When to book the international flight?

[Blue and Green]

Now that we are sometimes scheduling cruises 1 or 2 years out, I am wondering when is the best time to book the flights from US to London? We have travel insurance for the estimated cost of the entire trip, and Mr. Blue wants to fly business class or first class.  Will we be better off booking as soon as the flights become available, or waiting and watching? (This is my least favorite part of the planning process.)

 

[CruiserBruce]

There is no magic time to book airfares. Period.

 

Start doing some research. Pick a day in the future that airfares aren't available for yet...preferably in the season you intend to cruise...say summer. What are the prices the day a schedule is released? 7, 14, 21 days later? Try this for multiple days. Some airlines offer calendars that show fares for an entire month. You might find a day or two each week has cheaper fares.

 

Business and first class airfares don't vary anywhere near as much as coach seats do.

 

Then, when you get some ideas on schedule patterns, get very specific...and when you find a price you can live with, buy, and don't look back.

 

By the way, given this is generic airfare advice, it is commonly discussed on the Cruise Air board, here:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/77-cruise-air/

[fbgd]

1 hour ago, CruiserBruce said:

Business and first class airfares don't vary anywhere near as much as coach seats do.

 

I'd disagree with that statement. Between the US and London in a sale you can probably get business class for $1500 return or so, but if you book a last minute fully flexible fare you could easily exceed $10k. 

 

For intl FC, from Michigan this is something you'll struggle to do unless you go to Chicago/Boston/New York/Toronto first could be anywhere from $2500 to $20k roundtrip per person.

 

Summer months are usually a good time for premium cabins across the Atlantic as business travel demand is lower but economy/premium economy demand is up. However, sometimes those sales may not exist, or not be announced until a month or two ahead...which leaves you potentially shelling out five figures for business class.

[Gardyloo]

2 hours ago, Blue and Green said:

Now that we are sometimes scheduling cruises 1 or 2 years out, I am wondering when is the best time to book the flights from US to London? We have travel insurance for the estimated cost of the entire trip, and Mr. Blue wants to fly business class or first class.  Will we be better off booking as soon as the flights become available, or waiting and watching? (This is my least favorite part of the planning process.)

 

Don't know where you've cruised or plan to go in the future (or non-cruise travel for what it's worth) but if you're planning that far out and want to fly in the pointy end, and especially if you're interested in global cruising and not just Europe/Caribbean, then you might want to do a little research on round-the-world (RTW) plane tickets.  I'm a broken record on the subject (those that know my shtick are groaning at the moment) but there might be some benefit in investigating this approach to flight planning.

 

Basically, these are tickets that allow up to 16 flight segments (takeoffs and landings) over the course of 12 months.  You have to cross both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans one time each, and in the same direction, and end in the same country from which the first flight departed.  Aside from that main rule, however, the tickets can be quite flexible.  Within the ticket's limitations (either the total miles flown or how many continents you touch) you can zigzag and backtrack (not over the oceans) fairly easily.  

 

The feature that makes them potentially interesting to those who like to fly in premium cabins is that they can be excellent value depending on where the travel begins and ends, NOT depending on where you live.  The tickets are priced VERY differently depending on the "country of origin," meaning where the first flight departs.  For example, a three continent RTW ticket using Oneworld carriers (British Airways, American, Iberia, Alaska, Qantas, Japan et al) in business class has a base price of $10,426 if travel begins and ends in the USA.  However, the same ticket with travel starting and ending in Norway costs $4875; in Japan $4423.  (Note these are base prices; taxes and airline fees will usually add 10% - 20% to that total.)  

 

For that you'd get up to 16 flights, with a maximum of 4 flights in Europe, 4 in Asia, and up to 6 in North America, which includes Central America and the Caribbean.  (You'd also have to fly 3 intercontinental flights, so with a limit of 16 some continent would get shorted by one.)  

