Hope everyone’s Memorial Day went well. This is the time many people (most) start planning their vacations. Seriously, weather is warming up and you start thinking of stuff to do, fun. Whether it is a cruise or a tour or a chance to do an F & F trip (family and friends), if you aren’t driving, you’re gonna think about flying somewhere. I thought I’d give some tips for you to ponder as you make your choices. Also, maybe educate you along the way about various options. So, here goes….

A couple of questions I am regularly asked is: When is the best time to purchase air? Is there a risk purchasing from an online source? What is the deal with choosing to add air from a cruise line when booking a cruise or tour? What is consolidator air and how does it compare to published air? Lots of questions for sure. I thought I’d write first about the different ways to book air for a start.

Where can you find well- priced air for your trip? From a travel agent, online directly with a 3rd party like Consolidator, Cheap Tickets or others, or from an airlines website directly? People who travel a lot will use various websites to find in one place what airlines depart from, your preferred city, and arrival to your preferred destination. I say preferred because, if you are flexible, you could save a ton of money. For example: I took a cruise to Alaska one year with my parents. We were choosing to leave from Sacramento, but, we checked several acceptable cities: i.e. SFO (San Francisco), OAK (Oakland), SJC (San Jose), SMF (Sacramento) and RNO (Reno). There were four (4) of us traveling together so you multiply 4 x the $ savings, there can be a huge difference. We chose that trip to depart from Reno. It turned out to have fares around $200 less per person than any of the others that year! That’s a savings of $800. It was enough to decide to go a couple of days early to Vancouver and visit that city prior to our trip. The savings paid for our lodging AND food. Was great! We were Flexible. That’s the trick, if you can do it, to look at all options.

How do you do that easily, I mean, comparing the airports and the difference in moving a departure back a day. I recommend you use Kayak.com or Expedia.com as examples of research tools. It is simple and quick to change your city, and dates to compare. From there you can purchase from those sites OR, visit the chosen airline website, after finding the best itinerary, and compare what you found regarding pricing. You’ll know the flight number, departure times, length of the flight, all about connections (how much time you’ll have if need be) and other tools to get your preferred schedule. Why would you do that? Well, if you have a credit card from a preferred airline you get perks like free baggage, extra miles earned and recognition for loyalty. Also, it may matter regarding seat choices. Remember, tour operators and cruise lines get good rates for their loyalty to particular airlines, however, they are committed to seats, what I call, the back of the plane…ha…usually can be row 30 or further. If that doesn’t matter to you, you can find some great pricing.

Consolidated air option. What exactly is it? Well, these are companies that negotiate contracts with the major airlines to guarantee a minimum of so many seats to be sold for each airline each quarter or whatever. They negotiate with each airline usually twice a year. There are advantages with them and disadvantages. If you are purchasing SHORT NOTICE (like inside of 7 days THEY ARE GREAT). Another advantage is most of the companies will allow you to HOLD a reservation for a couple of days before paying anything. Some departures, depending on the itinerary, may allow the HOLD for a week before paying anything. The Consolidator may have a fare much more attractive than booking any other way. They issue tickets and do seat assignments and the like just like the airlines. The trick is finding ones that are reputable. I have clients book such tickets through me as I can also request special ticketing for cruise passengers called cruise fares.

What about accepting air when booking a cruise? Advantages are that they too negotiate with particular airlines. Example: Viking Cruises offers great air deals, sometimes FREE AIR but they commit to seats only in the back of the airplane, BUT, as with most of the cruise lines, when you purchase their air, they many times include transfers from the airport to the cruise or pre-hotel and the port. Also, if a plane doesn’t arrive in time and you miss the cruise or tour departure, the cruise lines generally will commit to getting you to the ship the soonest possible opportunity at their expense with restrictions. They also get the dates right, example, going to different time-zones. If you plan your own air, it is your responsibility to meet the necessary departure days and times. Because of Security, the cruise lines cannot accept a passenger later than 90 minutes before departure. You need to build in time for that or you are out of luck, even if the ship is still at the port and hasn’t departed yet!!!! There is convenience when purchasing through the cruiseline, in that the air schedule will meet requirements. Cruise lines may be flexible too, allowing for you to arrive a day earlier to insure you make the trip and they also offer pre-hotels, sometimes complimentary.

So let’s say you have purchased your air from a consolidator, their change fees can be higher than the airlines would have required if you booked directly with them. Also, limited opportunities for upgrades as the consolidators may have contracted for limited classes of service. Be careful about Economy, be sure you know what you are purchasing. With dynamic pricing you need to know if it is a Basic or Economy (main cabin) BIG DIFFERENCE.

To sum up booking direct or through a cruise line or tour operator: If Price is your top priority, compare between the vendors for best deal. If Flexibility is important, booking with the airline directly may give you more control over your flights like airline preferences and schedule. Booking though the cruise line or tour operator may offer more assistance when dealing with weather or other issues.

To sum up booking through a consolidator: Fares can be 30-40% lower and there may be exclusive deals and promotions not available with other options. Many consolidators do offer earned miles with their tickets, depending on the contracts. Some are now being more flexible with change fees. When in doubt, ASK. The bad is there are restrictions for changes, cancellations and refunds $$$. They offer unpublished fares, not available on the airline websites. There is potential for SCAMS so research before $$ is passed. Most consolidator tickets are non-refundable and non-transferable. Usually no guarantees for seat assignments or preferences. Your booking is with the consolidator and not the airline, so no customer service. Cancellation fees in particular can be high as the consolidator AND the airline will charge fees.

Finally, when is the best time to purchase air tickets? That answer is all over the place. Expedia just put out a video on Facebook with 3 guidelines. I’ll share them but I have done my own research and have some additional information. According to Expedia: 1. Book early 18-29 days especially for International Flights; 2. August is the Lease expensive time of year to book and March is the most expensive, and 3. The day of the week doesn’t matter that much, but they think Sundays are cheaper and Fridays the most expensive. To be honest, the airlines are constantly doing a yield (revenue) management review. They expect their planes to be sold in different city pairs based on historical data. If they are selling better than the past, prices will go up, IF not so good, maybe only 60% sold by certain dates comparatively, the prices will go down. So the airlines have more control as to when the DEALS are gonna show up.

So Expedia did their thing, but this is what I believe, they found through research:

Domestic flights you should plan on booking your air 2-3 months in advance. That requires discipline huh? International is easier, so best to book 2-8 months in advance. You cannot purchase either tickets, domestic or International outside of 325-331 days. Keep that in mind. Days of the week historically has been on Tuesday and Wednesdays. What about time of day? It is recommended to book late at night or on weekends. I think because the yield (revenue) managers set their changes during those time – my guess. I mentioned earlier about flexibility, especially knowing the revenue managers are busy making decisions. The most important thing to know is SOMETIMES it is cheaper to do two (2) one-way tickets on different airlines than a round trip on one. With few exceptions, one-way tickets on any airlines can be more than a round ticket. 

In closing, when researching your airfare, you are going to find prices going up and down WHILE YOU ARE BOOKING!!! Someone may be holding seats at one price and the search is going to show NOT AVAILABLE and move to the next highest price. You can check later and find it lower again. HOWEVER, with technology, I can tell you that once your pricing goes up, USE A DIFFERENT machine and you may be surprised, because of cookies, that the priced is reduced but you’re not gonna know in some circumstances. 

No matter what, when booking air, when comparing each scenario, be sure to take into account baggage fees, any additional taxes and the like, charges for seat assignments, food purchases on board, and the penalties and fees for each choice BEFORE BOOKING AND PAYING. 

HAPPY TRAVELS.