In article .net,
Hilary wrote:

Give me a specific route. How about GLA-MCO? You can bet your bippy
that GLA-MCO fares for travel on June 30, 2007, will be cheaper in
the winter than when they are first released in July 2006.

It's most likely that there won't be any of the cheaper fares.

Since the fares for June 2007 aren't out yet, I can't do the
experiment right away, but I went to a random UK-based airfare site
(flights4less.co.uk) and compared GLA-MCO fares for 2 adults and 2
kids for Aug 1-14, 2006 (presumably, main vacation season) and Apr
1-14, 2007.

Which one do you think was lower?

People in the UK generally need to book 1-2 holidays in advance to
even *think* about the cheaper fares.

I buy UK-originating tickets twice a year or so, rarely more than 1-1.5
months in advance. I seem to get reasonably cheap fares on the dates
I need. I usually buy from consolidators like Trailfinders and such.
Of course, this is just one person's experience, but somehow I doubt
that every Brit on a budget plans his or her vacation a year in advance.

Many passengers told me that they preferred booking 12 months in advance
because it was generally both easier and cheaper than they could get
later, unless they risked not going at all. And even their seat sales
weren't always cheaper than the previous year's fares.

I believe that. A lot of folks seem to have misconceptions about yield
management, and mistakenly think that if they don't book as early as
possible, the cheap seats are going to disappear. And you do have a
valid point that checking airfares throughout a year to save 50 quid
is nobody's idea of fun.