Hong Kong trip

[antibody]

Hi everyone,

I've been a long time lurker but this is my first post

I'm in the process of planning a trip to Hong Kong with my partner in late December (15th to 27th) this year for a friend's wedding. I've noticed that there is a fairly large discrepancy in airfares for that period compared with some of the sales on at the moment. eg ~ $1600 return economy compared to ~ $1000 at present. I'm looking at qantas or cathay.

Does anyone think it is worth waiting longer before booking with the hope of an end of the year sale? Or is that time of year generally considered off limits for discounts given that there may be relatively high demand for seats around xmas.

Cheers,

Stuart

 

[Mal]

Very little chance of a special.

You're in the middle of several things when you book mid Dec - School Holidays, work holidays, people wanting to head back home for Christmas etc etc etc.

I don't see the prices going down much from now till then... Of course you could be lucky and find a special happening soon, but that's the joys of booking airfares!!

 

[JohnK]

Does anyone think it is worth waiting longer before booking with the hope of an end of the year sale? Or is that time of year generally considered off limits for discounts given that there may be relatively high demand for seats around xmas.

I have for the last 3 years flown SYD-BKK or SYD-SIN on the 26th December and find that the earlier you book the cheaper the airfare. I have never seen a sale for this time of the year. In fact you will find that most flights are oversold and many stand-by passengers wanting seats on flights.

Last year I purchased a return ticket SYD-SIN in June and by November the price had gone up by as much as $300. By leaving the purchase of the ticket till later you also run the risk of taxes and charges increasing as well.

 

[Yada Yada]

Hi antibody. Welcome to AFF.

I found some cheaper fares on Zuji if you are willing to take a different airline. For example:
$988 on BI (Royal Brunei) via BWN
$1,300 on SQ via SIN

Zuji had QF (non-stop) for $1,357 and CX for $1,601.

If you are not in the QFF program then the SQ fare is probably the best in terms of great service for the price. I don't know anything about BI but I guess it would be an experience!

 

[straitman]

Welcome to AFF antibody,

I agree with and support the other comments here. The likely hood of a discount coming up at the time you require is about zero so I'd suggest that you get in there and finalise and book ASAP.

Good luck.

 

[antibody]

Many thanks for the advice.

I hadn't considered zuji before and it has ended up saving me some $ I ended up going with qantas for the points and credits etc.


Stuart

 

[Yada Yada]

Many thanks for the advice.

I hadn't considered zuji before and it has ended up saving me some $ I ended up going with qantas for the points and credits etc.

Great news, Stuart. I've used Zuji a few times now for airfares and it has been good value and worked flawlessly.

 

[BlacKnox]

If you have the points and there's availability, it's a good idea to redeem awards for travel (for example) at short notice or during peak season when prices are high.