Flights to NYC

jamesf85

Hi, just wondering if anyone has a little bit of knowledge on the topic, maybe work in the industry or know a little bit more about it

I'm planning on flying to NY in a months time, my dates are pretty specific, the last week in June. Basically the return prices I'm getting online, skyscanner, lastminute.com etc, are way above the norm, €650 +. I've flown to NY 4 times in the past 5 years, the last two times being last July and last November and have always paid between €350-€450.

What I don't get is how I'm being quoted over €700 (lastminute.com) on some sites and then €650 on others for the exact same flight. I'm also unsure as to what is the best time to book, I know that its suppose to be better to book months in advance but last July for example I looked at a particular flight 2 months prior and it was €580 and I booked it two days before departure and it was €410.

Sorry now for the ramble, I'm not just being specific to these flights or this circumstance, in general I'm wondering what is the best method and or sites for booking flights? Anyone with any knowledge on the subject it'd be greatly appreciated

JillyQ

Have you tried going through the airlines websites? Are you going to be travelling around the 4th of July. Prices tend to skyrocket around then

jamesf85

JillyQ wrote: »

Have you tried going through the airlines websites? Are you going to be travelling around the 4th of July. Prices tend to skyrocket around then

Thanks for the reply, I will actually be back before the end of June so it shouldn't be affected by the 4th of July celebrations.

I've gone through all the transatlantic airline websites and the prices quoted there are consistently higher than the flight search engine sites. What I don't get is how can a search engine offer a certain flight cheaper than the airline itself? How do different sites offer such a different price to another for the exact same flight? The flights prices seem to fluctuate so much also!?! From my experience it appears to be very erratic with no consistency whatsoever.

grimm2005

jamesf85 wrote: »

I've gone through all the transatlantic airline websites and the prices quoted there are consistently higher than the flight search engine sites. What I don't get is how can a search engine offer a certain flight cheaper than the airline itself? How do different sites offer such a different price to another for the exact same flight? The flights prices seem to fluctuate so much also!?! From my experience it appears to be very erratic with no consistency whatsoever.

Well that's it really, there is no magic formula to getting the cheapest flights, a lot of it is to do with luck. The general guideline that skyscanner and another analytics company came up with after doing research was that the best time roughly to buy short haul was around 6 weeks before and for long haul it was 21 weeks but that's not an exact science and can change a lot.

Always a good idea to keep an eye on the flight deal blogs like secret flying and holiday pirates as they often find some great deals.For example, I'm going to NYC myself next month and when I was thinking about booking the flights were around €580 but I just happened to see a deal on secret flying for Dublin/NYC/Sao Paulo and back to Dublin for €450 so decided to extend my trip and have a weekend in SP as well.

Batgurl

Online travel agents get wholesale rates and cut their commission to get lower fares than airlines direct.

Airfares to USA are more in general this year as Ireland's economy is growing instead of contracting so airlines know they can market to a more affluent audience.

jamesf85

Thanks again for the replies!

I've never heard of those sites but after hearing your deal and having had a quick look it does look like a great way to find deals, so thank you for that!

Batgurl wrote: »

Online travel agents get wholesale rates and cut their commission to get lower fares than airlines direct.

Airfares to USA are more in general this year as Ireland's economy is growing instead of contracting so airlines know they can market to a more affluent audience.

Thank you for this insight! This would explain a lot as flights seem to have gone up close to 50% in the past 6-8 months. My thinking was possible the market had decided that hiking prices up earlier might encourage people to buy.

Is there anything to be said for booking at the last minute? Surely airlines will lower prices if there are a multitude of seats available ?

jjnaas

jamesf85 wrote: »

Thanks again for the replies!

I've never heard of those sites but after hearing your deal and having had a quick look it does look like a great way to find deals, so thank you for that!




Thank you for this insight! This would explain a lot as flights seem to have gone up close to 50% in the past 6-8 months. My thinking was possible the market had decided that hiking prices up earlier might encourage people to buy.

