Cost of flights.

[nickydwuk]

I am not a seasoned flyer so hopefully someone can help. I have been scouting the airlines looking for the best deal and also the best airline to fly with. We have decided on Singapore Air and a few weeks ago I checked out their flights for September. On 18th Sept (the date we planned to fly out) the flight for 4 of us was just over ?2000. This weekend I checked and the price has gone up by ?200 - but only on this date. The 19th is still the original price. Any idea why this could be and is it likely to happen to the flights on 19th? If so I think we need to book flights now to save oursleves ?200.

[MotherBear]

It could be that most of the seats for the 18th are already booked and the rest are being sold at at premium. It tends to be cheaper the earlier you book and gets more expensive the nearer you get to departure date because the plane is filling up.

That's only my experience. Perhaps someone else knows the real reason behind it. It's a bit of a dodgy practice whichever way you look at it. It should only cost x amount to fly from A to B whenever you book as, theoretically, it's the same distance to get there no matter what date you book on but, hey, that's business.

[catt]

we went with Singapore Air last year and booked in May 2007 i kept checking to see the price and by October a month before we left the price had gone up by nearly ?400 for the same date and flight.

Nicky book asap is the answer...........btw singapore air are really good to fly with.

[ebianca]

Can't help you put much there Nicky as we are going Air NZ in March- we are on return tickets but have got the flights for the 4 of us (2kids) for ?2600- quite a bargain i thought.

Beth

[Ginabridget]

Hello, I was looking at flights with Singapore Air for April for 4 (2 kids) and the prices were coming in around ?1900. I rang Travelbag and they went through every date from the end of March through to the middle of April giving me prices and availability. I don't think the bloke particularly enjoyed his time on the phone with me checking all those dates, but I figure that's what he's paid for. My advice is to ring the Airline or a travel agent and get them to do all the leg work for you.

Hope that helps.
Gina

[nickydwuk]

Well, I looked through lots of different sites and got no joy for the 18th Sept and higher prices for 19th so I have booked online today for 19th Sept. Seems so far away but I daren't leave it later and risk having to pay more. By leaving a day later it means we will arrive in Chch on a Sunday but we will probably be too shattered to do much site seeing so it won't really matter if not much is open.

It was really exciting booking the flights - there is no turning back for any of us now.

[PaulG]

I moved to NZ to be with my partner. We used Travelmood to book our tickets as we wanted a 1 week stop in San Fran on the way. All up, one way it cost us GBP533 each. Not bad we thought seeing as the major airlines direct started at GBP700.

Try them, we found there service very good.

Best of luck

[B-Hall]

My husband and I are moving in June and bought separate tickets. Air New Zealand seems to have the best offers for flights going through LA and Emirates has good ticket prices, but longer flights.

The benefit of using Singapore Airlines is that on the layover in Singapore the airport has a lot more facilities to keep yourself entertained. They have a cinema, spa and other bits and bobs. If your lay o ver is long and you have children that might be a good alternative, specially because the facilities aren't that expensive and you can pre book them.

If you are travelling from the UK might be good to have a look at OPODO or KAYAK, these are comparison sites that will show you the best prices available for the dates that you are interested in.

Good luck in finding the tickets!

[Cliff]

Singapore Air is a good airline. Most of their planes have all the toys (individual lcd screens with movies and games). The airport in singpaore is nice there is even a hotel in the airport. safe choice.

Most people fly through Asia now (Europe to Australasia) because they don't want the hassles and issues of going through the USA.

Cliff

[ebianca]

We flew Air NZ via LA to get the extra luggage allowance.

LA was OK for us- we have 2 small children so we were 'fast tracked' through their checking process. Thee stop was only for a couple of hours at the most and there were free refreshments on offer. No trouble at all with the kids- htey were pretty tired anyway.

We booked direct with Air NZ through the website and managed to get a very good deal on our tickets.