AerLingus Sales - Which one and when

marcus2000

every year I take a mini break in June, but I can never figure out the best time to book. Aerlingus seem to have multilple sales. At the moment, they have a summer sale - 25% off every seat. In my opinion, its not that great. They will (usually) have a 39.99 sale, and a 50% off sale and a last minute summer sale, and a next summer sale etc...when one expires, they will have the next.

the question is.......Do i wait for a better sale? Should you book early these days to avail of good prices, or should you wait.

(the ryanair june sale is my backup!!I think thats up to May at the moment. It's like they encourage you to hold off...)

naughtysmurf

marcus2000 wrote: »

every year I take a mini break in June, are your travel dates fixed? less room for manouver if they are

the question is.......Do i wait for a better sale? Should you book early these days to avail of good prices, or should you wait. Generally I've found that booking as early as possible gets you the best price but you pays your money & takes your chance, whatever price you pay don't keep checking back to see if you made the right decision it will drive you mad...but you probably will

(the ryanair june sale is my backup!!I think thats up to May at the moment. It's like they encourage you to hold off...)

Michael knows he is your back up & he is waiting for you :P

km79

marcus2000 wrote: »

every year I take a mini break in June, but I can never figure out the best time to book. Aerlingus seem to have multilple sales. At the moment, they have a summer sale - 25% off every seat. In my opinion, its not that great. They will (usually) have a 39.99 sale, and a 50% off sale and a last minute summer sale, and a next summer sale etc...when one expires, they will have the next.

the question is.......Do i wait for a better sale? Should you book early these days to avail of good prices, or should you wait.

(the ryanair june sale is my backup!!I think thats up to May at the moment. It's like they encourage you to hold off...)

I'm in EXACTLY the same situation for flights at same time of year ryanair keep teasing me extending the current sale ! I was going to book in January but figured with less people going in holidays that airlines would have great sales closer to the time. I hope I'm right or we won't be going ....

ncmc

The Aer Lingus discounts seem very poor this year compared to previous years. Their discounts are both less and also don’t cover as long a period. This time last year I was able to get flights to Boston in Sept for €450 each, they are more like €550 this year. I am looking for flights to Rome for this September and even with the 25% sale, they were €200 each. That seems really steep to me, so I am holding out and hoping for deeper discount over the next couple of months.

Marcus2000, the current €39.99 sale is running up til the end of May, I reckon if you hold firm for another couple of weeks, your travel dates will be included. The 25% sale has just ended so I’d say the next sale will start in the next fortnight.

Sully

Seems to be the earlier the better. I booked to kanzarote a few months back and made a bigger saving to previous years!

ncmc

Sully wrote: »

Seems to be the earlier the better. I booked to kanzarote a few months back and made a bigger saving to previous years!

I normally find that too Sully, but this year seems totolly different to previous years, I have been pricing those fllights to Rome since Christmas and they have been pretty steady around the €450 mark. Really hope they drop a bit more, that just seems dear to me for Europe.

Sully

ncmc wrote: »

I normally find that too Sully, but this year seems totolly different to previous years, I have been pricing those fllights to Rome since Christmas and they have been pretty steady around the €450 mark. Really hope they drop a bit more, that just seems dear to me for Europe.

Aren't the Catholic Church having some ancient files on show in some museum atm? Stuff that's not usually open to public and is locked away? Aer Lingus might be targeting them with high pricing

ncmc

Sully wrote: »

Aren't the Catholic Church having some ancient files on show in some museum atm? Stuff that's not usually open to public and is locked away? Aer Lingus might be targeting them with high pricing

Damn Catholic Church! As if they haven't had enough control over Irish people's lives, now they're controlling our flight prices too! :mad::rolleyes::mad:

Sully

ncmc wrote: »

Damn Catholic Church! As if they haven't had enough control over Irish people's lives, now they're controlling our flight prices too! :mad::rolleyes::mad:

I'm looking for flights to Manchester and they have gone up over the past week or so. Was waiting to ensure herself got time off work and when we went to book they went up in price.

km79

Prices continue to rise. Hope Ryan air sale is a good one

roundymac

As long as fuel continues to rise, so will prices.:(

cooperguy

Hope im not hijacking the thread too much, but im hoping to book a flight to Fuerteventura for September. What do people reckon, still too early? Im leaning towards the waiting option

Sully

cooperguy wrote: »

