How far ahead in advance should you book your travels?
August 19th 2010 08:22
Category: No Category
It's confusing isn't it? There are early bird sales, and then there are last minute sales. We don't want to sound stingy, but when it comes to travelling, the less you spend on airfare and accommodation, the more you can spend on actually enjoying the destination.
When I was a travel agent, one of the most common question to us was "how far ahead in advance should I start to book?"
Five years ago, we would always answer "as soon as possible". Early bird airfares and deals are almost always the cheapest, but it requires you to know exactly what you want and with no room to change your plans as these prices comes with a "non-refundable" tag.
However, when the world financial crisis came during 2008, when the Australian dollar dropped its value by 40% over night, following by American dollar dropping even more when the Aussie dollar was recovering, we suddenly faced an unusual change in the cost of travel. It was extremely unsteady. All un-paid booking values went up by 40% overnight that week, which was an unfortunate event for travel agents as they are the ones who have to face the customer's fury. And then, suddenly again, Australian dollar became so good (in 2009) that airfares and accommodation prices also dropped. It was possible to fly to Europe for a little over $1000 and fly to north America for a little less than $1000. This severely upset those who paid for early bird airfares earlier that year and actually ended up paying more than the airfares later.
Bummer isn't it? It's not so funny if you were an extremely price concious person, and even worse for the travel agents who have to try to explain the cause and get yelled at by clients.
My own sister bought an airfare from me, a Qantas premium economy seat from Sydney to Buenos Aires, about seven month ahead of her travel. She was happy with the price at the time, and asked me if I could take care of her booking (just for the record, prices are set by Qantas, not the travel agents) - however, the unfortunate thing happened about four month prior to her journey. Qantas decided to have a sale just on their premium economy seats, and the price for her trip (which was actually available on sale as well) was actually a good $1000 cheaper than what she paid for.
Thankfully, I did a quick calculation, and decided to cancel her old tickets and re-book her on the same dates based on the new pricing, and even with the original ticket's cancellation fees, she was still getting about $300 back.
Now, there really is no right or wrong answer. In generally, it is still more likely to be cheaper if you book early, especially if you are travelling in extremely peak season. This applies to travelling to anywhere in the world, even domestic. Airlines do put on sales from time to time, but if you look at their travel dates, they are never for travel during any period within school holidays or public holidays. So in the case of travelling during peak season, it is wise to book early.
If you are not travelling peak season and don't mind taking a risk, or if you suddenly have the urge to go somewhere within the next 2 weeks and you happen to see a last minute sale, then obviously, a last minute deal would do you better.
However, treat it like shopping anywhere else. When you see a dress or tie at Myer on sale, say you buy it for $50 this time. Later down the track say Myer was not doing so well and decided to have a massive sale, and the same item you bought now cost $20. In this case, it's really a matter of "oh well" as you can't exactly return it and exchange it for the cheaper price can you?
The best thing to do is plan ahead. Even if you are not booking just right now, if you know exactly what holidays you want to take and when, then you can start looking out for deals, and as soon as a deal comes out and are available for your dates, book it in!
My own rule (which I apply for my own travels) is to plan at least one holiday period ahead of time.
So, say from today, the next holiday period would be Labour Day weekend. Therefore, I would now book for Christmas already when everyone else was still thinking about the school holiday dates surrounding Labour Day. I am also already looking into next year's Easter (for NSWers in Australia, we get 5 consecutive public holidays for Easter next year in April - start planning!) while everyone else is thinking about Christmas... etc
Good luck! And happy travels!
When I was a travel agent, one of the most common question to us was "how far ahead in advance should I start to book?"
Five years ago, we would always answer "as soon as possible". Early bird airfares and deals are almost always the cheapest, but it requires you to know exactly what you want and with no room to change your plans as these prices comes with a "non-refundable" tag.
However, when the world financial crisis came during 2008, when the Australian dollar dropped its value by 40% over night, following by American dollar dropping even more when the Aussie dollar was recovering, we suddenly faced an unusual change in the cost of travel. It was extremely unsteady. All un-paid booking values went up by 40% overnight that week, which was an unfortunate event for travel agents as they are the ones who have to face the customer's fury. And then, suddenly again, Australian dollar became so good (in 2009) that airfares and accommodation prices also dropped. It was possible to fly to Europe for a little over $1000 and fly to north America for a little less than $1000. This severely upset those who paid for early bird airfares earlier that year and actually ended up paying more than the airfares later.
Bummer isn't it? It's not so funny if you were an extremely price concious person, and even worse for the travel agents who have to try to explain the cause and get yelled at by clients.
My own sister bought an airfare from me, a Qantas premium economy seat from Sydney to Buenos Aires, about seven month ahead of her travel. She was happy with the price at the time, and asked me if I could take care of her booking (just for the record, prices are set by Qantas, not the travel agents) - however, the unfortunate thing happened about four month prior to her journey. Qantas decided to have a sale just on their premium economy seats, and the price for her trip (which was actually available on sale as well) was actually a good $1000 cheaper than what she paid for.
Thankfully, I did a quick calculation, and decided to cancel her old tickets and re-book her on the same dates based on the new pricing, and even with the original ticket's cancellation fees, she was still getting about $300 back.
Now, there really is no right or wrong answer. In generally, it is still more likely to be cheaper if you book early, especially if you are travelling in extremely peak season. This applies to travelling to anywhere in the world, even domestic. Airlines do put on sales from time to time, but if you look at their travel dates, they are never for travel during any period within school holidays or public holidays. So in the case of travelling during peak season, it is wise to book early.
If you are not travelling peak season and don't mind taking a risk, or if you suddenly have the urge to go somewhere within the next 2 weeks and you happen to see a last minute sale, then obviously, a last minute deal would do you better.
However, treat it like shopping anywhere else. When you see a dress or tie at Myer on sale, say you buy it for $50 this time. Later down the track say Myer was not doing so well and decided to have a massive sale, and the same item you bought now cost $20. In this case, it's really a matter of "oh well" as you can't exactly return it and exchange it for the cheaper price can you?
The best thing to do is plan ahead. Even if you are not booking just right now, if you know exactly what holidays you want to take and when, then you can start looking out for deals, and as soon as a deal comes out and are available for your dates, book it in!
My own rule (which I apply for my own travels) is to plan at least one holiday period ahead of time.
So, say from today, the next holiday period would be Labour Day weekend. Therefore, I would now book for Christmas already when everyone else was still thinking about the school holiday dates surrounding Labour Day. I am also already looking into next year's Easter (for NSWers in Australia, we get 5 consecutive public holidays for Easter next year in April - start planning!) while everyone else is thinking about Christmas... etc
Good luck! And happy travels!
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