When to book flights?

[RosannaEL]

Hi all!

 

I've started looking at flights for our cruise out of Yokohama late April 2022. We are flying from Europe, Madrid or Barcelona. Any advice on the best time to book? Flights are generally quite a bit more expensive now compared to last year (we had our April 2021 cruise cancelled), but have already gone up a bit compared to a couple of weeks ago. I'm hesitant to book in case the cruise gets cancelled again, but maybe it's time to bite the bullet? We'll book with Iberia/British Airways, most likely. So how early/late do you generally book long-haul flights? Any other advice? Should I pay for insurance, or is the coverage through my credit card enough?

 

Kind regards

 

Rosanna Lithgow

[CruiserBruce]

There is no magic "best time". You just have to do your research. 

 

Tickets for those flights are already available,  and have been for a couple months. You have been noting the price movements. Fares are higher now than previously because capacity has most likely been trimmed some...less supply usually means higher prices. Airlines are trying to recoup losses due to Covid. Airlines are hoping for increasing demand as the world potentially recovers.

 

Can't speak for the Airlines you mention, but most airlines in the US have free cancelation policies. If the airlines you are using have the same policies,  your risk is low.

 

So, in summary, now that you are seeing the fare trends, you need to buy when you see fares you are comfortable with,  and don't look back.

[FlyerTalker]

2 hours ago, RosannaEL said:

Any advice on the best time to book?

 

As Bruce mentioned, there is no "magic time" - and anything you see that purports to give you this "lowest fare timing" is a gigantic averaging at best and hogwash at worst.  What you need to do is keep an eye on trends, and more importantly, know when you see a price you can live with.

 

2 hours ago, RosannaEL said:

Flights are generally quite a bit more expensive now compared to last year (we had our April 2021 cruise cancelled), but have already gone up a bit compared to a couple of weeks ago.

 

Prices are higher because demand is higher.  How much travel was happening back when you booked that April cruise?

 

2 hours ago, RosannaEL said:

I'm hesitant to book in case the cruise gets cancelled again, but maybe it's time to bite the bullet? We'll book with Iberia/British Airways, most likely.

 

You might also want to look at Turkish and Finnair, both of which are coming in at less cost than BA or IB (for random dates in April).  Both are running less than 500 Euros round-trip, which is a pretty great price.  Just what kind of price were you thinking of finding?  (And FWIW, if going out of Yokohama, you definitely want to fly into Haneda airport (HND).  And, since you don't mention any dates, it's tough to give you more definite information.

 

3 hours ago, RosannaEL said:

Should I pay for insurance, or is the coverage through my credit card enough?

 

Totally a personal decision, based on your risk tolerance level, your mitigation strategies and individual situation.  One note:  check the actual coverages on your credit cards.  Many have cut back on travel insurance benefits.  Decide what kind of coverage you need, in what amounts, and find the policy that best provides that to you.

 

 

[iancal]

Our experienc...it always depends on demand.  And routing.

 

Pre covid, post retirement we did one flight to Euope each fall and one flight to SE Asia in Jan/Feb.

 

Our best return fares over that period?  For Europe it was the last one booked three weeks out. The fare was the same when I checked three days out.

 

 For Asia (Bangkok) the best fare over five or six trips was booked 8-10 days out.

 

I believe the right answer is watch the fares.  Decide what is a good fare/routing.  When it hits, book it.   We do exactly the same for late booking cruises.

 

We realize that IF we wait, hoping to get the absolute lowest fare possible chances are we will not be going anywhere!  There will always be people on the plane or the ship that paid more us and less than us.

Edited September 13, 2021 by iancal

[RosannaEL]

Thanks for your input! Flights are currently 500 plus Euros per person one way, which I think is a bit steep. We're cruising to Alaska, so only need to go one-way, and that seems to be the crux. Return flights are pretty much the same price as one way. ☹️ I'll have to look into this further. Thanks again for your help.

[CruiserBruce]

1 hour ago, RosannaEL said:

Thanks for your input! Flights are currently 500 plus Euros per person one way, which I think is a bit steep. We're cruising to Alaska, so only need to go one-way, and that seems to be the crux. Return flights are pretty much the same price as one way. ☹️ I'll have to look into this further. Thanks again for your help.

Just curious. What is your source that 500 euros is high? One way IS NOT half of roundtrip,  at least not typically,  on international flights. Believe me, if it were a US city to Europe, 500 euros would not be outrageous  for one way.

