Advice on Timing re Flight Bookings

[jodieebv]

Hi everyone

I am in Western Australia and I am in a long distance relationship with and American who lives in Oklahoma. I'm just trying to plan my 2 trips for next year. This year I went in April and September. I flew United in April and Qantas in September. Next year I'm looking at Mid March and Boxing Day. I'm wondering if I should book March now or wait and see if there is a Qantas Boxing Day sale. Is this something they do every year? I'm worried about leaving it another month to book and then having to pay a few hundred more. I'm looking at around 3k for PER-DFW with Qantas at the moment. My partner will drive down and pick me up as adding the OKC leg adds on hundreds more.

I also was wondering when the best time to book December flights is? I'm wanting to leave Boxing Day 2023 for my second trip. Will it be best to book as soon as they are released?

Many thanks everyone.

 

[Quickstatus]

I would book the March 2023 asap. And the Dec 2023 is a premium departure date so the earlier the better
Any Boxing day specials are likely to be for flights further into future than Mar 2023

DFW is a premium route, you are likely to get better fares via other ports like LAX including a connection into OKC. However the connections between the West coast and OKC are poor - very few non stops with more flights connecting via other airports like SLC, IAH, AUS, ATL

Alternatives:
VA/UA: PER-MEL-IAH-OKC
NZ/UA PER-AKL-IAH-OKC
AC/UA: PER-AKL/SYD-YVR-IAH-OKC
QR: PER-DOH-IAH + separate UA IAH-OKC or PER-DOH-DFW-OKC

 

[Mwenenzi]

Near PER or another WA airport?
WA to USA via Singapore can be a viable option. SQ and others.
Little relationship distance to price.

A map from the Great Circle Mapper

A map from the Great Circle Mapper

www.gcmap.com

 

[SYD]

Hi everyone

I am in Western Australia and I am in a long distance relationship with and American who lives in Oklahoma. I'm just trying to plan my 2 trips for next year. This year I went in April and September. I flew United in April and Qantas in September. Next year I'm looking at Mid March and Boxing Day. I'm wondering if I should book March now or wait and see if there is a Qantas Boxing Day sale. Is this something they do every year? I'm worried about leaving it another month to book and then having to pay a few hundred more. I'm looking at around 3k for PER-DFW with Qantas at the moment. My partner will drive down and pick me up as adding the OKC leg adds on hundreds more.

I also was wondering when the best time to book December flights is? I'm wanting to leave Boxing Day 2023 for my second trip. Will it be best to book as soon as they are released?

Many thanks everyone.

Totally agree with @Quickstatus. Personally, I wouldn’t be leaving Mar 23 any longer. Give Google flights a workout, there might be some left field options cheaper including via the ME and/or Jakarta.

 

[vetrade]

There may be an option to get a much cheaper DFW - OKC leg rather than have your partner drive down to pick you up (depending on how far that drive would be, of course). If you login from Australia to a US airline and try to book a US domestic flight, the price can be dramatically more expensive than what Americans pay, so maybe check what price your partner can get when logging-in locally. Or, if you have NordVPN, try changing the server to one in the US so that you will be quoted the same price as a US resident. You can still book at the US price using an Aussie CC. When booking for family I've found the cost savings can be very substantial.

 

[jodieebv]

I would book the March 2023 asap. And the Dec 2023 is a premium departure date so the earlier the better
Any Boxing day specials are likely to be for flights further into future than Mar 2023

DFW is a premium route, you are likely to get better fares via other ports like LAX including a connection into OKC. However the connections between the West coast and OKC are poor - very few non stops with more flights connecting via other airports like SLC, IAH, AUS, ATL

Alternatives:
VA/UA: PER-MEL-IAH-OKC
NZ/UA PER-AKL-IAH-OKC
AC/UA: PER-AKL/SYD-YVR-IAH-OKC
QR: PER-DOH-IAH + separate UA IAH-OKC or PER-DOH-DFW-OKC

Thank you so much for this. This is so helpful to me. I do try and keep my flight times down which I didn't mention which is why I was doing the Dallas route. My ex does FIFO and I have to work around his roster for when he is back with our kids so I try and get as much time in the States as possible.

 

[jodieebv]

Near PER or another WA airport?
WA to USA via Singapore can be a viable option. SQ and others.
Little relationship distance to price.

A map from the Great Circle Mapper

A map from the Great Circle Mapper

www.gcmap.com

Yes I would fly out from PER

Post automatically merged: Dec 1, 2022

There may be an option to get a much cheaper DFW - OKC leg rather than have your partner drive down to pick you up (depending on how far that drive would be, of course). If you login from Australia to a US airline and try to book a US domestic flight, the price can be dramatically more expensive than what Americans pay, so maybe check what price your partner can get when logging-in locally. Or, if you have NordVPN, try changing the server to one in the US so that you will be quoted the same price as a US resident. You can still book at the US price using an Aussie CC. When booking for family I've found the cost savings can be very substantial.

I didn't know this! Thank you so much. I'll ask him to have a look for me. It's about a 3 1/2 hour drive for him.

 

[Franky]

Air Mauritius may also be back in the loop, as they have announced the return of their connection to Perth. Not sure when it starts up though. Also MH may be of use, though the depature time of 0220 is off-putting.

 

[RooFlyer]

Welcome to AFF @jodieebv .

From Perth, have a look at flying via the Middle East on Qatar, Emirates, or Etihad (note, I don’t know which of those actually fly to Perth, sorry). Might just be one stop into DFW.

Also look at Fiji Airways via the Pacific into LAX..

 

[SYD]

Also look at Fiji Airways via the Pacific into LAX..

and YVR or SFO with onward connections from all three. But ex-PER means schlepping across Oz and a bounce through NAN.