Do Flight Prices Ever Go Down?

Kintarō Hattori

The missus and I have a wedding to attend in Poland in August. Normally when we head there we can get tickets between €70-100 return each. At the moment for the two of us return flights would cost about €450 which is way way more than we've ever paid. I know during the summer they are artificially high because of Euro 2012 but we're heading well after the even has finished.

Do ticket prices ever come down or are they likely to remain the same/go up even more?

Seanie06

Where in Poland? If it is in the West have you considered flying to Berlin and getting a train? Could work out way better. Flights during the summer have been increasing steadily for the last 3/4 years!! Best of luck.

zagmund

I haven't tracked it in detail, but my understanding is that prices often do come down over time. Presumably they don't if the bookings are already quite high.

What I've seen (with flights to Salzburg during winter that people need to tie in to their ski holidays) is that when they come online there are some cheap flights, but these rapidly disappear and the price goes up over the course of the first day and then remain high for the week or longer. So much, so predicatable - the airlines respond to demand.

However, when demand levels off and people stop booking (because those who *must* travel that particular week have rushed in and grabbed the seats they need) the price has come down over time.

And then of course, there's the traditional seasonal airline 'sales' - again, I haven't studied in detail, but from observation there tends to be sales every few months covering flights in the following few months as they try to sell off what they have remaining. If your dates aren't particularly peak (although August is still school holiday time) then you could risk it and hold on for the sale they announce around June.

But to answer your question - I think that prices do indeed come down and don't always go up.

z

Kintarō Hattori

Thanks for the replies folks. We normally fly to Warsaw or Lodz but this time we'll be flying to Gdansk. I'll leave it a while and see if it drops.

banshee_bones

Theres actually an article in The Journal today about when the best time to book cheap flights is. They reckon it cycles in or around the 6 week mark.

http://businessetc.thejournal.ie/when-is-the-best-time-to-book-cheap-airline-tickets-335719-Jan2012/

Outkast_IRE

Yes they do come down , regular checking is the only way to spot them.

For example i always book flights to the same spot for june every year.
Last year for two people in Jan price was -360
Feb 360
March 380
April 340
May 340

So it goes to show you the airlines do keep the prices artifically high for some flights, they must think if your looking to book 5 or 6 months in advance you would be will pay a few extra quid.

schemingbohemia

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

Thanks for the replies folks. We normally fly to Warsaw or Lodz but this time we'll be flying to Gdansk. I'll leave it a while and see if it drops.

Builders Holidays in August possibly pushing the prices up, whilst there's feck all building going on a lot of refurbishment of houses is going on and I know last year the Polish lads I had doing up my house went home to Poland in August.

For the Euros I'm flying to Berlin and getting the train, got a good price through Lufthansa.

naughtysmurf

Booked flights on New years day, watched them steadily rise over the past few weeks over the last couple of days they have dropped to less than I paid :mad: I shouldn't really check after I have booked but I do

You pay your money and takes your chance

kippy

Yep, prices can go down.
A few people I know flew Aer Arann Galway-Edinburgh last year in May.
Flights in Jan were about 80 euro.
Feb, 100
March 160
April 140
Early May back to around 100 euro.
I assume its around the concepts of supply and demand, then towards the end if the plane hasnt filled to get the seats filled.
I have seen this with other flights as well but it really is a bit of pot luck whether it affects you positively. You could just as easiyl get stung.

ncmc

Are you flying Aer Lingus? I am finding Aer Lingus expensive at the moment. Last year, they had started their summer sale by now, but they are still concentrating on bookings up to Mar 30th. I would definitely hold off another while, last year August was included in the AL sale, so I would hope it will be the same this year. I am looking to fly to Italy Sept 1st-15th and we are looking at roughly the same price for two people. I am holding firm and hoping to get them closer to the €350 mark. It’s a risk of course, but I have yet to be caught out (fingers crossed!). If you haven’t already done so, sign up to their promotional emails and you get advance notice of their sales.