 

You have a number of huge variables here...and the issues related to Covid are not helping you get clear info.

 

Have you checked with the cruise line air program? For a complicated routing like this, the cruise line air fare is an important option.

 

 

[sverigecruiser]

18 hours ago, RosannaEL said:

Hi all!

 

I've started looking at flights for our cruise out of Yokohama late April 2022. We are flying from Europe, Madrid or Barcelona. Any advice on the best time to book? Flights are generally quite a bit more expensive now compared to last year (we had our April 2021 cruise cancelled), but have already gone up a bit compared to a couple of weeks ago. I'm hesitant to book in case the cruise gets cancelled again, but maybe it's time to bite the bullet? We'll book with Iberia/British Airways, most likely. So how early/late do you generally book long-haul flights? Any other advice? Should I pay for insurance, or is the coverage through my credit card enough?

 

Kind regards

 

Rosanna Lithgow

 

Do you live in the EU? If yes, can you buy the cruise and the flights as a package from a TA? Even if you have booked the cruise it will be considered a package if you can book the flights at the same place. I think that should cover the risks if the cruise is cancelled. (That may be a Swedish thing but I think it's like that in the whole EU.) 

[RosannaEL]

15 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

Have you checked with the cruise line air program? For a complicated routing like this, the cruise line air fare is an important option.

 

 

They only have flights from the US online, but I might contact the cruise line just in case. Thanks!

[RosannaEL]

8 hours ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

Do you live in the EU? If yes, can you buy the cruise and the flights as a package from a TA? Even if you have booked the cruise it will be considered a package if you can book the flights at the same place. I think that should cover the risks if the cruise is cancelled. (That may be a Swedish thing but I think it's like that in the whole EU.) 

Yes, we live in Spain (men jag är svenska). However, I book our cruises through an American company. I don't think the do flights, but I will contact them just in case.

[Zach1213]

17 hours ago, RosannaEL said:

Thanks for your input! Flights are currently 500 plus Euros per person one way, which I think is a bit steep.

 

No offense, but I am not sure your thinking on the fares is quite fair. €500 for a one-way longhaul flight seems quite fair to me, as someone who books a LOT of flights. 

[sverigecruiser]

1 hour ago, RosannaEL said:

Yes, we live in Spain (men jag är svenska). However, I book our cruises through an American company. I don't think the do flights, but I will contact them just in case.

 

I'm not sure that it helps to book it as a package if you book it in America, I think not.

[Twickenham]

From the OP's posting history, she appears to be booked on HAL's North Pacific Crossing, departing on April 25.

 

I agree with those that say your 500 euro price really isn't that bad. However you can get that price lower if you want to take a 1-stop itinerary. The cheapest I'm seeing is on LOT, BCN-NRT, at 330 euros - the bad news is you have a 23-hour layover in Warsaw, which in ordinary times I personally would jump at but in Covid times might complicate matters too much. The next cheapest 1-stop itinerary is with Qatar, at 392 euros from BCN or 432 euros from MAD, with more reasonable layovers in the 2:20-2:30 hr range. If you want to fly to HND, Cathay Pacific and Turkish will get you there for around 475 euros.

[RosannaEL]

Thanks for all your replies. I obviously have to update my sense of fair fares... 🙂

 

I had a look at that Qatar flight, and it's looking pretty good. Thanks!

 

 

[eileeshb]

I'd try an app like hopper or kayak, hopper will let you know when/if they expect flight prices to increase/drop and you can set alerts to get a notification if the prices change.

Even when you do the initial flight search they colour code the dates to show you which day is cheapest to fly. I'm flying to Puerto Rico from Ireland next year and managed to get a return fare under €600 via hopper last night.  Initially I had planned to leave Ireland on the Wednesday before my cruise but on hopper it showed Thursday as cheaper. The Colour coding gets more accurate the later you book. 

Both United and skyscanner have similar functions on their sites where you can look at pricing for a range of dates.

[Ashland]

I tend to purchase my air a few weeks or month after release dates after watching.

I've gotten some great rates (yes I look back) on my flights for March 2022 LAX-SJU, April 2022 LAX-MCO and a really great rate for my July 2022 LAX-AMS. I'll soon be starting to watch for Sept 2022 LAX-YVR. I have carrier notifications on all my flights and still will check often for any changes.