What'S A Reasonable Target Price For Uk-Bkk Rtn At Christmas, And Hourly Price Variations Online?

[lionmeetstiger]

Hi guys

Just in the midst of gathering intel re. a potential christmas getaway to the LOS.

In a perfect world departure would be on the 15th of December and return on the 5th of Jan (both Saturdays seperated by three weeks), but acceptable departure dates would be anywhere from the 12th of December to the 20th and return dates can be from the 3rd of January through to the 8th. No need for flights to be direct. I would even consider a few days outside of these dates if it was significantly cheaper.

I'm getting prices from Momondo of just over £800 tonight, whereas two days ago I was getting approx £650. Is the former particularly expensive or the latter particularly cheap? I had been hoping my flexibility would find me a flight for more like £550, is that too ambitious?

The prices being returned seem to be changing by the hour. Earlier this evening Momondo was telling me the cheapest flight was about £840 with Air China, now it's saying the cheapest flight is £800 with Korea Air while Air China has gone up to £950. And as I said two days ago it was quoting just £650 with one of the Indian airlines.

Does anyone know the extent to which these fluctuations occur or have any insight as to whether a particular time of day/week/month is best to book?

Also, are there any 'off the beaten track' websites which might furnish me with a better price. I know a couple of years back Southall Travel seemed popular and I've tried them and they're quoting just short of £800.

In summary (and apologies for the ramble), what's a fair price for that time of year, and what is going on with these price fluctuations...

Thanks from a warm and sunny UK.

LmT

[fredob43]

£800 for a one stop is cheap if you want a direct flight your looking at well over £1,000 I'm just going on what it was last year. Just before Christmas coming back after new year is peak, if you come before the 9th Dec: you will find it cheaper. Friend of mine flew out last year direct with BA Christmas night and had to pay £1,340 and he was lucky to get that as all the flight's were full. If I were you I would take what you can get now, the day's of the £550 flight's are long gone. Your looking at £600+ off peak if your lucky.

[Pseudolus]

Just for your interest, the websites still use yield management in their booking, so not only taking into account the demand on the routes and dates you are looking at but also upon your own personal flexibility in travelling. They do this on line by placing a cookie on your computer and logging your IP address which tells them if you search the same dates time and time again that you will eventually buy a ticket with those dates so the price will keep going up. Search these sites using a incognito window and set your computer to ask permission to save cookies then give it a go.

[beano2274]

Prices also go up depending on currency fluctuations, I noticed this with Aeroflot.

Just using dates plus or minus 2 prices still over 800GBP, sometimes going direct to the airline websites might provide cheaper prices.

[londoedan]

I always used w3 dot flights dot com, but a lot of these sites seem similar now e.g. the cheapest fare on that site is 800 GBP with Air Korea.

When I've flown this route I've found it cheapest to go via the Middle East with a stop in Qatar, Dubai or Abu Dhabi so it might be worth going to their websites.

I'd book ASAP if I were you.

Good luck,

[Ricardo]

Did you try Westeasttravel.com yet ? They were generally quite good (TG main agents) , in the old days, when we were based in the UK.

A quick search shows 12thDec/8thJan at GBP 620 with Royal Jordanian.

[CharlieH]

Another option given the huge airport taxes for long haul etc from London, is to get a cheap flight into Amsterdam and then go from there. BIG savings can be had by flying into Europe first.

[Jiu-Jitsu]

£550....hahahahahahahaha Should have taken the £650 flight when you had the chance. Currently the cheapest for the 15th to the 5th is China Eastern at £687.

[roamer]

Another option given the huge airport taxes for long haul etc from London, is to get a cheap flight into Amsterdam and then go from there. BIG savings can be had by flying into Europe first.

Indeed don't listen to the defeatists, you sound time rich and want to save money.

This is the way to go but variation on this as Amsterdam not usually the cheapest. Playing around with your dates I can easily get sub £600 fights and with decent airlines (I'm including cost of connecting flights from UK in this).

1. Best to change your departure date to 12th as 15th is often switchover date to higher fares.

2. Go to Kayak and start your search inputting a UK airport ("London, all," normally best) for departure, make sure you tick the flexible dates box. BKK for destination. Check the prices that you get.

3. Click on change your search and start inputting places like Budapest, Milan, Rome etc as your departure airport. These are all Ryanair, Easyjet etc destinations and cheap for your dates.

4. When you see prices that you like for your dates then go to Skyscanner and check for flights from the Uk to & from your the airport you have picked out above.

