TALES FROM THE TOP

I’ve been on Singapore Airline’s much celebrated A380 jet on a recent flight from Paris.

And apart from being a big jet, the A380 is just another jumbo jet. Nothing spectacular.

The only thing I was impressed about is the boarding process, despite the number of people, it didn’t feel like so when we boarded the flight.

Yesterday Air France took delivery of its first A380, making it the first European airline to do so.

Business Class

It’s first commercial flight is scheduled on November 20th between Paris and New York and  Air France director Pierre-Henri Gourgeon says the A380 would enable it to save money by running fewer flights on long-haul routes.

Great! Less choices for passengers.

Economy Class

Three other airlines outside Europe have already taken delivery of the 330-million-dollar A380 — Singapore Airlines, Emirates and Australian carrier Qantas.

First Class

We’ve all seen it before.

Travel to LA or San Franciso from $800. Paris or London from $800. Hong Kong or Tapei from $200. And so on.

But once you go on-line and enter your dates and destinations all you get is disappointment.

Search results often come up with more expensive fares. And I’ve been dismayed plenty of times! So much that I would just book whatever fare the seat is going for.

Airline companies are not misleading the public by putting out those ads. Those fares do exist, but only a few seats are allocated per flight…but there are ways to get them if you spend enough effort trying.

ALWAYS BOOK EARLY:

By the time the airfares are advertised in the newspapers, chances are they’ve all been snapped up.

It’s always advisable to purchase tickets at the stroke of midnight on the day the sale starts. So if you see an ad that indicates cheap fares with booking period from Dec 1 to 5, make sure you are on-line and ready to book at the stroke of midnight.

I once booked a bargain basement 200 SGD ticket to Bangkok after seeing someone post it on Facebook, I went on line, waited for midnight and got my seat.

BE FLEXIBLE WITH TRAVEL DATES and DESTINATIONS:

If you can’t get cheap fares on the dates you want, enter other possibilities. It’s no secret that traveling on Tue, Wed, Thur are the cheapest and Fri, Sat Sun the most expensive.

Also, if low fares are not available on the exact date you want to fly on, then try a day or two after, or before. I’ve done this before and managed to get $1 dollar tickets.

Sometimes, if you really just need to get out, just book a cheap ticket to whatever destination that offers the cheapest price.

I met a Scottish lady in Rome who told me she went on line and looked for destinations she can go to for 1 Euro. She manages 4 cities for 4 Euros — not bad!

All you really need is time to sit in front of your PC and compare prices.

Check out online travel portals and check out the airline’s own website.

Also remember that Low-cost carriers are not always your cheapest alternative.

Last week I while checking for cheap airfares for Bangkok, I found out flying on Thai Airways would be cheaper than on Jetstar or Tiger Airways, considering of course the amount of luggage weight I can bring, the food service and  the choice of travel times.

There will always be some sort of a cat and mouse game of supply and demand when it comes to buying flight tickets — and it is too complicated for us mere mortals to understand.

Just remember when you spot a cheap ticjet to your favourite destination, be mindful of the extra fees you might have to cough up before they even let you board the plane.

And if you intend to go on a Chirstmas holiday and you haven’t book tickets — I have two words — Good Luck!