Hi Nicola we booked our flights to Mumbai in Feb this year for Nov £408 pp[Jet] and £96 pp From Mumbai to Goa[Kingfisher]
the flights to Mumbai came down a bit,but checked last night and they are now over£100 more expensive you will just have to keep watching,you can book 11mths in advance.hope this helps
annx

Thanks Ann, i will keep checking every week from around Jan

Hi, I booked my flights in February for Heathrow - Mumbai - Goa £445.00 Kingfisher all the way depart 10.12.09 return 04.01.10. Can't wait to get there.

Sarah

Thats the price we should have paid but Virgin Atlantic messed things up with cancelling Mumbai flights,
we then re booked with Jet Airways ,now Virgin are code sharing with Jet
ann

I thought that was a good price, I normally get a package, but the prices for package deals at christmas time is a total rip-off so I thought I would book my own flight and find an apartment.
Sarah

thats an excellent price thanks for sharing

Hi yummymummy i booked our flights in january flying with kingfisher from heathrow to goa, from 9th december to 3rd january £450, the reason they are cheaper is after the 10th december they go up till into january, if memory serves me well the prices after the 10th were about £650ish pp and that was back in january, thats why i booked before the 10th. Any more help let me know.Gel

Hi G.E.L thanks for that, so you booked before 10th Jan?

We booked for end of Jan 2010 for £365 each with kingfisher through southall travel in early August this year.

I did dummy searches over a couple of weeks and the prices fluctuated between Air India Kingfisher and Qatar.

I watched and waited then booked when the price was right for me.

GM06
Ian

thats also a good price Ian. Thats what i tend to do, watch and wait until the price is right, but i never seem tohave any luck

You need patience and you have time on your side,

I watched the exchange rates and oil prices

so when the oil price is high it will reflect in flight prices so look for lower oil and a high rupee

On the other hand i might just have been lucky

GM06
Ian

Thanks Ian. Did you check a few times every day, or was it more like a few times a week?

Once i had made my mind up i looked every day, sometimes a couple of times
at the time Qatar where coming in at around £345 each with the others in the low £400,s
then it switched around and kingfisher where the cheapest and qatar the dearest.
the stopover times in Doha on the return leg where putting me off booking with them at the time
but i would have gone with them if kingfisher and the others prices had stayed high

I found the best prices i could get where based on flying out of Heathrow on a Thursday and returning on a Monday.
(Which only helps if you have that sort of flexibility in you timetable)

Just looked at our invoice and we paid £730 for the two of us (£365 each)
changing at Mumbai, 45kg luggage each leg and our seats reserved on all legs of the journey

Happy Hunting

GM06
Ian

Booked in May for flights in December with Tickets To India £445 each Manchester-Mumbia-Goa with BMI/Kingfisher, price from LHR was £380, over last few years cheaper to book early. Some posts have not been good about Tickets To India but I cannot fault them

I don't think there is necessarily a good time to book because so many things can change. Qatar introducing flights from Manchester had a serious implication to some people who had booked elsewhere and earlier. In July we only paid £359 each to travel via Doha this month and the stopover times are minimal. I have my doubts as to whether this low price will ever be offered again but who knows.They are just starting to open the route so they may well have some cheap last minute deals but asQatar use Doha as a their hub it's less likely.
The disadvantage of booking too early is that you increase the chances of your circumstances changing and to get the best prices there is no flexibility in the tickets so you stand to lose a fair amount if you don't travel. Insurance can help with some circumstances but not all by any means.
If you are prepared to take a gamble then away you go. If you see what you perceive as a bargain go for it and don't look back or check to see what prices are available later.If it seemed like a bargain then, it still should now.
Any ticket priced around or below the £400 seems a good deal.
The one mistake we made was to book direct with Qatar. You get a better deal, especially on luggage allowance, if you book through an agent such as Southall who are highly recommended by HT'ers it appears.It's also advisable to take a hit on commission and pay by credit card as some , even reputable looking, airlines are in financial difficulty at the moment. In some circumstances you might find the inconvenience of route cancellations or timetable changes but the worst case scenario is they go bust taking your money with them. The credit card guarantees you get your hard earned back.
The one thing I have noticed though is that Qatar are still offering flights to Kerala at considerably less than Goa so if you are not fixed on Goa it is certainly a destination worth considering.

Ian - thats interesting to know, i will definetly make a note of that. thanks for your help.

Silentman - thanks for the info regarding tripstoindia, i have made a note of them, and i will check them along side southall travel.

DaveWales - thanks for your input, i have heard lots of people mention southall travel, so i will definetly be phoning them up in a few months.
The place where i got my visa from this year in Bolton also do flights, so i will ask them. its astro travel on chorley old road.

Oh and another thing !!!!
When you book with the likes of Qatar you get to book your seats too but, again as we have found to our cost, the aircraft plan changes depending on the number of seats in the plane and it appears that Qatar have a few different ones. The seat plan we were offered allowed us to reserve the extra leg room seats but we now find ourselves in the row in front. Not too bothered as we are not particularly tall but it's worth making sure which plane they will be using if you are.

Thanks again Dave, we arent too bothered about where we sit, as long as it isnt on the wing