Using that method I was able to get Royal Jordanian from Rome for £450 and Qatar (superb airline) for £495 for your dates, add on to that around £80 including taxes and baggage fees for your LCC flight to Rome. Similar variations from other airports and dates.

Its not for everyone but horses for courses.

If you just want to fly from the UK set up a series of daily email alerts from Kayak based around your potential dates. You will be surprised how much the fluctuations can be.

[SantiSuk]

Seriously good advice form some top class cheap charlies on here.

PS - cheap charlie for me is a term of adulation, not scorn

[roamer]

Seriously good advice form some top class cheap charlies on here.

PS - cheap charlie for me is a term of adulation, not scorn

I'll take it as a term of endearment . Actually using methods not dissimilar to ones I outlined above I just managed to get the following deal, LON-VENICE-ROME-RIO DE JANEIRO-FRANKFURT- LONDON for the princely sum of £285 .

[Ricardo]

Seriously good advice form some top class cheap charlies on here.

PS - cheap charlie for me is a term of adulation, not scorn

I'll take it as a term of endearment . Actually using methods not dissimilar to ones I outlined above I just managed to get the following deal, LON-VENICE-ROME-RIO DE JANEIRO-FRANKFURT- LONDON for the princely sum of £285 .

We are not Worthy ! (bows down in homage)

[Jiu-Jitsu]

Seriously good advice form some top class cheap charlies on here.

PS - cheap charlie for me is a term of adulation, not scorn

I'll take it as a term of endearment . Actually using methods not dissimilar to ones I outlined above I just managed to get the following deal, LON-VENICE-ROME-RIO DE JANEIRO-FRANKFURT- LONDON for the princely sum of £285 .

Let's see a screenshot of that booking...

[roamer]

Seriously good advice form some top class cheap charlies on here.

PS - cheap charlie for me is a term of adulation, not scorn

I'll take it as a term of endearment . Actually using methods not dissimilar to ones I outlined above I just managed to get the following deal, LON-VENICE-ROME-RIO DE JANEIRO-FRANKFURT- LONDON for the princely sum of £285 .

Let's see a screenshot of that booking...

If you spent less time hanging around here being obnoxious you might have time to sort out a similar deal for yourself.

http://www.holidaypi...ny-262#comments

I also posted the link how to do it below and if you read through the comments you'll also see other people managed to book similar deals.

http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/fly-rio-alitalia-return-from-205-with-connecting-flights-250-total-via-expedia-1274909?page=1

Apart from that, for your sheer lack of manners, go swivel.

[coolhandjoe]

Turkish Airlines seem cheap at the moment, might be worth a search.

[Jiu-Jitsu]

Seriously good advice form some top class cheap charlies on here.

PS - cheap charlie for me is a term of adulation, not scorn

I'll take it as a term of endearment . Actually using methods not dissimilar to ones I outlined above I just managed to get the following deal, LON-VENICE-ROME-RIO DE JANEIRO-FRANKFURT- LONDON for the princely sum of £285 .

Let's see a screenshot of that booking...

If you spent less time hanging around here being obnoxious you might have time to sort out a similar deal for yourself.

http://www.holidaypi...ny-262#comments

I also posted the link how to do it below and if you read through the comments you'll also see other people managed to book similar deals.

http://www.hotukdeal...-1274909?page=1

Apart from that, for your sheer lack of manners, go swivel.

Don't be a twerp. I write some of those articles on cheap flights. I can easily show you an article that I wrote on the RIO deal that predates the HolidayPirates website.

So, unlike yourself, I am not a leecher claiming that other's ideas are their own.

I even included Tokyo in my article:

So instead of trying to give me me your cr*p, how about a screenshot of your booking?

What an idiot.....

[roamer]

Really don't understand your beef or your logic. You have just posted a screenshot of a good deal but you don't seem to be able to accept your not the only person in the universe that can also get a deal, so much so you go around demanding screenshots from people. And then we have:

"Don't be a twerp. I write some of those articles on cheap flights. I can easily show you an article that I wrote on the RIO deal that predates the HolidayPirates website."

Begs the question, why didn't you show us the article ? I'm waiting.....

""So, unlike yourself, I am not a leecher claiming that other's ideas are their own"

Really ? Then why did I state on the HUKD deal;

"" All the details of how to do this are on the Holiday Pirates site but you book it on Expedia.""

Why don't you just admit you got your balls out of shape when you posted on this thread;

"£550....hahahahahahahaha Should have taken the £650 flight when you had the chance. Currently the cheapest for the 15th to the 5th is China Eastern at £687"

No sign then of your amazing prowess as someone who writes articles on cheap flights was there ?

