If you’ve ever wondered when to buy a plane ticket, wonder no more: according to a new study by CheapAir.com, the best time to buy is, on average, 54 days before your flight.
That’s right: 54 days in advance is, on average, when domestic airline tickets are at their absolute lowest price.
Let me say that again so it’s clear: You should book your domestic flight 54 days before departure in order to get the best deal.
The research doesn’t stop there, though. The same team of experts at CheapAir also looked into the best day of the week to purchase airfare and found that Tuesday was in fact the cheapest day of the week to fly:
Prices for weekday flights are typically lower than for weekend flights because there is less demand for them. As a general rule, it’s cheaper to fly during the middle of the week than over a weekend, e.g., flying out on Thursday and returning on Monday rather than Friday and Sunday.
Buy your tickets 90 days before your flight. In a recent study from CheapAir, it was discovered that the best time to buy a domestic plane ticket is 54 days before your flight. If you are looking for an international flight, it is 73 days in advance.
You’ll want to book your flights at least 30 to 60 days in advance.
Major airlines have sales on Tuesday, sometimes as early as midnight. This is not unique to any one airline—all airlines have sales on Tuesday.
If you can be flexible with your travel dates, you can find many affordable options by searching for “whole month” instead of specific dates. You may also select “cheapest month” to find the cheapest date range in the whole year to fly.
When to buy airline tickets There is no magic bullet or one size fits all approach for knowing when to buy airline tickets. From my own experience and from the research I have done, here are a couple of tips that can help you save money on domestic flights.
What Day is Best to Buy Airline Tickets?
There is not a particular day of the week that is best to book your flight. Airlines release sales on Tuesday mornings, so this is a great time to shop and compare prices. You can also find deals to popular destinations during the low season for that destination. For example, if you want to fly to Hawaii, you will find cheaper flights during the fall than in the winter.
Book in Advance
Airlines typically offer lower fares at least 21 days in advance. If you don’t have flexibility, it might be good to book then. The earlier you purchase your flight ticket, the better chance you have of saving money on airfare.
Use a Credit Card
A recent study by NerdWallet has shown that using a credit card can result in significant savings on airfare. If possible, book your flight using a credit card with travel rewards or one that waives foreign transaction fees if you are traveling abroad. Using your credit card also provides additional
Purchasing Plane Tickets in Advance
Purchasing airline tickets ahead of time is often a good way to get cheap airfare. Many airlines offer their best deals on airfare and flight deals that are purchased more than two weeks in advance. However, some airlines also have low fares that can only be purchased on the day of departure.
Cheap Tickets.com offers daily discounts of up to 70% off regular ticket prices. Discounts are available for one-way and round-trip flights.
Intellifare is a discount travel website offering airline tickets at wholesale prices. Intellifare offers discounted rates on tickets with more than 400 airlines worldwide and features an easy booking system to reserve your flight with just a few clicks.
Airfarewatchdog offers daily flight deals at up to 50% off regular ticket prices. The company offers sales on last-minute flights, cheap flights and international flights.
If you’ve analyzed data from flights, have written code to scrape prices from airlines and travel agencies, or have just spent a lot of time thinking about this question (like us at Skyscanner), you probably have an opinion on the best day to buy a plane ticket. We’ve written about the best time to buy domestic flights before, but today we wanted to dig into some of the factors that cause last minute flight prices to rise and fall.
We’re going to look at data from Skyscanner’s Search API (and if you’re interested in what that is, we’d love for you to check out our Search API documentation). We’ll focus on one-way flights in the US between popular destinations (that means most major cities in the US) that are less than six months away.
We’ll take a look at price data from two weeks out until two months out, and see how prices change as your departure date approaches.
The best time to buy airline tickets depends on where and when you plan to travel. There are a few ways to get cheap airfare, from buying tickets well in advance to flying mid-week.
Best Time to Buy Airline Tickets by Route
Though there’s no sure bet, here are some guidelines to buying airline tickets.
Domestic Flights: Fly mid-week and avoid holidays.
International Flights: Buy 3 months in advance for the best price.
Midwest: Fly on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. It’s usually cheaper than other days of the week. Also, shop around noon on Tuesdays for the best deals.
Southwest: Shop early morning (before 8 am) or late at night (after 10 pm). You can also find great deals when you fly on Saturday or Tuesday.
West Coast: Fly on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, but avoid leaving on Fridays if possible. If you want to save some money, then book flights between 7pm-12am PST on Tuesdays or Wednesdays too.
East Coast: Fly on Thursdays and Wednesdays, but avoid leaving late on Fridays if possible. If you want to save some money, then book flights between 7pm-12am EST
We have scoured the web for a list of the best travel deals out there. From hotel and airfare deals to cash back offers, we have something for everyone. We even throw in some great tips on how to travel for cheap so you can save even more money the next time you book your trip.
Travel is becoming cheaper than ever before. With a little planning and some flexibility, you can easily cut your travel costs in half. In this post we will cover our top 5 tips that will help you save money when booking your next vacation.