Going to Italy in June 2009: buy now, or wait?

[kiwichianti]

I will be attending a conference in Italy end June next year. Shall I hunt for the best price and buy the tickets now, or wait until prices drop? What would you do

 

[straitman]

I will be attending a conference in Italy end June next year. Shall I hunt for the best price and buy the tickets now, or wait until prices drop? What would you do

kiwichianti,

Welcome to AFF.

I don't believe there is ever a correct time to buy as the market is always changing. If you could give some more detail though there may be some scope for people to advise you about routings and airlines. Are you travelling economy, business or first class? Will you be leaving or arriving back during school holidays etc?

 

[trooper]

Good advice already!

I have given up trying to second-guess the market...:mrgreen: Nowadays I start looking well out... and as soon as an acceptable price is found I buy.

Sure.. sometimes cheaper fares appear much closer in... but sometimes they don't.... I'd rather pay a "decent" price early than have that risk....others I know are happy to risk it....:shock:

Buying early also ensures a better choice of flights.... which is important for us NZ flyers who want to avoid the 777 on Transpacs!!

(Why?? 744 gives a better chance of an upgrade clearing.... more seats in both Y+ and BP .....AND a better Y+ experience if that's where one ends up..)

 

[albatross710]

For my trips to Italy, 5-3 months is when they have deals and offers on that route.

I admit to preferrign SIA as they have direct flights into Milan, effectively cutting 6 hours off the trip by avoiding the Heathrow or other gateway.

When looking at the various discount fares, I put a value on the extra legs. First time I went BNE-SYD-SIN-LHR-MXP , SIA I can go BNE-SIN-MXP...a better proposition for the small extra cost.

Even the extra stop via Dubai adds to the time.

Alby

 

[kiwichianti]

Thanks for the tips and the welcome. I can fly to Rome or Milan - either is fine. Departure ca 20 June; return ca 18 July, all flexible by +/- 3 days. I fly Economy.

Since I see that opinions are mixed, I think I will wait until January with the purchase of my tickets... but I will keep looking in the meantime.

Definitely, the routing is important. When going over to Europe, I usually prefer one single, but very long (12-24 hours) stopover half-way, preferably at an airport with a hotel in the transit area, or at least at walking distance. Singapore is indeed a very good candidate - reputedly the only airport in the world with a swimming pool

My last trip to Europe (Paris) was a year ago, and I had paid NZ$2,300 with taxes on SQ, purchased 5 months ahead.

This time, the cheapest I seem to find is NZ$3,200 with MH. MH have 3 pricing levels on their website: Super Saver, Flex Saver and Full Flex. The price of NZ$3,200 is "Flex Saver"; "Super Saver" is "sold out"... hmmmm... is it really sold out 10 months ahead? - That looks rather like a clue that the cheapest fares are being kept for later release.

 

[albatross710]

I will be attending a conference in Italy end June next year. Shall I hunt for the best price and buy the tickets now, or wait until prices drop? What would you do

make a habit of checking bestflights.com.au for movement.

 

[Travel Guru]

If it's June 09 you're travelling, hold off for another month until next years earlybird fares are released, they're generally your best bet.

Some of the big agency groups have expos, Flight Centre has a Europe one where they put almost no markup on the fares for that day, so i'd work out what you want first and then head off to one of those events to book.

TG