Oh the screenshot, here is one I photo shopped earlier, (of course, I'm a liar, leecher, braggard etc,) want the Ryanair one as well ?

[Jiu-Jitsu]

Really don't understand your beef or your logic....

Wow! You really are .....

It is you who has gone off on a tangent because I asked to see a screenshot.

Is it an unusual thing to ask? It is you who has turned it into a 'beef' and a 'demand'. Perhaps suffering from a persecution complex.

The truth is that you have simply 'borrowed' from my methods. I can easily prove that I have posted original articles before HolidayPirates and the like. As to whether they copy my articles...who cares? But you have certainly copied from them.

So don't come here giving it the big I AM, because you have just leeched my method.

Been doing it since the early nineties. But just started posting the deals to illustrate cheap flights to Thailand.

The reason why I didn't advocate it for the OP, is that I won't recommend deals in the slaphazard manner that you have done.

If the 'LCC' connections go awry, for instance the Ryanair flight is late, the whole of the itinerary is finished and his travel insurance will be useless against it. Given the time of year and the delays suffered at that time last year, it is not a method that I would recommend to the OP.

Notwithstanding, rather than banging on about how great a dealfinder you are, it would be much more helpful to the OP if you provide screenshots of your great finds, so that he could easily decide whether he could safely make the connections.

That is why I asked for a screenshot, numbskull. Because it is a much better way to illustrate the method.

I guess you just wanted to cover yourself in glory and fell flat on your face.

Anytime you want a link to my ORIGINAL articles, posted before HolidayPirates and HotUKDeals, just let me know.

Now perhaps you can make yourself useful and put together that itinerary for the OP, together with screenshots.

[Jiu-Jitsu]

It is easy to quote a cheap price, whilst neglecting to mention that one might have a 13 to 14 hour wait in Doha and then after that ordeal, the worry of whether you will be on time for your Ryanair or EasyJet flight, as your luggage will only be checked through to Rome.

This to save perhaps £100

You see, I only recommend these things when I can illustrate good flight times and a worthwhile saving. So far you have come up empty. So, how about some screenshots...... that actually work?

As an aside, I booked a flight to RIO a month before you did. I paid £330, but my luggage is checked all the way to and from London and I won't be needing to change airlines to get home from Germany, as I'm flying back into London. No low cost airlines for me.

So whilst you'll be fagging around going through customs and immigration twice both ways, whilst probably waiting hours to connect at Venice and from Frankfurt, I be whooshing through. So perhaps, you saved £35 compared to me, but my flight conditions and luggage allowance is far superior to yours.

So thank you for your concern that I could have got a similar deal to yours, but I think that mine is better.

[roamer]

" So perhaps, you saved £35 compared to me, but my flight conditions and luggage allowance is far superior to yours."

Of course it is dear.

Out of here, life's too short

[Jiu-Jitsu]

Why did I come here hoping to find a useful set of screenshots for the OP from Roamer? All talk and no action.

Would have been good to see an illustration of the flights that he claimed to find. Instead he spouts abuse because of a simple request to see a screenshot and goes on to tell me that that I could find a flight like his for myself.

When I tell him that I already have one, he chucks his toys and runs off.

I think he overreacted. Shame that he isn't man enough to admit it.

I think we can assume that he has no suitable cheap flights for the OP for which to post a screenshot.

[Jiu-Jitsu]

Seriously good advice form some top class cheap charlies on here.

PS - cheap charlie for me is a term of adulation, not scorn

I'll take it as a term of endearment . Actually using methods not dissimilar to ones I outlined above I just managed to get the following deal, LON-VENICE-ROME-RIO DE JANEIRO-FRANKFURT- LONDON for the princely sum of £285 .

Let's see a screenshot of that booking...

If you spent less time hanging around here being obnoxious you might have time to sort out a similar deal for yourself.

http://www.holidaypi...ny-262#comments

I also posted the link how to do it below and if you read through the comments you'll also see other people managed to book similar deals.

http://www.hotukdeal...-1274909?page=1

It was really unfortunate for you that you wrote that to the original author of the Brazil deal that you booked.

[Brown1950]

Just for your interest, the websites still use yield management in their booking, so not only taking into account the demand on the routes and dates you are looking at but also upon your own personal flexibility in travelling. They do this on line by placing a cookie on your computer and logging your IP address which tells them if you search the same dates time and time again that you will eventually buy a ticket with those dates so the price will keep going up. Search these sites using a incognito window and set your computer to ask permission to save cookies then give it a go.

Yes Airlines use very sophisticated yield management software but to suggest that cookie's placed on customers computers will influence airlines

pricing structure is ridiculous.