Hope im not hijacking the thread too much, but im hoping to book a flight to Fuerteventura for September. What do people reckon, still too early? Im leaning towards the waiting option

Based on experience, if you leave it much longer the price goes up. Start of the year and during the sales seems to work out cheaper. The later sales didn't give much of a discount compared to when I got it in earlier sales.

corkcoco

These flight prices are unpredictable which is exactly what Aer Lingus set out to achieve. All summer seat prices went up by 30 to 50 euro recently ahead of so called "summer sales". Ryanair appear to have slightly cheaper flights at the moment but the website frustrates as you work through it. The most annoying things for me are the additional charges most of which are unfair & non applicable. For a family of two adults two kids there are 6 euro per person visa handling fees total 24 euro but only one visa transaction is required ?? there are also fees for online check in ?? it's a tax on electronic check in....why save the rain forest ???

munchkin_utd

corkcoco wrote: »

For a family of two adults two kids there are 6 euro per person visa handling fees total 24 euro but only one visa transaction is required ?? there are also fees for online check in ?? it's a tax on electronic check in....why save the rain forest ???

for the fees you should get their fangled prepay credit card thingie as you are making enough flights to justify the cost and effort in getting one .

but the online checkin is a pure cod all right as it cant be avoided, except by waiting for a promotion where the charge (and taxes) are waived.

Outkast_IRE

every flight is slightly different but from 4 years of experience of buying the same flights for roughly the same dates (1st 2 weeks of June)
Jan sale is usually low, with the sale around paddy days matching it , the only variation really is if the price of fuel goes up a lot , which it has this year meaning Jan was better value than mid march.
But previous years we would save 20 or 30 each by waiting till mid march to book.

Fuel is messing things up moreso this year.

Truman Burbank

corkcoco wrote: »

These flight prices are unpredictable which is exactly what Aer Lingus set out to achieve. All summer seat prices went up by 30 to 50 euro recently ahead of so called "summer sales". Ryanair appear to have slightly cheaper flights at the moment but the website frustrates as you work through it. The most annoying things for me are the additional charges most of which are unfair & non applicable. For a family of two adults two kids there are 6 euro per person visa handling fees total 24 euro but only one visa transaction is required ?? there are also fees for online check in ?? it's a tax on electronic check in....why save the rain forest ???

+1

Have a few kids and switched to booking via Trailfinders to cut out the service charges. Got cheaper Aer Lingus prices with Trailfinders, esp for The US than I would have on the Aer Lingus site, and fabulous service.

Not going abroad this year, but kept an eye on the Aer Lingus USA Sale for May/June 2012 as interested for May/June 2013. Prices were absolutely higher than their web prices for May/June 2011. I also found it impossible to get their advertised sale web prices, either direct or 1 connection, for practically every date and I started looking the day The USA sale started, and for several days after

munchkin_utd

Truman Burbank wrote: »

<snip>kept an eye on the Aer Lingus USA Sale for May/June 2012 as interested for May/June 2013.
<snip>
I also found it impossible to get their advertised sale web prices, either direct or 1 connection, for practically every date and I started looking the day The USA sale started, and for several days after

its lads like yourself filling the plane 12 months in advance thats the problem

Seriously though, if a plane is already quite full then aerlingus (or most other airlines) are not stupid and dont offer the bargains on the last few seats that they will most likely flog for a shocking amount to last minute travellers.

if you want cheap then just check around the web. The sister got return to west coast USA there with 1 connection (US airways i think) for <400 euro all in. Unbelieveable value and similar to what you'd often pay for a european flight even nowadays with the traditional airlines like SAS or Lufthansa for a MUCH longer journey.

Truman Burbank

munchkin_utd wrote: »

its lads like yourself filling the plane 12 months in advance thats the problem

Seriously though, if a plane is already quite full then aerlingus (or most other airlines) are not stupid and dont offer the bargains on the last few seats that they will most likely flog for a shocking amount to last minute travellers.

if you want cheap then just check around the web. The sister got return to west coast USA there with 1 connection (US airways i think) for <400 euro all in. Unbelieveable value and similar to what you'd often pay for a european flight even nowadays with the traditional airlines like SAS or Lufthansa for a MUCH longer journey.

Ha, ha!

