Say Goodbye To Booking On Tuesdays: Here's The Latest Best Practice For Cheap Flights
Searching for flights is always a process. You have ten tabs open, between the standard travel booking sites and Google's new "flight deals" feature, trying to find affordable trips. It's long been said that you should book your airfare on certain days of the week, like Tuesdays, Sundays, or National Cheap Flight Day (August 23). However, one flight deal service debunks this theory based on actual statistical and historical data. Going, the Internet trip planning service, takes the guesswork out of your research. The company says flight tickets depend on three factors: destination type, travel dates, and flexibility. Of course, there's a time frame as to when you should book your flights, but it isn't clearing your Tuesday, or Sunday, to spend a day digging into your laptop and scouring the Internet.
There is a method to finding cheap tickets, but monitoring prices is a better use of time than scheduling what day you search the Internet for airfare. After all, how many times have you looked for a journey, refreshed the page, and suddenly, the total increased $50? Going reports that gimmicks, such as National Cheap Flight Day, are actually sales tactics, and the staff found cheaper flights for certain destinations on different dates in 2024 — Tokyo was $426 in November 2024, and Ireland was $114 in May 2024. Travel planning might be stressful, but finding your roundtrip for the ultimate, budget-friendly price shouldn't be a quest all its own.
When is the best time to book your flight?
It's a good rule of thumb to book your flight sooner rather than later. For domestic flights, booking 1-5 months in advance, depending on the season, will suffice. For international flights, the ideal time to book is 2-10 months ahead of time. However, be wary of holidays as well as attractions, such as Oktoberfest in Germany, or cherry blossom season in Asia. Expedia notes that you can find the most expensive tickets at the end of winter and early spring, between February and March. This might be due to higher demand for a busy summer season.
The time of day for your departure doesn't really matter. If you take a look at any flight-listing service, for most itineraries, the longer the journey, the cheaper it usually is. Regardless the time of year, you pay a premium when you choose better service over the budget deal. For long layovers, it might be smart to book an open-jaw flight to save a few coins. According to a Quora forum, a former industry worker revealed that the mythological "best time for consumers to buy tickets" has become a marketing ploy, as airlines collect data to get ahead of their competitors. In theory, companies are using psychological warfare to help their algorithm, but a good pro-tip is to keep track of the market prices and strike when the iron is hot.