Is There a Price Cycle Day for Fares

Status
Not open for further replies.

saligari

Newbie
Joined
Jan 7, 2007
Posts
4
Hi, can anyone tell me if there is asuch a thing as a price cycle with airfares.
Do airfares /airlines work like the petrol compaines ( I know there is no such thing as a cartel ) where Thurs are better than Frior Sat to purchase, as a example do they normally list the next specials with agents on a Monday ? etc or do they come out willy nilly ? There seems to be a lot of prices finish on the 2nd of Febuary so when would you expect to see the next lot of "specials" or dosent it work that way at all.
Also it seems prices are very high for example to the USA when petroleum had come down by as much at 30% ( ie 12 months ago you could get anyday almost to LA for $1299 and now its around the $1800)
any adivse on how this game works I would be grateful to learn
regards:p
 
No, there isn't any particular day that's best to purchase tickets. It's my understanding Airlines sell seats at different prices (each with their own restrictions or conditions attached). They are known in the industry as "fare buckets". For example, I have attached the Qantas fare structures. There are similar fare structures for all airlines. You will notice the different fare classes and fare type conditions.

There are a certain number of seats assigned to each fare bucket. As seats are sold (generally the cheapest ones go first), the number of seats in each bucket reduce. Therefore, closer to the date of departure, generally all the cheaper restrictive seats have been sold and the more expensive flexible classes are the only ones still available for purchase.

That being said, there are also tickets that are packaged with accom & care hire through TA's. They will generally have limited time to purchase, therefore a new round of deals will come out after the expiration of previous ones.

There are software packages where you can access a back-door into the booking systems to know how many seats are available for sale in the different buckets. Ones like KVS Availability Tool are used by the travel-savvy flyer, or ExpertFlyer
 
As Lindsay points out there is no price cycling like with Petrol. However what you do tend to find is that regardless of when you book, certain days of the week (Tue/Wed) are more likely to have lower fares, particularly on domestic routes. Sometimes you also find the same tendency on international routes (eg Aus-USA) where departures from Australia on Fri, Sat and Sun are more desirable (and therefore more expensive) than mid week departures.

THe other thing to watch for is certain times of the year when sales tend to occur (not necessarily for travel at the same time). A classic case is immediately following christmas where there is relatively lower amounts of cash flowing into airlines (not too much last minute business travel and lots of advance bookings) so they have sales for the first half of the new year to keep the cash flowing in.
 
WOW........ I am a FF with Qantas,United,Singapore & Emirates and I am so WET BEHIND the EAR's ! if I was 30 years younger I would have a ball with all that info ,thank you so much for your knowledge.................it is only the crazy prices at the moment that has made me think about was there a cycle rather than going looking ofr a good deal and getting it, mind you I do love it when there is only 60% on a flight to LA, sure makes the trip better
regards:)
 
Also remember that Qantas generally starts sales on a certain day of the week. In NZ they publish their specials on a Tuseday. I forget if it is the same for Australia....come to think of it has anyone received an email from them this year?
 
The Frequent Flyer Concierge team takes the hard work out of finding reward seat availability. Using their expert knowledge and specialised tools, they'll help you book a great trip that maximises the value for your points.

AFF Supporters can remove this and all advertisements

Altair said:
Also remember that Qantas generally starts sales on a certain day of the week. In NZ they publish their specials on a Tuseday. I forget if it is the same for Australia....come to think of it has anyone received an email from them this year?

No emails, and yes QF has been doing sales every Tuesday for domestic in NZ for a while now. Makes it easy to plan when to book.
 
Overseas destinations also have "seasons" for travel.

Eg, High, Low and Shoulder seasons.

Low is the cheapest to travel. Think early Feb to the U.S or U.K.
Shoulder is middle range. Eg April, May.
High is normally during summer - Eg JulAug/Sep to the US or UK and over Christmas or other celebratory seasons.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Enhance your AFF viewing experience!!

From just $6 we'll remove all advertisements so that you can enjoy a cleaner and uninterupted viewing experience.

And you'll be supporting us so that we can continue to provide this valuable resource :)


Sample AFF with no advertisements? More..
Back
Top