“Really good deals are almost never announced or put forward by air carriers,” says Andrew D’Amours, co-founder of the site Flytrippers, which lists very low-cost flight deals.
He recently found a round-trip flight from Montreal to Hawaii for only $400, the average price is approximately $1000. There is no advertising for these tickets, the airline has not boasted about them. You have to be quick.
“The price is so good that the carrier does not need to do any promotion, the seats will sell themselves. And the company won’t really make any money from this sale, it’s only to fill its plane,” adds Mr. D’Amour.
Andrew D’amours (left) and Kevin Gagnon (right), the co-founders of the Flytrippers site. (Flytrippers)
But don’t expect to find such plane tickets during the Black Friday or Cyber Monday sales. The prices are good, better than usual, but there are no deals that will knock you off your chair and leave for your trip tomorrow morning.
“If you think you’ll find seats for less than $400 to go to Hawaii, your expectations are too high and you’re bound to be disappointed. You’re going to get better deals on electronic products than for flights for example,” warned Andrew D’Amours.
Discounts for plane tickets vary approximately between 20% and 30%, depending on the airline. It’s not incredible, but it’s better than nothing.
If there’s one thing to remember, it’s that the sales over the next few days are a good opportunity to shop for flights for a trip already planned with fixed dates.
On the other hand, I am prepared to put my hand to the fire that no bargain will be so extraordinary that you will not be able to refuse the offer.
Are these really discounts?
And even if you think you’re getting a good deal with the significant discounts on flights, keep in mind that the price of plane tickets is dynamic, which means that the amount you have to pay for a ticket varies from day to day, or even from hour to hour.
“It’s so easy to say that there are 20% discounts. On the other hand, the price may have inflated by 20% in the previous weeks and the discount just brings the price back to its equilibrium. So you won’t really have made any savings,” says the co-founder of Flytrippers.
“It’s not as black and white as a 20% discount on a television or a pack of Oreos,” he adds.
This is why you should regularly look at the price of plane tickets to your next destination in order to evaluate the offers based on your observations.
“The trick is not necessarily to buy early, but to look early so you have a price base to rely on,” says Andrew D’Amours.
A risky bet
For those who still want to take advantage of discounts, there is another day when merchants, particularly in the travel sector, offer significant sales: this is Travel Deal Tuesday.
“We analyzed historical price data and found that over the last eight years, the Travel Deal Tuesday“, the Tuesday following Black Friday and Cyber Monday, was the day with the most travel deals during the holiday sales week,” says Soleil Ellie Breslin, public relations officer at Hopper, an online reservation platform in Montreal.
But several Canadian airlines, including Air Canada, are announcing the end of current discounts on Monday. Will there be new ones on Tuesday, who knows? There are very few mentions of Travel Deal Tuesday on our side of the border.
“Last year, some Hopper users saved more than 75% on U.S. travel and up to 55% on international travel. More than 3,300 additional routes from U.S. airports were on sale on Tuesday,” says Ms. Breslin. It is important to mention, however, that Hopper popularized the concept of Travel Deal Tuesday.
“There will be good offers for plane tickets, but perhaps less in Canada than in the United States, especially for flights from Quebec.”
— Andrew D’Amours, co-founder of Flytrippers
Are you going to let the Black Friday and Cyber Monday discounts slip through your fingers to hope for better deals during Travel Deal Tuesday? It’s a risky bet which could, however, pay off big, if we rely on the balances recorded by Hopper.
However, these are not only deals on airline flights, but also on hotels, rental cars and cruises. And this is perhaps more interesting for the Quebec traveler.
“If an American hotel chain cuts the price in half for its rooms, it doesn’t matter if you’re from Canada or not, you can take advantage of it at your destination,” concludes Mr. D’Amours.
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