Booking Last minute, cheaper?

silverberg

Hi, I'm thinking of booking a holiday to New York around September time, will hopefully have 3 friends coming with me. I've never been out of Europe before, if we waited and booked last minute would it be considerably cheaper or would I end up paying more for flights and accommodation?

BuffyBot

The general rule is the later you leave it, the more expensive it gets

di11on

BuffyBot wrote: »

The general rule is the later you leave it, the more expensive it gets

I think that if you plot price versus days to departure the graph would take a U shape.

If you book way in advance there seems to be a premium. And booking with very short notice, they know you have fly on that date and extort you :-) Ryanair (and other airlines, I'm sure) openly admit that they make a lot of money from people who need to travel at short notice to get to funerals and that kind of thing.

The sweet spot, from my experience, seems to be around 2 to 3 months in advance of going. That's for flights... not sure about accomodation or car hire etc.

P. Breathnach

BuffyBot wrote: »

The general rule is the later you leave it, the more expensive it gets

I agree. (Why not? It's true.)

The second general rule is that Murphy's Law applies. Whatever booking strategy you adopt, a cheaper option will emerge later.

The way to avoid that hollow feeling in the pit of the stomach is to avoid checking prices after you have booked. If the flight is worth €x to you when you book, then it should be worth €x to you when you fly.

closifer

I dont see any reason why you wouldnt get a good deal in September but I would book now. You can leave the hotel a little while but book the flights now! As 4 the hotel, NY and Also Boston Hotels are really expensive. I often go to Boston and have started to book through Hotwire. You dont know the name of the hotel until after you book, they just tell you the star rating and the area and its can be 60% cheaper than booking thru the hotel website. Plus sites like betterbidding.com help you to figure out what hotel they are talking about b4 you book!

ncmc

I would agree with the others, book the flights now and maybe wait a while for the accomodation. I got good value on flights last week with Continental, flying to Newark on Aug 28th. Paid €903 for two adults, this seems to be about €90 pp cheaper than Aer Lingus for the same dates.

You could always book accomodation that is cancellable and then keep an eye out for something cheaper, www.quikbook.com are quite reasonable for hotels and you book now, pay later on most rooms and you can cancel with no penalty (on most of the bookings - check the small print). I would also keep an eye on www.travelzoo.com they have some great accomodation deals, but I think the best deals are 2-3 months before you travel.

juanyjuans

Flights go up in price nearer the departure date.

Package holidays often decrease in price nearer the departure date. The only problem is that there is less choice available. Have a look at www.latedeals.ie

Ponster

Last minute calls will often be cheaper but only if you don't care as to where you want to fly too

The Davestator

Not sure about price v date but i'd recommend having a look ar air france for flights - i found them much cheaper and better than aer lingus (although you have to stop in Paris)

danmanw8

juanyjuans wrote: »

Flights go up in price nearer the departure date.

That depends really. If Aer Lingus have half empty planes they will drop the price for a couple of dyas to try fill them.
Happens more often for October/November travel than for September but it can happen for September too.
Last 2 years Aer lingus have flown a lot of half empty planes so don't rush!