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When would you book airfare for a late 2021 trip?

BKMD

I know AlanS likes booking flights as soon as they become available (350ish days out). I usually wait until about 6 months out before looking.

Given everything that's going on now, including airline schedule uncertainty, when would you book a flight for a late 2021 trip? Booking through Tauck won't be an option, as I'll be using FF points.

Comments

AlanS

When in late 2021? - buy your tickets 330 days before that That is what I will do in January for our Dec 2021 XMAS Mkts river cruise flights.

My recommendation to purchase flights at the beginning of the 330 day window is and has always been for Business Class flights only. Over the last 7+ years I have observed Business Class fares rarely if ever go down. On the contrary, they go up as time goes on. I routinely see the lowest fares in the first 1 or 2 days of the 330 day window, and have often seen them go up by $1000 or more in a short time. The airlines regularly run specials on other classes of fares throughout the year, not so with Business Class..

Claudia Sails

Depends on lots of factors. When are airline schedules available, are their multiple routes and carriers that you could pick from, what type seat are you looking for, etc. I normally book as soon as schedules are available.

We don't have any departures til the end of August next year and I still can't see Delta's schedule past 26 Aug 21 so just have to wait til they come up. When we thought we'd be going on the trip this year I had waited until about 6 months out to book. By the time I did Tauck had few options, bad schedules (early am departure, long layovers) and the prices weren't very good. Booked my own direct with Delta then sweat it all summer til I could cancel and get a full refund.

British

Everything has changed in our strategy since Covid. When we first started traveling with Tauck, we always booked flights with them, but it took us a while to realize they were not giving us the best route options. Then one of the agents explained they would book whatever schedule we wanted, so we did that for a while. Then it became too tempting to book ourselves when we could get five times Amex points by booking ourselves. Regarding prices, sometimes Tauck was cheaper and vice versa.
We always booked 330 days out like Alan S. The one time we didn’t because we had a sick parent in England then a subsequent death, that put booking flights low priority, we wanted business class and there were no seats left, that was about eight months before.
We have found in the past that if you keep looking online for the same itinerary time and time again and not booking and using the same email, the airline website realizes this and the price keeps going up. So we sometimes get to it using a different email so it doesn’t recognize us.
Tomorrow the 30th, we should have been leaving for the Singapore Bali Tour, we booked those flights ourselves via AMEX. The flights were cancelled months ago before the tour was. We just got Our refund, it’s taken five months.
We asked Tauck to book flights for our next two tours with Tauck, but only recently, for April and July. We don’t think either tour will go ahead. We want the safety and convenience of Tauck having to deal with refunds. After that, we have a tour booked for September but it is not with Tauck. We have used this company before and their flight price was unbeatable. The only problem is that their insurance is way more than Tauck’s, so if you fly business class, that bumps the Tour package up a lot as it is 9% of the entire price. We will probably call them in January or February, maybe later to book those flights.

BKMD

AlanS
When in late 2021? - buy your tickets 330 days before that That is what I will do in January for our Dec 2021 XMAS Mkts river cruise >flights.
My recommendation to purchase flights at the beginning of the 330 day window is

My flight will be in Nov 2021 (Egypt), so not quite there yet. OK, 330 days. I couldn't recall the number.
I'm asking because I wonder if airlines have their "full/normal world" schedules listed for a year from now or are they still listing a limited schedule for a Covid world.

British - I agree with your observation about airline websites tracking your price checks. Several ways around that:
Check prices on a search site such as kayak.
Don't sign in with your email address when you do the intial check.
Clear cookies for that web site between checks.
use multiple browsers.

Smiling Sam

I'm in the AlanS camp. I start searching prices for possible routes/fares even before the 330 day window opens up, just to get feel for what I should expect. I check prices for multiple 'overseas' departure cities during the process. It's amazing how you can often find MUCH cheaper fares if you're willing to use different than your ideal routing. Living in Tucson, my ideal routing would be to make a single reservation that starts/ends in Tucson each direction. That luxury, however, with Tucson being a smaller market can often raise the price of the business class tickets by $1000 dollars or more per person. Oftentimes this means we use LAX as our 'overseas' departure city. Being a much larger market the fares are much more competitive (oftentimes close to $1000/person cheaper). We have multiple cheap options for the 1 hour connecting flight to LAX. So I go the two reservation route in this case.

