When making travel plans whether your looking for a short stay, city break a relaxing beach holiday with the kids or your partner you should try and plan your holiday well in advance to avoid for paying premium airfares.
It is totally possible to get a good deal anytime of the year, whether your planning a trip during the summer holidays, Easter break or a winter getaway you should always try and spend a few days looking on the internet calling your local travel agent and comparing all the offers you have received try and plan at least 6 months in advance especially if your looking to travel during the peak seasons i.e.. summer holidays, Easter holidays etc etc.
A good way to ensure your getting the best deal for your money is to contact a travel agent and ask them for advice as they may be able to provide you with some great tips, they often have an idea if your likely to get a better deal for your money by analysing the availability of flights and accommodation on and around your preferred travel dates. Travel agents use a special reservation system known as a GDS, the global distribution system, its a live system and which requires some specialist training and qualifications, these systems are similar to those used by comparison websites,which can be accessed by anyone using the internet however these systems are far more complex and have a some added functionality, which gives the travel agent that extra advantage by placing prospective booking on wait lists and having the best opportunity to find those cheaper seat allocations to save you money.
Online travel agencies offering web bookings have become very common and have revolutionized the travel industry by eliminating the use of face to face communication or even telephone communication saving the travel agent from unnecessary costs. Its important to remember that most if not all online travel agents are also operating in the traditional manner and still have offices and staff working for them as specialist knowledge is required to handle such sophisticated travel arrangements such as fares and ticketing, payments etc etc. Due to the increase in demand for air travel you are more likely to get your self a better deal by speaking directly to a travel consultant as they will still have an advantage over the online booking engines and can in many cases book you in a cheaper booking class, airlines use booking classes to split their fares by allocating cheaper classes to cheaper fares.
As you can imagine there are hundreds if not thousands of people searching for the best fares which determine the fare you are likely to be offered, therefore you should try and search intermittently during the day as your likely to get a cheaper fare especially if your trying to book well in advance of your intended travel dates. Again the best way to do this is to leave your contact details with your travel agent and let them do the hard work you will be surprised with how well the traditional methods are still working, in fact we find that during peak seasons due to the fluctuations in the booking classes you are likely to get yourself a much better airfare by letting your travel consultant clear those cheaper booking classes.