When to snag cheap flights
April, July and December are the best months to grab bargain overseas flights
Flight prices have tumbled in the past fortnight, but you may want to hold off buying a winter trip for now, as industry research reveals the best time to book.
Air NZ and Jetstar have dropped their domestic New Zealand fares on some flights by up to 50 per cent, sparking a price war.
But while airlines are reluctant to disclose further pre-planned sales offers for this year, analysis of the top10 flight destinations out of New Zealand in 2018 reveals three months in particular when airline tickets were cut — April, July and December.
One of the largest international discount travel agencies, Kayak.com, has calculated that compared to 2017 prices, airline tickets out of New Zealand dropped 26 per cent in April last year. This amounted to a saving of $273 based on the average flight prices of 2017.
In July 2018 they dropped 22 per cent, netting a saving of $179, and in December a whopping 44 per cent, saving $638.
Among the other months of last year, the largest price drop was 11 per cent, with an average drop across those months of 5 per cent.
Across the top-10 destinations out of New Zealand in 2018, the bestvalue time to book was on average two and a half months in advance.
House of Travel commercial director Brent Thomas said late-summer and autumn was “most definitely” a sale time of the year for airlines.
“January, February, March are incredibly busy for us, and typically we would do 50 per cent of our sales in that period. It’s a key selling time for the airlines,” Thomas said.
Based on the Kayak stats, the average price of a flight to New Zealand’s top-10 international destinations for a return economy seat was $120 cheaper last year compared to 2017.
The influx of new international carriers has been a contributing factor. “We’re only 4.5 million people but we’ve got nearly 30 carriers in New Zealand,” Thomas said.