seats?

 

 

An award seat is one purchased with miles or whatever reward currency that airline uses. For United it is "miles", other airlines have other names and earning systems.

[flasaltwater63]

12 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

An award seat is one purchased with miles or whatever reward currency that airline uses. For United it is "miles", other airlines have other names and earning systems.

We do have some Delta Skymiles I'm going to use. I've never seen it referred to as awards. We are novice travelers. One day when we're retired we will become seasoned travelers as I want to see the 🌎 

Thanks so much for your response. 

[desibee]

I find with international travel it's generally better to be earlier rather than later.  When I was booking from Canada to Singapore, the better itineraries had their pricing the lowest about 8 months before.  You could still get cheaper flights up to 4 months out but the routes might be more convoluted and with more stops or with worse airlines.

 

It also doesn't hurt to check with the airlines you're most interested in flying and seeing if they have current promotions.  Black Friday or holiday sales might be coming up soon.

[Zach1213]

22 hours ago, desibee said:

Black Friday or holiday sales might be coming up soon.

 

I would be shocked if any airlines run those kind of deals this year, with the exception of maybe some low cost carriers. Demand for air travel is still through the roof, and they don't need to incentive much to get people to pay top dollar right now. 

[NMTraveller]

I book mine as soon as they are available for preferential seating.  That is usually about 330 days out.

 

Plus I want to get the shortest flights available with the fewest stops.

Edited November 15, 2022 by NMTraveller

[waterbug123]

On 11/11/2022 at 7:18 PM, flasaltwater63 said:

This explains why the seats had x marked on them.

It was my guess they were booked seats because they were not available. Apparently that's not the case. 

This explains a lot. Thanks so much! 

You're welcome.  It could be any number of other things as well.  Maybe the airline wants you to think exactly as you did- that it really is nearly sold out.  Also, often tickets are available for booking but seats (at least many of them) aren't available for selection.  You'll still be guaranteed a seat, you just can't select one in advance.  That could be for any number of reasons as well...Bulkhead seats are often blocked for disable passengers to be assigned to them at the gate, certain fare classes aren't eligible for advance seat selection and so on.