Thousands of British travellers will spend Christmas Day at 37,000 feet to save hundreds of pounds on airfares.
Normally flights on December 25 depart half empty. But this year they are bulging with recession-hit passengers keen to take advantage of the festive fall in fares. Virgin Atlantic reports that flights departing for Australia on Christmas Eve - arriving on Boxing Day - are 95 per cent full.
The third week of December always sees a surge in demand that sends fares sky high, with some travellers prepared to spend a fortune to be with the right people or on the right beach on Christmas Day. But on December 25 itself (and for overnight flights starting on Christmas Eve) airlines experience a sudden fall in bookings.
Some canny passengers book these so-called "dog flights" in the expectation of plenty of empty seats. But this year, while there are still bargains to be had for travellers prepared to surrender Christmas Day, planes leaving the UK will be almost full.
Some travellers book flights for December 25 as a Christmas-avoidance technique, Anna Catchpole, a spokeswoman for Virgin Atlantic, said.
