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The cheapest time to book flights has been worked out and the ins and outs of why there is a cheaper time to buy air tickets has been refined down to a fine art but what interests the average traveler is not why there are cheaper times to buy air tickets but when to buy.
Airfares vary according to many variables so if you book your flights online you just need to have your hand on the mouse and check every now and again. Departure and arrival times; airlines; special deals; national vacations; length of stay and luck determine the fluctuation of airline ticket prices.
I'm not going to go into all the explanation as to why these are the optimum times to buy air tickets, I'm just going to tell you the bottom line – when to buy an air ticket!
These tips apply more to US Domestic flights but may also help you with international bookings, I have noted a few of the differences below.
The best time to buy an air ticketTo get the lowest price on domestic air tickets start looking for an air ticket to buy about 3 months before the flight date. Once there are only 2 weeks left before the flight date the ticket price will start to sharply increase. So buy flight tickets between three months and two weeks before the flight date. For international tickets you should probably not wait until two weeks before the flight, rather start seriously looking a month before the flight date.
The best day to shop for an air ticketAlthough you should look for tickets on various days of the week to compare you will find that a Tuesday afternoon offers the lowest prices, as this is when airlines start to compete with sales prices advertised by their competition. The prices will remain at their lowest for about three days so by Thursday the prices start going up again. Weekend flight prices are the most expensive. Book air tickets between Tuesday and Thursday. The Tuesday rule could also work for international flights and definitely weekends are more expensive booking days for international air tickets.
When is the cheapest time to flyThat is as far as booking is concerned but there are also cheaper days to fly on. The cheapest days to fly on are mid-week (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday) and if you are flexible with your travel dates you have more options when shopping around for low cost flights. Saturdays are also good days to fly as the average traveler is still enjoying their weekend. The worst days to fly are Sunday night (everyone and their dog are returning from their weekend getaway), Monday mornings (those who took a long weekend will now be traveling) and Fridays (the masses off for the weekend will push the prices up).
Flights at inconvenient times (early morning and late at night are also usually cheaper. Most travel booking sites also offer the option of stating whether your dates are flexible by 1, 2 or 3 days, this gives you a calendar layout of search results so that you can choose the lowest priced days to fly on.
Avoid flying at peak seasons like summer holidays, national holidays and school holidays, even if you start your trip a few days before the peak season begins you will save money. Try taking the kids out of school a few days before the summer vacation begins they won't mind and the airfares will be cheaper!
Tips for getting low cost flightsSign up for "alert" emails on several travel booking sites. You can usually specify your preferred destinations and your local airport so that the alerts are appropriate for your needs.
Think what is unique about you as a traveler and see if this can help you get any discounts on your air tickets. For example your age (seniors, teens or children fly cheaper); your occupation (some airlines offer discount air tickets for people in the military and students); are you traveling with enough people to be considered a group.
Are you willing to travel to an airport which is not central, smaller airports often have lower flight costs.
Are you willing to travel light (most airlines charge extra from luggage so if you have just hand luggage your ticket will be cheaper), the air ticket price can be reduced on some airlines if you forgo a pre-booked seat allocation or onboard meals.
Bing travel allows you not only to search for flights but can give you an indication of whether prices are likely to drop. They say that so far their predictions are 75% right and can save you an average of $50 on a round trip. They deal mainly with US domestic flights. Bing price predictions are not provided for all routes. Although I would use this service to help decide when to buy you should look around on other airline sites and travel sites to compare prices. I often find the cheapest air tickets on Expedia.com, Kayak.com and CheapOair.com but always remember to check directly with the airlines home site. For example if you are traveling in Europe try Baltic Air
Very informative. Very useful.
Informative.