Booking Flights Part 1:

July 7th, 2011 by Flight Centre Staff They say Australians love to travel, but Joel Pennington takes it to a whole new level. After leaving Sydney at the age of 18 to travel, Joel never looked back. He’s lived in the UK for three years, backpacked across 50 countries, and now works as a travel agent here at Flight Centre. To say he’s caught the travel bug would be an understatement and we’re thrilled to share his travel advice with the community. This week, he dives into the world of booking flights and offers some great insight for anyone who plans to travel in the future. No matter what kind of travel you’re into, this is definitely one you’ll want to bookmark:

“10% of your life is what happens to you, the other 90% is how you react”
So let’s start by looking at the 10% – the factors out of your control when booking a flight, then we can assess how to react. Some of these are probably obvious to most, but they are important to take into consideration when booking:

Fuel

This is 40% of an airlines running costs and if you’re on the hunt for flights now I’m sure your noticing an inflated market due to fuel prices. Please don’t be under the impression I know and/or understand the fluctuating oil market, (although it seems like we are deliberately kept in the dark on that one).

 

Seasonal fluctuations

Obviously it is more expensive to fly to Europe in July/August as it is summer holidays, and the all-inclusive packages are more expensive during Canadian winter’s when everyone wants a week of sun. Yet something a lot of people don’t think about is their destination. Are you looking at flying into Beijing the week before Chinese New Year? Are you flying into Tel-Aviv on a Jewish holiday? Is the food festival on in New Orleans that week? Is it Ramadan in Istanbul? My advice? Thoroughly research your destination.

Time of Flight

If you’re prepared to be at the airport at 4am or flying through the night then you’re saving a bit of money. Availability does have an affect but this is not always the prime factor. I once paid £300 for a one way flight from London to Rotterdam which is not a good deal and there was 6 people on the plane, (leaving about 150-200 spare seats). Where was the sale there?

 

So what can we do after factoring in all these variables? We know our dates, our destination and time we want to fly. We have looked at the factors out of your control, which are important, but now let’s get down to business. Most people think when you book a flight the price depends on how many seats are on the plane. This is not the case; next time you get on a plane have some fun and ask some people around you what they paid for the flight. You could do the whole plane (and be highly awkward) and you will notice that some people have paid the same price but never more than a couple of dozen. What’s that all about?

 

When you book economy class there are many different classes to choose from but all are going to be the same seat, leg room (and possible snoring neighbour). But the difference between the prices is the restrictions placed on you. So first class is classified F class while Business class is classified C, Z and J class. Economy is pretty much the rest of the alphabet, so there are around 20-22 different prices you could pay in economy, without price fluctuations. In Business class there will be three different prices and in first class just one (these are generally the rules but not for every airline). Confused yet? It gets better.

So let’s say I book V class as it is the cheapest for my flight to Orlando. This ticket was $275 including tax. This ticket is non-refundable and incurs a $200 fee to change it. Now that is pretty restrictive, but let’s say I book L class for $345? Well then my cancellation fee is $100 and it only cost’s me $50 to change my flight. But is L class any different when I’m actually on the plane? The answer is no.

Next week I’ll share with you how to use this to your advantage, so stay tuned!

Courtesy of: Joel Pennington, International Travel Consultant, Flight Centre Canada.