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This was published 14 years ago

Your questions

Question

How long in advance can you book international flights? I would like to take advantage of the low fares at the moment and travel to Chicago in May next year. Web bookings only look ahead 12 months; is there anything I can do?

- L. Quinlivan, Albury.

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Answer

I'm afraid there is no getting around this one (but keep reading for some useful tips).

Airlines only release their inventory 11 or 12 months in advance, so the earliest you would be able to book for May 2011, is May or June this year.

I recently tried to book a flight a year ahead and was told by the airline that the return dates were not yet available in the system — even they couldn't get around it.

The reason airlines are putting such cheap fares into the market at the moment is to stimulate demand. They want you to travel now, not next year.

If you want to take advantage of the really cheap fares, you might want to consider going this year instead, as airlines are very open about the fact that they are looking to push fares back up as soon as possible.

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If you are set on going next year, it wouldn't hurt to start looking at fares from May or June onwards but I would particularly advise you to keep watch around October and November.

This is the time of year when the airlines traditionally release their early-bird deals for travel the following year and there should be some good fares on offer.

I would not recommend holding off for a last-minute special, as fares are likely to have gone up quite a bit by May next year.

- JANE E. FRASER

If you have travel questions, we'd love to hear from you. Write to travelshd@fairfaxmedia.com.au. Personal correspondence cannot be entered into. Only questions appearing in print will be answered. If your question is published, you will win a Lonely Planet guidebook.

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