I tend to go Stateside in May and book around Jan/Feb. I did once google 'cheapest time to book flights' and think it was 10-11 months out, after the initial rush. Asides from the savings with Trailfinders, it was great to only pay a deposit and not pay the full amount til 4 weeks before.

Unfortunately, we always look for direct only to Florida as I hate flying plus kids young, so connections take a year off my/our life! Where on the West Coast for your sister? Am interested in San Francisco for some July/August but beause of the amount of us it's way too €€€€€. That's an incredible price.

My friend, too, gets prices with 1 connection annually to Orlando for €450 all in for Easter.

marcus2000

I waited for ages for the June sale!!! Then not only is it a rubbish 20% sale (20% off base price), but Im flying out on June 1st and the discount only applies for flights starting from june 3rd

should I wait longer for a "different" sale....this sale ends tomorrow..maybe they will kick off a SPAIN sale on friday... :0...or a 39:99 europe sale....think its wishful thinking on my side!!

you'd think im doing this to save a fortune..but ultimately, the difference between a cheap dub/bcn flight and an expensive flight is probably 50quid max!! (150-200)

ncmc

It’s hard to know Marcus, I caved and booked my flights for September this week in the so called ‘sale’. It’s pretty lame discount alright, it only took about €30 off the price of the flights and I ended up paying about €100 more than I would have paid in the previous sale. Maybe I would have saved more had I held off a while, but the sales this year are just brutal and I actually feel better now I have actually booked. I think if I were you, I would probably just go ahead and book. You don’t want to wait and watch the price climb steadily as the date gets closer.

marcus2000

ncmc wrote: »

I would probably just go ahead and book. You don’t want to wait and watch the price climb steadily as the date gets closer.

I think you're right. I'm sick of waiting and checking at this point and all for the 'possibility' of 20quid off (or possibly 50 quid more expensive)....saying that, ill wait til Friday. lol (thats what i say each week!! Aerlingus summer sale ends tomorrow (though no doubt it will be extended until Monday) and the Ryanair May/June sale ends tomorrow too (though they just flip that expiry date each week. I think its ending "on Thursday" for the past month). maybe ill hold off one more week:o

corkcoco

My flights are booked, Cork to Alicante. I booked the return flights a number of weeks back when they suddenly dropped from 141 euro to 91 euro (cheaper that the current sale price ! ) in the space of a few hrs. I booked the outbound flights for 149 last week. Overall the price for 2 + 2 came to approx 1100euro, waaaaay over what I wanted to but need to get out of here so it's bread & water for the next few months :eek: For other's in a family set up here's a tip & I used it, we are 2 adults 2kids, I ended up booking 1 adult 1 child twice (ie put through 1ad i ch then complete the booking & then repeat again) & saved 160 euro on the outbound flights alone & 40 euro on the inbound. It's complete exploitation of family's who may be desperate for an affordable holiday from this over taxed state..

munchkin_utd

corkcoco wrote: »

<snip>For other's in a family set up here's a tip & I used it,

we are 2 adults 2kids, I ended up booking 1 adult 1 child twice (ie put through 1ad i ch then complete the booking & then repeat again) & saved 160 euro on the outbound flights alone & 40 euro on the inbound.

It's complete exploitation of family's who may be desperate for an affordable holiday from this over taxed state..

thats a common one all right.
There may be only 2 or 3 fares at the cheaper fare category meaning your last seat will have to be at a dearer fare.

The booking system though normally can only deal with bookings made in the same category, so when booking you get ALL FOUR bumped to the higher category rather than splitting it across the cheaper and dearer categories!

I'd put that down as a quirk of the system (lazy software programmers) though rather than a deliberate scam.

naughtysmurf

Prices with AL are all over the shop on some routes today, checked a price this morning, €830, few minutes ago €975

lc180

munchkin_utd wrote: »

I'd put that down as a quirk of the system (lazy software programmers) though rather than a deliberate scam.

hah the I.T. guys once again gets the blame! :rolleyes:

munchkin_utd

lc180 wrote: »

hah the I.T. guys once again gets the blame! :rolleyes:

Well its probably is the case!
Why spend all the time and effort to get the customer the cheapest possible fare by accumulating a rainbow mix of fares and taxes when you can implement (and test) a much simpler solution that as a side effect brings in more revenue!

Anyhow, airline booking systems (and sales) are a mysterious world that you can only make guesses as to what is going on in the background.

marcus2000

bloody ryanair website has said "book til thurs" for the last two weeks... you'd think they'd specifiy which thursday!!! (i blame the IT Guys).

