PSA: Book Your Flights ASAP If You’re Travelling Over Christmas
If you’re planning on travelling over the upcoming holiday period, it would be in your best interest to book christmas flights as soon as possible to avoid exorbitant prices and limited seats.
In an interview with Sky News on Thursday, Flight Centre chief executive Graham Turner has warned that the issues we’re currently facing are only expected to get worse in the coming months before peaking over the Christmas period.
“There’ll be quite a bit of shortage around Christmas domestically but certainly internationally,” he told Sky News on Thursday.
“If people haven’t booked their international flights by now, they’re going to have less flexibility, less choice and probably pay more.”
For context, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission recently revealed that the cheapest economy flights have already skyrocketed by a massive 56 percent between April and August 2022.
Staff shortages have also influenced the amount of flights actually taking off each day, which will likely get worse over the Christmas period.
If you haven’t already, Turner recommends booking for flight as soon as possible and doing your research to get the best deal.
“It’s really important to book now and try to be a bit flexible with your dates,” said Turner.
“Try to make sure that you look at all carriers … domestically there are four carriers, so you don’t have to just stick to the main two.
“You’re going to probably pay more and that’s whether it’s domestic or international.”
If flights are out of your budget right now though, don’t fret because Turner has also predicted that prices will drop and return to normal by June next year.
“We feel after Christmas, which is obviously a peak season, the capacity will have come back quite a lot both domestically and internationally,” he said.
“You‘ll see the airfares moderate (in price) and the capacity coming on a lot better, so people will be able to fly a lot more easily.”
