nope!

She should contact some of the big consolidators now to see what's on offer on scheduled flights. I don't think she should bank on outbound availability becoming easier until significantly into January, because some people will spend Christmas at home before going away. So I suspect she'll probably be better off booking sooner than later. But a good consol should be able to advise her about the likely state of the market and whether there might be late fare sales.

One advantage of a consol is that they can be a little more flexible than buying directly from the airline. But the price difference is usually small these days.

Another alternative is to look at the charter operators, for which she should probably just wander in to a high street travel agent.

As 26/27th December are in the 'high' season, I wouldn't expect many sales to take place. It's possible, though unlikely.

Have your friend check out www.netflights.com, it is a consolidator here and she can get a good idea of flight costs. I'd also look at expedia.co.uk, as they have their own 'deals' and display essentially published and consolidator fares. For example, plugging in 27th Dec-12 Jan came up with �448 as a 'special fare' (read consolidator) on UA. A published fare of 520 is also available. On netflights, they had a fare of �380 on AA, but it requires transferring from JFK to LGA (which by time you add the cab fare and hassle of transferring makes it worth the extra, IMHO).

I checked out www.thomascook.co.uk thinking they may show some charter options, but they popped up �380 on NW via MSP. She'd fly from Gatwick (and gasp, shock horror fly on NW), but that's still �70 to spend on champers for New Year!

I'd say book now and be happy in the knowledge she'll have a white New Year.

Edit to add: Looking at the flight timings with NW, they do involve a SIX hour layover going to Calgary and a SEVEN hour one on the way back!


[This message has been edited by LHR Tim (edited 09-19-2002).]

A tip for your friend - flying on Dec 25 is considered a low season day - no-one ever wants to fly that day and the prices are much lower than the days before and days after.

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If you want to experience good customer service from an airline forget Air Canada and try CanJet or WestJet

She ought to know, though, that if she can't get a lift, she would probably have to walk to the airport. I'm not sure that there's any public transport on Christmas Day.