 

Imagine you had two European, one or two Caribbean or other North American cruises, and one Asian cruise planned over a 12 month period.  (I'm just making this up.)  Say you make your way to, say, London for the first cruise, on your own nickel.  You cruise the Mediterranean or the Baltic, whatever, then when the cruise is over, you fly to Oslo for cheap, and start the RTW that you've already bought.  You fly home, in business class.

 

Some months later, you use the same ticket to fly to Florida (or wherever) for a Caribbean cruise, or use it to fly to California for a Mexican one, or to Vancouver for an Alaska cruise.  Maybe two.  Then back home again.

 

Then it's time to shoot over the Pacific for an Asian cruise.  Hong Kong to Singapore?  Whatever.  Then you fly back to Europe, maybe for a fjords cruise, or Greece...   You end back in Oslo before 12 months have elapsed from the first flight.  In the meantime you've had up to 16 flights in the front end, with an average cost of around $350 - $400 per flight.  Not bad for business class from Detroit to Miami; pretty terrific for Chicago to Hong Kong or Rome to Dallas.  For $500 or so more up front, you could get a 4-continent ticket (also 16 flights) that could include Australia, Africa or South America.  

 

I'll stop here, but if this sounds appealing, let me point you to a thread I posted on Fodor's a few years ago that covers the subject in more depth.  Maybe for nought, but worth a thought.  

 

 

[Ashland]

Our first class DL One seats LAX-AMS last year were booked in September for our July dates and they only went up .... really high....going forward. Glad I booked when i did.

[LHT28]

I try to book BIZ   early   there are a limited number of seats  up front

 I check  regularly & sometimes will snag a bargain price for the restricted fares

When I see the seats starting to fill up   I book when the price suits us  

usually about 9 mths out   though we did snag  a deal about 6 mths out  a few years  ago 

  but now everyone is hot to travel   book as soon as you see  a price you can live with

JMO

[Blue and Green]

2 hours ago, Ashland said:

Our first class DL One seats LAX-AMS last year were booked in September for our July dates and they only went up .... really high....going forward. Glad I booked when i did.

This is what I was thinking might happen....

[Blue and Green]

4 hours ago, Gardyloo said:

Don't know where you've cruised or plan to go in the future (or non-cruise travel for what it's worth) but if you're planning that far out and want to fly in the pointy end, and especially if you're interested in global cruising and not just Europe/Caribbean, then you might want to do a little research on round-the-world (RTW) plane tickets.  I'm a broken record on the subject (those that know my shtick are groaning at the moment) but there might be some benefit in investigating this approach to flight planning.

 

Basically, these are tickets that allow up to 16 flight segments (takeoffs and landings) over the course of 12 months.  You have to cross both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans one time each, and in the same direction, and end in the same country from which the first flight departed.  Aside from that main rule, however, the tickets can be quite flexible.  Within the ticket's limitations (either the total miles flown or how many continents you touch) you can zigzag and backtrack (not over the oceans) fairly easily.  

 

The feature that makes them potentially interesting to those who like to fly in premium cabins is that they can be excellent value depending on where the travel begins and ends, NOT depending on where you live.  The tickets are priced VERY differently depending on the "country of origin," meaning where the first flight departs.  For example, a three continent RTW ticket using Oneworld carriers (British Airways, American, Iberia, Alaska, Qantas, Japan et al) in business class has a base price of $10,426 if travel begins and ends in the USA.  However, the same ticket with travel starting and ending in Norway costs $4875; in Japan $4423.  (Note these are base prices; taxes and airline fees will usually add 10% - 20% to that total.)  

 

For that you'd get up to 16 flights, with a maximum of 4 flights in Europe, 4 in Asia, and up to 6 in North America, which includes Central America and the Caribbean.  (You'd also have to fly 3 intercontinental flights, so with a limit of 16 some continent would get shorted by one.)  

 

Imagine you had two European, one or two Caribbean or other North American cruises, and one Asian cruise planned over a 12 month period.  (I'm just making this up.)  Say you make your way to, say, London for the first cruise, on your own nickel.  You cruise the Mediterranean or the Baltic, whatever, then when the cruise is over, you fly to Oslo for cheap, and start the RTW that you've already bought.  You fly home, in business class.

