You will find a lot of people having different opinions about how many days in advance you should book a plane ticket. Although a few people believe in a certain day of the week, there are also some people that believe in the last minute, or in the middle of the night. It can be difficult to know exactly how many days in advance you should book a plane ticket because everyone cannot just be right, and everyone cannot just be wrong either. There has to be some reason to airfare booking policy, and the people who are going to have the most information about this are the people who are frequent flyers.
In this travel guide prepared by Treknova, we shall provide you an insight on exactly how many days in advance you should buy a plane ticket.
Understanding in Detail about Purchasing Flight Tickets in Advance
When it comes to getting a good deal, airlines may not be interested in helping you get the cheapest ticket price, rather they are more interested in making money. So, the best advice to buy flight tickets when it comes to saving money, is to approach someone on the other end of the business, who is familiar with the patterns of airfares.
Sometimes, it may seem quite uncertain to you every time you look at prices of flight tickets as they get higher. The closer you get to the travel date, the more expensive the tickets get, so you may get nervous and book your flight, however, only to find out that the price just got cheaper. And, other times, you may also find out that the airfares got more expensive. So, what gives?
The mystery of airfares becoming expensive or cheaper is really more of a computer algorithm. Flight prices for the most part are often determined by the airlines’ extremely sophisticated revenue management software. Occasionally, an individual will step in when sales need to be encouraged on a particular flight, and that is really when you will see things like airlines offering flash sales to customers.
That said, there is a consensus on when to buy a flight ticket, and it depends on whether you are flying on a holiday, and whether you are flying to a holiday hotspot. Though no matter when you plan to travel, we suggest tracking that particular flight on multiple apps. We have some keen advice for each specific travel scenario, too.
So, let’s take a look at these scenarios, just to give you a better idea.
Holiday Travel
A general rule of thumb is to book your flight at least four to five weeks in advance for most holidays that fall on a three-day weekend. For special holidays, such as Christmas, New Year, and the other big holidays, a longer window of about two months is ideal. You never want to book farther than that as ticket prices will not be originally listed at their lowest price. For instance, it is not suggested booking a flight ticket 11 months in advance as their price will certainly become much cheaper over time. Learn how to get cheap flight tickets.
Holiday Hotspot Destination
Another thing to consider is the destination you are traveling to for your holiday. If you are visiting the best holiday destination, but heavily traversed like New York or Washington DC, you should book your ticket at least one month prior to departure. However, if you are visiting a holiday hotspot, like Maui, Miami, or the Caribbean, you will want to buy your flight ticket at least three months in advance to get the best deal.
At the end of the day, there is really no hard and fast conclusion about when the best time to book a plane ticket is. Regardless, the best thing you can do is regularly check on airfares and make a purchase when it is suitable to you.
How Many Days Before a Flight is The Best Price?
Finding the cheapest airfare is not very challenging, but you don’t want to be too early or too late either. Therefore, a little bit of planning could save you hundreds of dollars when it comes to booking a flight. Though it is not the best idea to wait until the last minute to book a flight, however, the question remains exactly how far in advance should you buy a plane ticket?
The answer is actually quite straightforward. The best time to buy a plane ticket in advance is about 70 days. Now, this is an average estimate and not every flight may offer the lowest prices exactly 70 days before departure. However, it is a decent suggestion. Booking your flight at least two months in advance i.e., 54 days, to be exact, could get you the best deal. Also, depending on holidays and weekends, you should check out the current price for flights at the 70-day mark, which is again, a good idea. Furthermore, summer trips should be booked at least 47 days in advance, while fall trips are cheapest when booked 62 to 69 days in advance.
A better suggestion, however, is to just make sure you buy a plane ticket within the prime booking window, which is usually 21 to 121 days before departure. That is the best time to book your flight because fares fluctuate, but are often available for within 5% of the lowest price.
So, how much can you really save by booking at the right time? Sometimes, even more than $200. For instance, if you book a flight far in advance about 169 to 319 days, the average price that you may have to pay per ticket would be $50 or just a little more. Similarly, if you purchase a flight ticket at least 122 to 168 days in advance, then you would have to only pay $20 more. However, airfares can fall to its lowest prices if you book a flight 121 to 21 days in advance, and without having to pay additional cost.
On the other hand, if you were to book a flight just 7 to 13 days in advance, you may have to pay an additional $85 or more. This is also true when you book a flight a week or less in advance, where you may end up paying an additional $208 or more for an individual ticket.
However, there are a few other suggestions you might want to consider when buying a plane ticket. You may not save by booking on Tuesday. You have almost certainly heard this before, but it is not true. The average fares purchased each day are virtually identical. It is thus, believed that Tuesday and Wednesday are the only cheapest days to buy flight tickets, especially for domestic destinations. While the most expensive day to buy a plane ticket is Sunday. There is an average fare difference of $76 between the least expensive travel day, that is Wednesday, and the most expensive, which is Sunday.
Thus, to sum up, it can be said that flying in the month of January could very well help you save on costly airfares. The month of January seems to be the cheapest month of the year to fly, followed by the month of February, while the prices significantly increase, especially in the summer season.