For our cancelled Egypt: Jewels of the Nile tour, which was to have started in about a week, we had great business class tickets that were routed to/from Tucson. One more casualty to that blasted COVID!

Portolan

BKMD: I see that you are planning to use FF miles.

Absolutely book as soon as available. There is little or no risk with points. Depending on your status, the redeposit/change fees may be waived or reduced to a very modest amount.

BTW, the 331 day limit has become soft over the last few years. Using United where my miles are, I have frequently booked award flights a week or so before the 331 day point which I put on my calendar with a 2 week reminder to start looking, especially if with a partner airline since they seem to show up a week or so before UA's own flights.

AlanS

That 330 day window varies by carrier. I believe Turkish Airlines might be a full year. In any case, like Sam, I start tracking prices well before 330 days. Also, I will sometimes change departure city. Our nearest airport only served AA but they ceased operations there. The nearest Delta feeder is a bit farther- 45 min. away. We can get a decent connection at a reasonable price departing from there, but getting back often requires a 5 hr or longer layover in Atlanta since there are only two flights per day. The end result is we almost always fly from Raleigh-Durham which is a two hour drive.

BKMD

Thanks all. Looking at current flights, I may not use my points, after all. I have enough AA points, but the only option is British Air, which I prefer to avoid, if possible. United/Lufthansa seems to have some decent flights, and decent pricing for biz class, although the return flight leaves Cairo in the wee hours, similar to my flight from Amman last year. We shall see...

AlanS

Most flights leave Cairo after midnight- 2:00 - 4:00 am- I believe that includes Delta/AF, BA, AA, Turkish and likely more.

Choc

Just booked flights on Delta yesterday for our August Seine river cruise. I did it thru Tauck and booked business. I always book as soon as possible

AlanS

Except for seat selection, I don't think it matters when you book air with Tauck. As far as I can tell, Tauck has a contract price, so doesn't get the best fares (or best routing) that you can get if you book directly. Also, it may not be a big deal, but the Tauck contract fare may not qualify for the full amount of frequent flyer points/miles from your airline. I only learned this years ago after I discovered we earned less miles than expected. I called Delta who directed me to their fine print which stated they don't award full points for "non-advertised, discounted fares."

However, if you booked a tour just a few months out, Tauck will generally have much better air fares than you can get yourself at that time.

Kathy M

I don't know if Tauck will offer it this year but in the past, if you booked a tour to Europe in the first two months of the year (they announced the dates in January), they offered reduced airfares through most of their carriers. They compared favorably with fares you could find yourself (with a few exceptions) and you could tell them which flights you wanted. You would not get the extra hotel night for free but usually the fare differential (especially for business class) far exceeded the hotel cost. You also did not need to pay for the airfare until the final payment for the tour was due 60 days out (but they could give you seats). Therefore, if you found a less expensive airfare on your own in the interim, you could purchase the ticket yourself and cancel the reservation with Tauck. The downside is that the tour/date you'd prefer might no longer be available.

With the uncertainty surrounding covid this year it may be worth considering.

BKMD

If you book airfare with Tauck, when can you choose seats? Do you do it via the airline web site, as if you booked on your own?

Kathy M

I have done it with the Tauck air department after making the reservation. Once you have the reservation you can get the code that enables you to get into the airline website. I think I've changed seats on there as well.

AshvEd

We generally book flights as soon as they are available. For a late Summer 2021 trip we tried Tauck first and their contract prices were almost $2.000 more, so we booked them on our own. We prefer Tauck to book the air as it's easier if the trip gets cancelled however two grand was a bit too much for us this time. Happy and safe traveling to all.

Sealord

If this was mentioned I missed it. But in order to book specific seats, you normally have to pay for the tickets. I recently discussed this with the Tauck air department. If our Antarctica trip gets cancelled I will call Tauck and pay for the air to Africa so I can attempt to get seats with more legroom. I have flown ‘coach comfort’ or whatever the call it on KLM, but for some reason they don’t have it on the planes they are currently flying to Africa.