Last day of the aerlingus sale today - ill wait until monday now - just incase a new sale kicks off!!

marcus2000

he who dares wins....
randomly checked the ryanair prices today (no change of notice on their website in relation to sales but i check every day anyway).....just got my flights to BCN tax free....75eur one way including bag(15eur) and priority boarding(5eur) and booking fee.... (now just to find a return flight!!!)

lc180

munchkin_utd wrote: »

Well its probably is the case!
Why spend all the time and effort to get the customer the cheapest possible fare by accumulating a rainbow mix of fares and taxes when you can implement (and test) a much simpler solution that as a side effect brings in more revenue!

Anyhow, airline booking systems (and sales) are a mysterious world that you can only make guesses as to what is going on in the background.

As a programmer I can assure you this little revenue earner is business logic enforced by the business clients(Aer Lingus) and not the work of a lazy geek. The fact that members of the public noticed this pricing quirk and nothing has been done to fix it proves my point. It would have been caught during the testing phases very easily.

As for the "book til thurs" advert on Ryanair, sounds like a graphic design fault to me

Anyway that's my little rant over, I just don't like it when the IT guys get blamed for the ideas of greedy businessmen. It ain't cool and at the end of the day the programmers are getting screwed over as well if they decide to book a family trip!

Geek Power! :cool:

Gatica

roundymac wrote: »

As long as fuel continues to rise, so will prices.

I agree... Unfortunately this is one thing no one can predict at the moment so even with sale prices the cost can still rise.

marcus2000 wrote: »

bloody ryanair website has said "book til thurs" for the last two weeks... you'd think they'd specifiy which thursday!!! (i blame the IT Guys).

It's far more likely that it's done on purpose. Saying that a sale ends on Thursday creates a bit of panic and a rush to book by the next Thursday. They don't specify which Thursday because they want that sense of urgency to be there every week that people are booking. It's dishonest, but then what do you expect from airlines who hide every little extra that you need in order to fly, and then bill you separately for it.

In my experience, when you see a good deal, especially well in advance of the dates you want to travel, just book it. You can wait for a better deal and lose out on an already good deal and just stress in case you find nothing by the designated date. You might do better, buy why worry?
Once you've booked you won't need to know what the future prices will be, unless you decide to check. The other way around on the other hand, you'll always know what the prices were and you'll be kicking yourself for not taking up that other deal...

naughtysmurf

I've just been punching in some random dates into AL (sale!!) & RA for the likes of Malaga & Lanzarote in July & August, midweek travel.

For two adults & two kids + bags you are looking at about €1400 / €1500 which is steep enough

marcus2000

Gatica wrote: »

It's far more likely that it's done on purpose. Saying that a sale ends on Thursday creates a bit of panic and a rush to book by the next Thursday. They don't specify which Thursday because they want that sense of urgency to be there every week that people are booking. It's dishonest, but then what do you expect from airlines who hide every little extra that you need in order to fly, and then bill you separately for it..

I do agree with you - but it does have the opposite effect on regular flyers. The whole boy who cried wolf scenario. I just dont ever believe its "ending thursday" .(though still very annoying)

AL does it it better - they regularly extend their sales, but at least you know that's it!!! (Saying that, they will follow a summer sale, with a june sale, with a spain sale, with a 20% off sale, with a 50% off sale..which probably all amount to the same thing)

that reminds me, Im still waiting to book the return leg of my trip!! (its just so hard to commit to a reasonably priced flight . I want better)

pauliewallie

what are the chances of a sale on flights to spain in July/August 2013? are these flights likely to get a sale, considering it is peak season, or is it better to book now? destination is dublin - alicante.

marcus2000

There will be lots of sales between now and then. There will be Spring Sale/Summer Sale/Spain Sale, a 20% off sale, a 40% off sale, a 39.99 sale....the question is which one to chose. If i were you, id check regularly for sales and wait til a price comes up that seems good!! Id definately not buy now unless the price is 'too good'!!!

pauliewallie

thanks for the reply. I know that there will be more sales but the only concern I have is that I have heard the months where you will not get sale prices on flights are the peak weeks of July/August, especially to Spain, which is where and when I am going.
Does anyone know if there is truth in this? Book now or hang on and risk price going up more?