Is there anything to be said for booking at the last minute? Surely airlines will lower prices if there are a multitude of seats available ?

I've never been on a direct flight from Dublin or Shannon to NYC that had a load of empty seats and I've gone with Aer Lingus United Delta over the years. Maybe I was just unfortunate (I love having an empty seat beside me) but I can't remember even seeing empty rows on any flight.

Try e-travel I've had luck with them for Orlando flights.

jamesf85

jjnaas wrote: »

I've never been on a direct flight from Dublin or Shannon to NYC that had a load of empty seats and I've gone with Aer Lingus United Delta over the years. Maybe I was just unfortunate (I love having an empty seat beside me) but I can't remember even seeing empty rows on any flight.

Try e-travel I've had luck with them for Orlando flights.

Haha, this is true although my last few transatlantic flights have had a few free seats. It just feels a bit over the top that flights have jumped from €380 and €410 to over €650 in under a year. It doesn't quite add up

coylemj

jamesf85 wrote: »

Is there anything to be said for booking at the last minute? Surely airlines will lower prices if there are a multitude of seats available ?

Yes they will but for a trip to NYC you need to get a good price on a hotel and that's something you can't leave until the last minute. Booking at the last minute is a big gamble.

And airlines don't like flogging cheap seats on transatlantic flights, it sends out a message that you should leave it until the last minute and wait for a bargain. Chances are that they will let those seats go to their employees and their families rather than sell them to the general public.

jamesf85

coylemj wrote: »

Yes they will but for a trip to NYC you need to get a good price on a hotel and that's something you can't leave until the last minute. Booking at the last minute is a big gamble.

And airlines don't like flogging cheap seats on transatlantic flights, it sends out a message that you should leave it until the last minute and wait for a bargain. Chances are that they will let those seats go to their employees and their families rather than sell them to the general public.

I have booked the accom already and there is a cancellation policy of up to 24 hours so that shouldn't be a problem. But thanks for the insight

What if the travel agents have bought a certain quota as was mention earlier...are they willing to flog for cheap at the last minute? Is there any point in phoning the airlines?

Batgurl

TA's don't bulk buy seats on commercial crafts (normally--they may on chartered flights). They do get wholesale rates though meaning they access cheaper fares which they are supposed to add commission to. So they wouldn't need to offload seats per se.

And airlines usually wouldn't drop rates last minute because it's all about yield. Increasing the last minute price to €1k means they only need to sell one seat compared to if they dropped the rate to €400 they'd need to sell almost three. It's an algorithm based on probability and statistics. I don't 100% understand it and you'll occasionally find exceptions to this general rule but by and large this is how.

jamesf85

Ok, I'm going to give up on adding any logic to the airline industry. From what I can gather it's a sort of cartel as there is no way flights could have increased on all airlines that drastically in less than a year. Costs for the most part have decreased, specifically fuel.

IrishPhoenix

The airlines lock their prices for fuel over a year in advance so what they're using this year is at last year's fuel prices. The cheaper fuel probably won't feed into ticket prices until later this year or next year.

Carawaystick

Has the OP priced the flights in dollars, to see how much less the euro will buy compared to last year.

Has the OP tried pricing flights to Newark?

jamesf85

Ok well I may not get a cheap flight but if nothing else I will be an expert on the wheeling and dealings of the airline industry

I've priced the flights every which way imaginable! Checked all the airlines and tried all the agents that Im aware of! It'll be an expensive trip regardless because of the price of the dollar and it's hard to justify it if flight prices are way up too!

coylemj

jamesf85 wrote: »

I've priced the flights every which way imaginable! Checked all the airlines and tried all the agents that Im aware of! It'll be an expensive trip regardless because of the price of the dollar and it's hard to justify it if flight prices are way up too!

Well if you're still not happy, may I suggest you buy shares in IAG or Aer Lingus?

jamesf85

coylemj wrote: »

Well if you're still not happy, may I suggest you buy shares in IAG or Aer Lingus?

Hahaha...not a bad idea! Although I think I'll just refrain from flying when flights are over priced!