Flight Marketers: Set a Total Campaign Budget for Seasonality and Avoid Overspend

Beat seasonal overspend: set a total campaign budget for shoulder-season airline promos

Hook: You’ve launched a shoulder-season promo for routes out of Manchester or Gatwick, but halfway through the sale your daily budgets spike, CPA drifts up and bookings don’t match spend. Sound familiar? The latest 2026 ad platform updates let you stop babysitting daily budgets — but only if you plan a campaign-level total properly.

Why total campaign budgets matter for airline promotions in 2026

In January 2026 Google opened total campaign budgets for Search and Shopping campaigns (building on Performance Max rollouts in 2025). The feature lets you set a total budget over a defined period and lets Google pace spend to use that budget by the end date. That reduces manual budget juggling across short promos — but it doesn't eliminate planning. For airlines, shoulder-season promos (think late April–May, September–October) have unique demand curves: searches are lower than peak but conversion windows and price sensitivity differ. That makes precise campaign-level budgeting essential to hit target bookings without overspend.

"Set a total campaign budget over days or weeks, letting Google optimize spend automatically and keep your campaigns on track without constant tweaks." — Google, Jan 2026

Key 2026 trends you must use

• Platform-level pacing: Google Ads total campaign budgets are now available across Search, Shopping and PMax, meaning unified pacing for multichannel promos.
• Shorter booking windows: Post-pandemic traveler behaviour in 2025–26 shows more last-minute bookings, shortening lead times for some routes — but shoulder-season leisure still books 3–8 weeks out.
• Dynamic fares and distributed inventory: Airlines increasingly use continuous price adjustments. Your budget must account for price-driven shifts in conversion rate.
• Higher competition in shoulder months: With more carriers promoting shoulder fares, CPCs can spike during flash sales — expect cost volatility.

Step-by-step: how to set a campaign-level total budget for a shoulder-season promo

Below is a practical, repeatable process: forecast demand, compute a total budget, choose pacing strategy, configure the campaign, and monitor. I include sample calculations and templates you can copy.

Step 1 — Define the promo scope and goals

1. Promotion window: decide the launch and end dates (e.g., 21 days from Monday 6 April to Sunday 26 April).
2. Primary KPI: bookings (volume), not clicks — set a target number of bookings or target CPA.
3. Target routes and audiences: list airports, cabin classes, and audience segments (e.g., leisure weekenders, families).

Step 2 — Estimate demand & conversion metrics

Use historical data (last 2–3 years) plus 2025 late-season trends:

• Average conversion rate (Search → booking) for shoulder-season promos: typically 0.7%–1.8% depending on funnel strength.
• Average booking value (ABV): include fare + ancillaries; e.g., £150 fare + £30 ancillaries = £180 ABV.
• Expected CPA target = desired profit margin per booking. If target margin is 20%: CPA_target = ABV * (1 - margin %) * allowable marketing share. Example: ABV £180, target CPA £36–£54.

Step 3 — Calculate a campaign-level total budget

Two methods: goal-backed and capacity-backed.

Goal-backed (bookings-first)

1. Bookings target = 500 bookings over the promo.
2. Target CPA = £45.
3. Total campaign budget = bookings target × CPA = 500 × £45 = £22,500.

Capacity-backed (inventory-first)

1. Seats allocated to promo = 800.
2. Target load factor from promo = 60% → expected bookings = 480.
3. Total budget = expected bookings × target CPA = 480 × £45 = £21,600.

Tip: Use the lower of the two budgets to avoid oversell; use the higher if you need aggressive visibility.

Step 4 — Choose a pacing profile

How you spread that total over the promo changes performance. There are three common profiles for shoulder-season promos:

• Linear pacing — equal daily spend. Use when demand is stable and you expect steady bookings.
• Front-loaded — heavier spend in the first days. Use for limited-time inventory or to quickly fill bucket seats.
• Ramp-up — low early, then front-load before departure windows when search volume rises. Use when bookings spike nearer departure.

Step 5 — Build the allocation model (examples)

Below are three concrete examples for a 21-day promo with a total campaign budget of £21,600.

Example A — Linear pacing (baseline)

Total: £21,600 / 21 days = £1,028.57 per day. Use when you want stable presence and Google to optimize across the timeframe.

Example B — Mild front-load (35% first 4 days)

• First 4 days: 35% of budget = £7,560 → £1,890 per day
• Remaining 17 days: 65% = £14,040 → £826 per day

Why: capture early searchers and secure bookings from high-intent shoppers before competitors react.

Example C — Ramp to departure (back-loaded)

• Week 1: 15% (£3,240) → £3,240 / 7 = £462/day
• Week 2: 35% (£7,560) → £1,080/day
• Week 3: 50% (£10,800) → £1,543/day

Why: many shoulder-season travellers search 2–4 weeks ahead; ramping increases presence when intent peaks.

Step 6 — Configure campaign-level total budget in Google Ads (practical steps)

1. Create a new Search/Shopping/PMax campaign or select an existing one dedicated to the promo.
2. Set the campaign Start and End dates to match the promo window.
3. Under Budget, choose Total campaign budget and enter the campaign-level amount (e.g., £21,600).
4. Set your bidding strategy: for bookings target use Maximise conversions with target CPA or Maximise conversion value with target ROAS. If you want strict CPA control, set a conservative target CPA to avoid overspend early.
5. Apply audience signals and asset groups (for PMax) or ad groups with tightly themed keywords (for Search) and ensure correct conversion tracking is in place with 2026 standard attribution settings (include cross-device and offline conversions where possible).

