Best time to book NYC fares around New Years?

[Madz]

Hi everyone - I need to book Y flights SYD-JFK for 27 Dec - 18 January. The airlines I would usually fly (Qantas and Virgin) are at or above $2800. I could book Korean air for around $1700 but I wouldn’t get any status credits or points.

Do you reckon it’s worth holding out for a sale or do you think because it’s peak time there’s not a chance?

I’ve been having this internal dilemma for a few weeks now and I’ve gotten nowhere!

Any guidance/ideas would be much appreciated.

 

[sudoer]

Cathay is just over $2k if you want the QFF SCs to/from EWR. Is that a deal breaker? I wouldn't hold your breath for a Qantas sale - certainly not <$2k for those dates.

 

[burmans]

How much are those SC's/points worth to you, I can see for Korean for under $1600 though Emirates for $1900 also sounds pretty good.

 

[sudoer]

It's worth mentioning Cathay offer free exit row selection for oneworld Ruby and above - which I assume you have if you care about SCs.

 

[serfty]

Get to HKG and go from there.

There a few VA awards around Oz/HKG that time of year.

 

[Dr Ralph]

Buy now. You are very unlikely to get a Qantas deal for that time of the year.

 

[Madz]

Thanks everyone. Didn't know OW Ruby got free seat selection on Cathay. Good to know! I was actually hoping to fly Virgin or Delta to try and hit Platinum with Virgin. Probably not worth the extra $1k each though.

 

[Madz]

Hi everyone. Thanks for your help. I ended up finding VA fares for around $2300 rtn through STA Travel. I usually book my flights straight through the airline, but Virgin couldn't come close to matching. It's because I'm under 31 so get a discounted rate. You beauty!

 

[drron]

For the USA in the summer school holidays on QF there basically is not going to be a sale.When we took the grandkids last Dec/Jan I booked as soon as the fares were released.As luck would have it last night I consigned the receipts to the shredding pile.I paid just over $1500.Now I might have missed a sale but every time I looked the price had kept going up.

 

[ontheaisle]

Hi everyone. Thanks for your help. I ended up finding VA fares for around $2300 rtn through STA Travel. I usually book my flights straight through the airline, but Virgin couldn't come close to matching. It's because I'm under 31 so get a discounted rate. You beauty!

That's not a bad result, given you're booking now for the Xmas period. When I was looking to book in June for just before Xmas the cheapest direct option to LAX in Y was ~$2,500... and then I came across a "sale" (pretty sure it was an error but it ticketed and no issues since) PE fare on AirNZ for $2,800 . Comfort won out over points/SCs, ha ha.

 

[serfty]

It's tough - in late June I had a need to be in NYC between Christmas and New Year.

It took several iterations with cancellation and changes as better dates/options appeared and airlines changed their schedules but I booked awards - eventually ending up with MEL-HKG on VA and HKG-JFK on CX in Business), JFK-xBOS-HKG on AA & CX in First and HKG-MEL on VA.

At one stage I had LGA-xORD-NRT in AA Business, HND-PVG in JL PE connecting with PVG-HKG on CX.