A travel secret

I think eleven months early is a bit too early because things might go wrong. Like what happened to my husband getting sick and then finding he had als. I would say that six months ahead is far enough in the future seeing that you might have to get travel insurance, passports, save the money, etc.

Haha. I have never bought a ticket that early yet but I'm sure if I had the money I would, just so it could be cheaper. I usually buy tickets 6 months before the flight date, and yes they are cheaper. I find that I usually don't get serious about my travel plans until I have booked. Then, I could research ferociously on my destinations. I don't think this is crazy at all. I hate the cold and snow, and I once considered taking multiple flights through Helsinki and Moscow, just so I could get them cheaper.

The only trouble with that I would find is that it's tempting fate, as you know lives change and things can happen which can change our lives for better or worse, at a moment's notice, so booking 11 months ahead is or can be quite risky, not wanting to sound pessimistic but you could have an accident, fall ill, lose your job.... no one knows what's around the corner. Yes you do save a lot of money that way. I tend to book a month or so before I want to travel.

I know booking a flight earlier can be cheaper. However, sometimes it is really hard to know what will happen in the future. The plan can be changing anytime due to the accidents. At that time you may not take the flight as your plan. This is why I often just book the flight a week ago. Sometimes I am even afraid whether my plan will be changed

I booked my June Hawaii trip in February when an airfare deal came along. 11 months is too far ahead to plan.

That is correct - unless the airline brings out extra seats due to cancellations nearer the tiem of travel, the best prices are always that early. In fact, you can usually book even further in advance with tour operators who sel packages as they will nto have the flights loaded but, will have had a contract for the next 18 months hence why you see brochures on sale for that far in adance sometimes. What we used to do in the leisure side was to guarantee the fares if they booked that far in adance as long as it wasn't over peak liek school holidays and if it was over peak, we would then do first come first served so for example, lets say you booked, it was for feb half term and you were the first family booking, then more than likely you would pretty much get the price you booked at when the flighst became 'live'. If you were much further down the line and all the cheaper seats had been allocated when they went live before they got to your family on the list, you would b offered the holiday at the best available price or you could usually choose to cancel at that time for free. So rally, it was win, win as if you book early, you nearly always get the best deal and even if you were slightly late, you were probably still gettting the best fares around as everybody else would be the same with fares gone up so you could then cancel anyway with no charges. At least then your holiday was secured early on and you could budget for it! :)

At the rate of this economy, I am not comfortable committing 11 months in advance and I have my reasons. Starting, most airlines today are in the red and we could never tell when they will be out of business. I am sure our monies paid will be irrecoverable even if there's a travel insurance. At the end of the day, we will need to scramble and get tickets at non discount. The other issue is the rigid conditions of these tickets which requires all dates to be fixed all the way. I know for a fact that there are some destinations that does not permit changes even if we are prepared to pay for whatever fees. Changes here will just render these tickets useless at the end and we will need to pay for the expensive one whichever way. Then, the unforeseeable circumstances on our destination like the uncertain weather conditions like hurricanes, the political situation like civil war or natural disasters like earthquakes or tsunamis which can make us cancel our travel arrangements involuntarily. Even if the tickets are refundable, it will have to undergo a round of deductibles like refund administration fees and what not, which I am sure would even make you consider parking that money in the bank than have it lost like that. Lastly, I am sure there is the uncertainties coming from ourselves like health or our fitness condition which we can never predict what will happen 11 months down the road where we could be stricken with sickness or temporarily handicapped from an accident, forcing us to postpone or cancel our planned trip. Again, these airlines will not take too kindly with our legitimate inconveniences due to their fixed and rigid conditions attached to these advanced purchased discounted tickets. I can accept the most is ticketing 45 days in advance other than that I will just shop around for a better value for money destination.

If it comes to only the flight they say you have to book as soon as the new timetable/-scedule of a flight company is there. The first flights are the cheapest. Also: don't let your computer accept cookies. If you do so the price will change as well (if you visit the site more as once). If it comes to an "organized" booking (flight plus hotel etc) I don't book that long ahead anymore. It's useless and way more expensive.

It IS logical, as most people decide some months before booking a flight, so that's why it's getting more expensive, as we are getting closer to that certain season. But I wouldn't book a flight that far away in time, because I'm not in a financial situation to do so. I might afford travelling now, but what if I lose all my money before the date? Or if I could take days off at my work or university?