long haul tickets

[g9ern]

My wife and I will be holidaying in New Zealand in Jan 2009. When is the best time to purchase our flight tickets? We will probably use Air New Zealand (premium economy) any bargains to be had?

[tickledtrout]

We are going to Aus a month earlier and have been told that tickets don't go on sale until 8 months before, but then Virgin released their brochure for 2008 so how they do it i'm not sure.In the jetset brohure which runs up to March 2008 they give the estimated prices for the time of year eg Air New Zealand prices range from �929 to �1029 return economy

[filthiestfis]

Oh Im sure that you can travel cheaper than a grand to new zealand on economy!

[jno]

January is pretty much peak period so prices will not be much less than pre-Christmas (which is total peak); you're unlikely to find big bargains and you'll be there in school holidays, not that it gets terribly crowded. But try Trailfinders as they seem to have seats as cheap as anyone. I recommend the premium economy, though; it's a long flight.

http://www.trailfinders.com/

[auntiebertie]

Flight tickets go on sale generally 11 months in advance so you will not be able to buy them till Feb 08 earliest. Keep your eye on all the websites - Travelocity has a fare watcher service that will notify you when the price changes.

[sddsddean]

We went to Oz in April this year, but as we planned it 18 months ahead what I did was keep looking at the various airlines websites as if I was booking in for the year before (if that makes sense!). So, if I had been booking for April 06, I found the best deal was with BA in Sept 05. So in Sept 06 I booked for Apr 07 (I'd still been checking the prices in between) and this worked out perfectly as I never saw the price lower than what we paid after we booked them. (Hope that all makes sense!)