 

Some months later, you use the same ticket to fly to Florida (or wherever) for a Caribbean cruise, or use it to fly to California for a Mexican one, or to Vancouver for an Alaska cruise.  Maybe two.  Then back home again.

 

Then it's time to shoot over the Pacific for an Asian cruise.  Hong Kong to Singapore?  Whatever.  Then you fly back to Europe, maybe for a fjords cruise, or Greece...   You end back in Oslo before 12 months have elapsed from the first flight.  In the meantime you've had up to 16 flights in the front end, with an average cost of around $350 - $400 per flight.  Not bad for business class from Detroit to Miami; pretty terrific for Chicago to Hong Kong or Rome to Dallas.  For $500 or so more up front, you could get a 4-continent ticket (also 16 flights) that could include Australia, Africa or South America.  

 

I'll stop here, but if this sounds appealing, let me point you to a thread I posted on Fodor's a few years ago that covers the subject in more depth.  Maybe for nought, but worth a thought.  

 

 

Sounds wonderful....we have some friends who used  RTW tickets. Unfortunately, my work is going to get in the way of this much travel for me right now. Thanks for your response..maybe someday!

[jollyjones]

From my personal experience of transatlantic flights in biz, I start looking at 10 months out, usually find a price I can accept at 8 - 9 months out, and always plan to buy before 6 months out.

I usually buy by 8 months out as I have found that gives me the best combination of price with flight times and seat availability.

Your experience may be different, and I'm no flight expert, but that is what my experience has shown me.

 

And once you've bought your ticket, never look back at the price but do look back frequently to catch the schedule changes early so you can deal with them, before the rest of the herd notices, if there's a problem.

 

If you feel you'd prefer to wait till closer before your trip to buy, I suggest you do a dummy booking to price transatlantic tickets at say 2 or 4 weeks before flight date ...

 

 

[fbgd]

18 hours ago, Ashland said:

Our business class DL One seats LAX-AMS last year were booked in September for our July dates and they only went up .... really high....going forward. Glad I booked when i did.

 

Corrected that for you...😉

[FlyerTalker]

4 hours ago, jollyjones said:

And once you've bought your ticket, never look back at the price but do look back frequently to catch the schedule changes early so you can deal with them, before the rest of the herd notices, if there's a problem.

 

Given the changing landscape of airline pricing and policies, you probably should first determine what the rules are for your particular ticket.  Some international tickets have the same change rules as USA domestic, meaning no change fees.  With these, if you see a lower price, you can cancel and rebook, putting the difference into a flight credit with the airline.  Now, this does not apply to all tickets or all airlines, so find out what your rules are when you buy your ticket.

 

 

[Ashland]

4 hours ago, fbgd said:

 

Corrected that for you...😉

DL One international is what I consider first class but calling it business doesn't do it justice....JMHO 🙂

 

But thanks for the correction.

Edited September 27, 2023 by Ashland

[FlyerTalker]

2 minutes ago, Ashland said:

Huh ??? 

 

Delta One is not "first class".

 

 

[Ashland]

1 minute ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Delta One is not "first class".

 

 

Was first enough for me...but thanks.

[LHT28]

Different airlines   call  the seating   by different names

AC the lie flat  for international are Signature Class

Delta   Delta One for international    

KLM  lie flat   World Business class

 

Pick the seat you want  no matter what they call it

I prefer Lie flat  seats  but cannot always afford to pay  the high price  ( well we can but choose not to )

YMMV

[fbgd]

On 9/27/2023 at 3:04 PM, Ashland said:

DL One international is what I consider first class but calling it business doesn't do it justice....JMHO 🙂

 

But it is perhaps confusing for the non-regular travellers that often come here to ask question.

 

Delta One is business class, they even use the same J/C/D/I booking codes that pretty much every airline worldwide uses for business class...and whilst we are at it Virgin Upper Class is also business class.