Airline reservation and ticketing limitations
Airline seat inventory is released to any computer reservation system around 330 days (roughly 11 months) prior to the travel date. This window is an airline standard — a hard and fast rule across the board. If you find someone telling you they can issue a ticket for dates beyond 11 months out, do not buy that ticket.
If your intended flight dates are beyond the 11 month window, it will be necessary to wait until the deadline to have a ticket issued.
What can you do in the meantime?
The 11 month deadline doesn’t mean you can’t get prices for your AirTrek. To get a ballpark idea of the cost of your flights for any date in the future, go to AirTreks’ planning tool, TripPlanner, put in your destinations and get a reasonably accurate price for the tickets of the trip you had in mind. 9 times out of 10 the final price of your future trip will fall into the Trip Planner range.
Vintage postcare from the Isle of Capri
What do you if your departure date is close, but some of your subsequent flights are more than 11 months away?
If your return date is too far in the future or unknown at the time, you can buy your tickets in stages, what we call a partial purchase, that is, purchase the tickets for the first part of your trip, the portion you’re confident in completing within one year, then buy the remainder of your tickets while you’re on the road, either locally or via the internet.
Many of our clients do want to travel longer than the 11 month deadline allows. They can, and often do, contact us on the road to pick up the remainder of their tickets they couldn’t buy ahead of time.
Timing your ticket purchase for the best price
Airlines set prices to maximize their revenue by getting each passenger to pay as much as they are willing to. Last-minute fares or fares that will allow you to stand-by for any available seat are set for business travelers and other desperate passengers who have to go, no matter what the price. The walk-up or stand-by fare is thus the highest fare.
It’s always best to plan ahead and purchase your airline tickets as soon as you can. AirTreks normally recommends you purchase your tickets anywhere from 4 to 6 months prior to your departure.
