Quote:
Originally Posted by Harry
Ahh, bum... I always though logically, airlines would want to sell the remaining tickets at lower prices to get rid of 'em. It's always beyond me how they'd rather fly half empty than sell the tickets cheaper.
In that case, as soon as I get home next friday, I ought to book the flight. Thanks, matey.
...but really, are you quite sure? I know that it'd be rare game to be able to get anything under £450 at this point. D: Ahhgh this would be much easier if I wasn't so poor. xD
Now wot of booking through Priceline, or something of the sort, VS an actual airline website? For some of them, I've noticed, the price is the same, and others its higher or lower on one or the other-- I don't understand that...
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In the last 7 years, I've flown at least a dozen times so I got a bit of a feeling of it, although I'm nowhere near racking up frequent flyer miles or anything. And 90 percent of my traveling was between Europe and the U.S.
Anyway, logic aside, businesses don't always operate logically. Maybe they expect everyone to be acting logically and they charge you for it. Who knows? All I know is that I've always paid more the closer to my date I booked a flight. It's almost like a penalty cost, although I'm sure that's not the only reason.
Either way, people have to pay to fly. If all the airlines charge more when it nears the flight date, then the only competition to be had between airlines is HOW MUCH more they charge as compared to the other guys running the same flight paths. While I'm sure there are exceptions, it's pretty common knowledge and observable experience that dictates you're better off booking a flight early. Regardless of the reasoning behind it.
As far as websites, you could use anything from Travelocity to Orbitz to a lesser known travel site like "cheapgoddamnedairfair.com" or something. The idea is for THEM to do the hard work of searching for the cheapest flights that pertain to your travel dates and you only having to pick from a list of your choosing, and airline of your choosing. It's like a search engine for travel fare. And it's basically instantaneous and doesn't cost any money. So use it to your advantage.
You don't really have to know WHY you come across a cheaper flight than all the rest... knowing that you can is a the best idea at this point.