Hi, asking for some tips of when and how much to pay for flights that’s in line with past deals
Trip is for sightseeing and skiing
So far, the cheapest I've found is with Philippines Airlines, but they have a 14 - 16 hour trips and are $1165 return to Tokyo
Can anyone one can chime in with advice for mid January school holiday time frame
TIA
Wait for a sale.
Yep that’s what I’m planning on doing but can’t seem to find any past deals for specifically Jan school holidays
You're prob gonna have a hard time finding good deals during these times as everyone is in the same boat to get away.
I would suggest sign up for price alerts from like skyscanner and other websites. See what the average rates are going in previous years and buy when you feel comfortable it may be a good deal.
I did this for amsterdam and I am going in 10 days, but my god, the rates fluctuated so much. One day it was $2200+ return and one day it went down to $1050 return! Then there's additional fees such as seats and so on. I end up paying $1400 return which is pretty good. I am happy with that, if I purchased it on the cheapest alert, would have been around $1250 but yeah… flight searching and booking is the biggest pain.
Thanks.
Did you book directly with airline or online travel agents
@Gotchas: Not direct. I went through skyscanner and set up alerts there and they only sent me the cheapest deal. You can book/choose through multiple gateways but if I had a choice, prob book directly if they had such deals, but I found out booking directly with the airlines was more expensive.
I suggest do multiple alerts through different websites.
I just got back a week or so ago and was in the same boat last year. Between mid December and the end of January there were no sales from the major airlines (I was leaving via Perth, so not a huge choice) as it is the prime time to visit for skiing etc. I left on the 10th of Jan, but the closest sale period i found was from ~Jan 25th onward. Good luck with your search, next year may be better.
Do you have kids in school? How old are they?
Oldest will be in year 11
And it’s also for work commitments
Bummer for your work commitments
My middle is in year 11 and im pulling her out of school in april to go to japan.
Travel trumps school (maybe not excessive travel in later years or around exam time)
The flights haven’t been released for sale yet.
Do people really book holidays that far ahead?
I do, but that's more because I want to lock in time off at work before anyone else can haha.
oh, I guess that makes in a tricky work situation .. my last boss was super annoying and never said yes to leave
I book at least 8 months ahead if I can, it also gives the illusion and habit to save more money for the holiday. If I drop 1.5k on a ticket 2 months before than 8 months before, I would feel like I "wasted" 1.5k and wouldn't have enough money to spend. Plus I don't use credit cards overseas, I try to avoid it…… I use savings
Google Flights will tell you if the price you're looking at is cheaper than usual or more expensive than usual. You can even set a watchlist and receive notifications when the price changes.
You can also go to https://www.ozbargain.com.au/location/japan and just flick through the pages to get an idea what the typical prices are