By Natalie Paris
A surge in passengers flying on Christmas morning is expected due to cheaper flight prices.Credit: Glenn Hunt
Record numbers of people are missing out on Christmas morning in order to take advantage of cheaper flight prices, Gatwick Airport has said.
Average savings of 31 per cent are more tempting than what is beneath the Christmas tree for the crowds of passengers - 48 per cent more than last year - expected to pass through the airport on the morning of December 25 this year.
Gatwick expects its total traffic over the Christmas period to be nine per cent higher this year.
Of the significant savings on offer for flights on Christmas morning currently, a one-way flight from Sydney to London, for example, cost $A1270 on Skyscanner for travel a week before Christmas, but is just $1054 on the day itself.
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A Sydney to Gatwick flight a week before Christmas cost $1873 with Emirates and $2491 with Qantas, but is just $1428 with Emirates and $2000 with Qantas on Christmas morning.
Another, a flight from Sydney to New York JFK on Christmas Day, cost just $1327 compared to $1925 a week earlier.
Sydney to Berlin flight on Christmas Day cost $1469 compared to $2013 to fly a week before.
Flights from Sydney to Bali seems to buck this trend with a flight to Bali from Sydney on Christmas morning costing $722 on Skyscanner, compared to $504 a week earlier.***
"More and more passengers are wising up to the fact that flying on Christmas Day can bring with it big savings, and we expect to see a huge surge in demand compared to last year," said Guy Stephenson, Gatwick's chief commercial officer.
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Tom Walley, head of leisure travel at Flight Centre says departures on Christmas Day tend to be cheaper as there is lower demand for flights on this day.
"Travellers either want to be in their destination by Christmas Day or will delay departure until just after Christmas," he said.
"Much of the attention when it comes to scoring cheap festive season flights is placed on Christmas Day departures, but travellers should take notice of their return date too as this impacts the overall price of Christmas flights just as much.
"The entire season surrounding Christmas Day and New Years Eve is more expensive with travellers either heading off on holiday or returning home with demand therefore much higher. As a result, prices for the return leg of a flight can push up the overall cost of the return ticket even when it includes an outbound flight that leaves on Christmas Day."
To keep flight costs down around the Christmas season, Walley suggests more flexibility around travel dates and avoiding return flights soon after New Years when most travellers need to return to get back to work.
Flight Centre has introduced an online tool that highlights the best airfares over the Christmas period. The tool provides a snapshot of the lowest priced flights between for stays between four and 14 days (currently from 15 December 2015 to 7 January 2016) to selected destinations domestically and internationally.
The company said the tool uses dynamic pricing from a range of airfare aggregators, plus pricing from low cost carriers for domestic and international destinations. Data is refreshed every 12 hours in order to score the lowest airfare.
According to data collected, people from Sydney looking to travel to Bali during the Christmas/New Year season should consider travel dates of January 2 to 6 as is the lowest priced travel period.
Flight price comparison through Flight Centre
SYD-LON 25th Dec 25th Jan Qantas $2,709
SYD-LON 20th Dec 20th Jan Qantas $3,749
SYD-LON 25th Dec 25th Jan Etihad $3,192
SYD-LON 20th Dec 20th Jan Etihad $3,709
SYD-NYC 25th Dec 25th Jan Qantas $2,741
SYD-NYC 20th Dec 20th Jan Qantas $4,565
SYD-NYC 25th Dec 25th Jan Virgin Aus $2,530
SYD-NYC 20th Dec 20th Jan Virgin Aus $2,649
***The prices were calculated based on flight price searches on Skyscanner for travel on various dates during December. The price listed were the best prices listed for morning flights of between 6am and 11.30am.
The Telegraph, London with Annie Dang, Traveller.com.au
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