Have you ever wondered about the best time to buy tickets in order to get the best price? Here is one view:
Number crunchers from CheapAir.com, an airfare booking site, monitored 4,191,533 trips last year to find a solution. They looked at fare fluctuations from 320 days to one day in advance of departure to determine how far ahead of time travellers should book plane tickets. All in all, the folks at CheapAir.com analyzed the booking data from roughly 1.3 billion airfares.
According to the results of the study, the best time to book a domestic flight is 54 days (or seven and a half weeks) in advance. For international flights, CheapAir.com generally advises travellers to buy earlier rather than later, but prime booking dates vary by destination.
A great deal has been written on the topic. If you are like me, you simply do not have the time to monitor airline web sites to get specials which pop up from time to time. I subscribe to a few sites which send out periodic notices about deals. Here are a few:
CheapAir http://www.cheapair.com
airfarewatchdog http://www.airfarewatchdog.com
While it's nice to find a cheap fare, I find generally, that greater savings can be achieved by focussing more time on getting cheaper accommodation and rental cars. I've written about this a length in previous editions of The Financial Passage Maker.
Affinity cards are useful, especially if you book in advance over the internet. If you book in at the hotel desk at the time of arrival, rates are generally higher ... unless you have a good story which catches the interest of the desk clerk. If you are not particularly picky about getting accommodation in a specific hotel, web sites such as Priceline are useful. Many of our friends have used them and have been satisfied.
This said, when it comes to selecting rural accommodation, I have found that agro-tourism sites provide some wonderful leads. In fact, most of our most memorable stays have been on farms. In one instance, when visiting Spain north of Girona we stayed on a farm for a few days while exploring the world of Dali, a surrealist artist. We learned that the owners' daughter had intentions to visit North America, and indicated that we would be pleased to have her stay with us for a while. The owners were so touched that they said we could stay free at their place any time in the future. Two years later, we took them up on their offer. Maria is a renowned chef and offers regional items that you simply cannot get anywhere else. http://www.elmolidesiurana.com/en/main.html
Agro-tourism sites are generally organized on a country-by-country or on a regional basis. For example, if you are interested in visiting Tuscany, why stay in town when you can be immersed in the wonders of a stunning landscape? Look no farther than here: http://www.agriturismo.net
We learned early to stay at farms as they provide a respite from the "sameness" which pervades much of the urban landscape these days. You also get to savour the "flavour" of a region - both through the eyes and the end of your fork. Further, your money goes directly into the hands of farmers who are seeking to diversify their operations in difficult times. As an added advantage, listed farms are inspected and many agro-tourism sites include reviews from visitors.
And in certain places such as Scotland, farms are often the "best bets" for accommodation in many of the more remoter areas ... and certainly on the islands.
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