FLIGHTS and holiday deals offered during Black Friday and January Sales are often cheaper just a few weeks later, according to a new study.
A Which? report looked into sales offering savings since 2017 and found that the deals were not always the best bargain.
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Offers during the busy sale periods were only cheaper around 50 per cent of the time, while most of the prices were the same.
Tour operators and airlines offered deals which warned to “book now” or “book ahead” to save money.
However, Which? found it was actually cheaper to ignore this – in one instance, 16 out of 30 deals were actually cheaper later on.
They explained: “These typically claim to offer a saving if you book several months or even a year in advance.
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“We found many deals were nothing of the sort; four were exactly the same price eight months after the initial promotion ran and two more were only deals at a generous stretch of the imagination.”
For example, easyJet Holidays offered £50 off 60,000 short city breaks during Black Friday last year.
However, just eight of the 21 tracked holidays were cheaper two weeks later.
Ryanair’s ‘bargains’ were just as bad.
The airline offered 25 per cent off flights between January and April if booked by midnight – but all of the flights were found to be the same price or cheaper two weeks later.
To avoid being caught, signing up for price alerts lets you track flights and holidays over a period of time so you can book them at their cheapest.
Using price comparison websites such as Skyscanner and Ice Lolly can also help you find the biggest bargains on the market.
EasyJet did not offer Black Friday deals this year, despite previous Orange Weekend offers.
British Airways have launched their January sales two weeks early with bargains to be found.
Sun Online Travel contacted easyJet and Ryanair for comment.