Travelcrazy

I always use frequent flier miles and have normally booked as soon as flights become available. However, since I use two different airlines and some cities are better than others for each one, I have to wait until the return is available, so I can compare both directions. I fly business or first, depending. My flights usually change multiple times (plane type, times, etc.) before the actual trip, but I figure it's better to have something and then deal with changes as they come. I once was dropped from First to Business Class by the airline, but I was credited the miles back for the difference.

travel maven

I have only had Tauck book my airfare one time in 2016 on the Budapest to The Black Sea River Cruise. I decided to splurge on Business Class and Tauck said they could request the seats but could not guarantee a confirmed reservation which I didn't like and this was a conversation I had directly with the Tauck Air Transportation Department. They never mentioned the option about paying for the airfare up front and being able to reserve the seats. I guess if I should ever have them book the flights for me, I will need to inquire how they handle the reserved seat assignments. The issue may also have been affected by which Airline you flew on and whether they had a contract with that airline. I flew American Airlines because that was the Airline my friend wanted to travel with because of frequent flyer miles. He was able to get an assigned seat right away and I had to wait until the last minute to receive my assigned seat. I, therefore, was unable to sit by him on the long haul flights coming and going, even though I booked the airfare and tour one year ahead of time.

kfnknfzk: Thanks for the tip about flying Air France. I no longer wish to use Lufthansa due to the horrible customer service recently on recovering money from flights to France which they cancelled. If I had not put thru a chargeback request with my Credit Card Company, I would still be waiting for a refund. We are still hoping to rebook the river cruise to France at some point, however, I am going to wait awhile to see how things progress with COVID-19. In the meantime, we are traveling locally and having a great time.

BKMD

Thanks for all the comments in response to my original question. I agree, that in normal times, it's often advantageous to book as early as possible.

Let's qualify it now - given the current situation with many (temporarily?) eliminated flight itineraries, downsized planes, and given the massive furloughing that occurred yesterday creating some uncertainty as to some airlines' survival, would you still book 330 days in advance for a trip scheduled for late 2021?

Portolan

BKMD: Absolutely would book now with miles. Will, in fact, do so in a month for our early October 2021 J&E.

Would not book a revenue (i.e., paid) directly this far out. If not miles now, then via Tauck.

British

I would only use Tauck right now.

miawilson

I will book the flights prior to the 1 day before my booking schedule.

Sealord

I was in the ‘book air with Tauck’ camp until I did my most recent booking. It is just like shopping for anything ... Costco does not always have the best price. I was going to Marseille premium coach until I started ‘shopping’, and had initial bookings with Tauck. I then discovered that I could get business class for only $500 more ... but not from Tauck. They had a contract rate that was $700 more per ticket than what I could get on my own. Of course you have to pay for the ticket within 24 hours, versus final payment date. I had to fight for a refund on another United ticket to Hawaii, but I got it. “Significant schedule change” was the key factor ... more than two hours. I like the Tauck air setup, but if I can save $1400, I will do it on my own.

PureLuxury

Also remember the new policy - something I learned when booking air for the 2020 JE tour. If the tour is considered an "exotic tour", you are required to pay the airfare upon booking. You can no longer wait until when final payment is due. That's why I decided to book the J&E on my own via American Express. If I had to pay up front anyway it was more advantageous to me and I got 5X AmEx points AND I saved $2400 on the business class fare - for the same route Tauck was going to book. It pays to shop around.

JanP

PureLuxury, that policy on payment for “exotic”tours may have changed. When we booked air for our 2020 K&T, we did have to pay our airfare upon booking. However, we just booked air through Tauck for our rescheduled 2021 K&T tour and we were told payment was not required until final payment is due.

PureLuxury

jan_page511...Good to know. Thanks!

Buzz48

For those of you that are booked on United flights:

I have no idea how widespread this is in their pricing, but I have been arranging my flights for 2021. Yesterday my agent made the reservations for a mixture of business and premium plus seats to Paris. Today (10/21/2020), she was making the payment and found that United has dropped the round trip business price from $3600 p/p to $2600 p/p, a savings of $2000! Now I am in business class all the way with $2000 in my pocket. SWEET!

You may want to check your flights if you fly United.