Everyone’s always looking for the best times to book airline tickets for flights with the intent of saving money. How do I get the best deal on airline tickets? This is probably one of the most common questions people ask each other. Airlines usually release tickets about 330 days in advance. Over the years, I’ve searched airline tickets at different times myself in hopes to break that code. When is the best time to book airline tickets for flights? Some patterns seem to have emerged.
Best Time to Generally Book Your Airline Tickets
For most domestic or international tickets, the best times to book airline tickets for flights is about 6 to 8 weeks before departure. This is typically considered the sweet spot for booking domestic flights. Airlines usually release fares about a year in advance. But prices tend to stabilize and often dip around 6-8 weeks before the flight date.
Booking too early can result in higher prices, while waiting too long may lead to limited options and inflated prices. U.S. News and World Report suggests booking airline flights even earlier.
Search domestic or international tickets for peak travel season about 3 to 6 months prior, especially for international airline tickets. Popular locations tend to book much earlier than others because people are targeting those locations and dates. Airlines know this.
Suggestions for booking airline tickets during popular holidays – about 3 to 4 months prior. This is difficult to determine because you don’t usually want to risk losing airline seats during time off. Thanksgiving. Christmas. New Year’s. You want to visit friends and relatives or even to just get away because there’s time off from work.
You should keep an eye on prices and seat availability early. You’ll probably want to book about 3 to 4 months prior.
Search for airline tickets on Tuesday and Wednesday. Flights booked on these days tend to be cheaper. Many have said that airlines adjust their prices on Monday evenings. Other areas adjust by Tuesday sometime.
Something else that’s been said: Avoid booking on weekends when prices are generally higher.
Travel Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday to save money. Many business travelers tend to book on Mondays and Fridays, depending on their business obligations. Those traveling for quicker weekend getaways tend to travel on Fridays and Sundays. This means that fewer people tend to travel midweek (especially for domestic travel). So, airlines tend to have more seats available on those less popular days.
Keep in mind, some tourist destinations may have better pricing if you arrive on a Saturday vs. a Thursday or Friday.
Note: When booking, you’ll notice that airlines tend to discount their flights for early in the morning (often 8 a.m. or earlier) or late at night (typically after 9 p.m.), especially during the week.
Try to travel off season or book just prior or after peak season. It’s unavoidable that if you want to travel during a popular time, such as summers and holidays, you’re going to be competing for those airline seats. Prices go up and availability will quickly go down. That’s just supply and demand.
But, if you have the flexibility to book just before or after those peak dates, you’ll find better pricing and frankly fewer people once you arrive.
Check the tiered pricing options for seats. Many airlines now have multiple options for booking seats – from basic to a premium business class. The greater the number of restrictions you’re willing to risk, the better the pricing. For example, are you willing to forego seat selection, skip checking a bag or agree to no changes in your ticket (maybe even agree to no refund options)? That may save you the most.
But, if you want to select some of these items or request a seat with more leg room, the price now goes up. Need two bags? Want the most comfortable seat? Looking for options to change your flight and even get a full refund? Maybe you want a chance to grab the ticket at a lower fare if that happens? The costs go up.
Eventually, you can find yourself going up in levels of seating options and secure yourself a first-class airline ticket and seat.
Leverage your airline mileage points. It’s a great way to book airline tickets. Everyone wants them. Airlines want you to use them. There are many ways to obtain and grow your miles. You can get them by signing up for new credit cards that offer a range of miles in exchange for so much spend during a time period, often three months. Once you have miles, there are good strategies to use to book airline tickets, such as:
- Book awards seats as early as possible because award seats are often limited.
- Secure awards seats early to use the fewest number of miles for seats.
- Check airline alliance partners for award seats (you can often swap points).
- Buy a class of seat that may be upgraded to a better seat using miles.
- Book an outbound or return flight with cash and the other flight with points.
Other Ways to Save on Airline Tickets
Watch the number of seats already booked on flights. If you’re looking to book tickets to a reasonably popular destination, sometimes airlines keep ticket prices relatively high for a while – especially when most of the seats remain unsold. You may think the prices will come down, but that’s not as common as you think.
If fares drop sometime before the 6 or 8 week departure time, you may wish to grab that price. As the dates get closer, you’ll notice the rates going higher.
Use private browsing to search airline tickets. Rumors have it that prices may increase on occasion because your browsing history reflects your interest. I haven’t questioned any airlines or their marketing teams about this, but to be safe you may wish to avoid logging into your airline account and searching there if you’re casually browsing. They have this history.
Same with other websites that offer travel deals. Whether you’ve logged in or are just browsing, they’re doing their best to track your history. Avoid this by staying incognito and searching in private mode. Then, when you’re ready and see the best price, jump and grab that airline ticket.
Check nearby airports as a way to save on airline tickets. Some areas of the country could have multiple airports within a 60-mile range of where you’re going. You may have a preferred or favorite airport you like using, but the combination of checking another location and possibly even a different airline could result in significant savings.
For example, if you want to go to Sarasota, FL, you may check Tampa or Fort Myers as an option. Or, if you want to go to New York City, you may wish to check Newark, NJ, or LaGuardia instead of JFK Airport. Same with Chicago – you may want to compare Midway vs. O’Hare. And so on.
Sign up for air fare alerts. The airlines offer this, but you may want to rely on booking sites instead, such as Travelocity, Kayak or Google Flights. Whether you have a specific trip in mind or not, you can sign up and begin to learn for yourself bout what price trends occur.
Sign up for airline newsletters and their special deals. If you have an airline mileage account, you likely already receive emails that promote travel and discounts. If you haven’t, you may as well. Or check airline websites directly for deals (e.g., United.com). These are simple ways to learn about the various specials that may be going on.
To be sure, always consider travel safety tips when traveling.
These are just some ways you can approach the best time to book airline travel. Of course, if you wait too long, you’ll usually be paying a premium if you want to travel at the last minute. What best times to book airline travel have you tried?
