Last minute fares fall!

10 May 2010

For some months now, we have been examining how you might find the cheapest air fares to South America. Today we publish the first of three blogs on air fares, discussing a recent remarkable fall in fares of last minute flights. 

In our study we examined 10 major routes to Buenos Aires. We compared some 40 last minute fares (in our case fares booked one week before departure) on four different occasions. We found that if you purchased a last minute fare in February or March you would have paid an average of US$1,455 in your local currency. Now two months later, one week to fly fares currently average at only US$1066, a reduction of almost 30%. In fact of the ten major routes we studied, not a single route's last minute fare has increased in the past couple of months.

air fares for students coming to Argentina

 

 

 

 

 

Of course, part of this fall is explained by the stronger dollar, which is approx 15% up on the euro over the time concerned, but this clearly does not fully explain it. A possible explanation is a falloff in bookings from the northern hemisphere because of confusion and reduced confidence owing to the continued volcanic ash disruption.

On an aside, the average best return fare to Argentina on the ten major routes we examined is $1098 (€850 or £730) with the US average $988 and the average from Europe $1160. Fares can be found as low as $750 from the North America and as low as $780 from Europe. We have seen that in general, advance fares, booked at least 4 weeks before departure, continue to increase very marginally. They are up 1-2% in the past 3 months.

So for anybody out there who fancies a spontaneous break and has South America on their list of places to go, there is no better time to come and book yourself on a Spanish course. And if cheap last minute flights aren't enough, some schools are offering reduced pricing of up 30% off because its low season!

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