Step 7 — Apply rules and guardrails

• Use shared budgets only if campaigns are complementary; otherwise keep promo budgets isolated.
• Create automated alerts for daily spend variance >25% vs. expected pacing.
• Set campaign labels and naming conventions to track promos in reporting.
• Where platforms allow, enable seasonality adjustments (Google Ads provides a seasonality event setting for short-term bidding changes).

Monitoring & optimization during the promo

Letting Google pace is powerful, but active monitoring is still required for airlines because fares and inventory change rapidly.

Daily checks

• Spend vs expected pacing (use your allocation model as the baseline)
• CPAs and conversion rates by route and departure window
• Impression share loss due to budget — if budget-limited, consider increasing the total campaign budget if yield supports it

Weekly checks

• Booking lead time distribution — are bookings coming sooner or later than forecasted?
• Creative and landing page conversion tests — adjust CTAs to match traveler intent (book now vs hold for price drops)
• Competitor fare monitoring — if rivals drop fares, conversion rates will change and require CPA adjustments

Mid-campaign interventions

If the campaign is underdelivering bookings but spending as expected, consider:

• Lowering target CPA slightly to allow Google to seek more conversions
• Updating ad copy and sitelink promotions to increase CTR and conversion rate
• Reallocating budget between campaigns if some routes show better ROI

Real-world example (anonymised case study)

UK regional carrier “SkyConnect” ran a 28-day shoulder-season promo in September 2025 across three key leisure routes. They had 1,200 bucketed seats and a target of 600 bookings. Using the steps above:

• Calculated target CPA = £40 based on ABV £160 and margin rules → total budget £24,000.
• Chose a ramp-up pacing with 20% week 1, 30% week 2, 50% week 3–4 because historical data showed bookings peaked 2–3 weeks after launch.
• Set a total campaign budget in Google Ads and used Maximise conversions with a target CPA.

Outcome:

• Final bookings: 642 (7% above target)
• ROAS: 4.8x after ancillaries
• Spend: £23,800 (under budget by £200)

Key success factors: correct booking lead-time forecast, leaving enough budget to capture the later-intent surge, and fast creative swaps when a competitor launched a rival flash sale.

Advanced strategies for 2026

1. Use lookback-based allocation tied to days-to-departure

Instead of only time-of-campaign, allocate budget according to days to departure windows. Example: allocate 60% to 14–28 days-to-departure slots for shoulder leisure, 30% to 7–13 days and 10% to last-minute (0–6 days).

2. Combine total campaign budgets with conversion value bidding

When some bookings carry higher ancillary revenue (e.g., higher FFP likelihood), use Maximise conversion value with target ROAS and set campaign total to control overall spend. This aligns spend to higher-value bookings rather than raw volume.

3. Cross-channel coordination

Use total campaign budgets on Search and Shopping but coordinate with paid social and metasearch. If Search budgets ramp, temporarily pull back on paid social to balance total customer acquisition cost. See broader playbooks on calendar-driven coordination for seasonal activations.

4. Use automated rules for surge protection

Implement rules that pause keywords or audiences if CPA > 2× target for 48 hours, or if a route’s booking pace falls below a threshold. This prevents waste during a fare mismatch period. Treat these guardrails like a runbook — similar discipline is described in patch and runbook playbooks for resilient ops.

Common pitfalls and how to avoid them

• Pitfall: Setting too-low target CPA that prevents spend. Fix: Use historical CPAs and add a 10–15% buffer for promo volatility.
• Pitfall: Relying exclusively on platform pacing without monitoring fare changes. Fix: Sync pricing and inventory feeds to ad platforms and run intra-day checks.
• Pitfall: Mixing multiple promos in one campaign. Fix: Keep promo-specific campaigns to maintain clean performance signals.

Checklist: ready-to-launch total campaign budget for a shoulder promo

1. Define promo dates and route list
2. Set bookings target and/or inventory cap
3. Estimate ABV and target CPA
4. Choose pacing profile (linear / front-load / ramp)
5. Compute total campaign budget
6. Configure campaign-level total budget and bidding strategy in Google Ads
7. Set alerts, rules and conversion tracking
8. Monitor daily and adjust creatives or CPA if needed

Actionable takeaways

• Plan the total first: budget from bookings (or inventory) — then decide pacing.
• Pick the right pacing: ramp for shoulder seasons because intent often shifts 2–4 weeks out.
• Guardrail your spend: use alerts and automated rules to avoid waste when fares and competition change mid-promo.
• Coordinate channels: align Search, PMax, metasearch and social to avoid bidding against yourself.

Conclusion & call-to-action

In 2026, platform-level total campaign budgets let travel marketers stop babysitting daily limits — but they reward planners. Set your total from the start, match pacing to booking lead times, and use guardrails to protect ROI. Run the numbers before launch and let Google do the heavy lifting within your boundaries.

Ready to test a campaign-level total for your next shoulder-season promo? Use our free one-page budget calculator template and campaign pacing presets to model linear, front-loaded and ramp-up scenarios. Or contact our team at ScanFlight for a 15-minute campaign audit that maps your routes to a tailored total-budget plan.

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