Flying Smart: The Right Place, the Right Time and the Right Price
When is the right time to buy airline tickets? Ask any search engine. You’ll be met with dozens of travel websites, travel tips and blogs that introduce you into the world of traveling light and efficiently—pack this or that, but leave that behind, and don’t forget your toothbrush. These days, traveling is all about the preparation and the tickets are no exception to this rule. Finding reasonably priced tickets requires a lot of practice.
Buying the right airline tickets has become an art—a dance between the long list of booking sites who all claim to have the best deals for one reason or another. Whether you travel for business or for pleasure, it’s always nice to grab a sweet deal on the tickets. But how can you do that?
It’s time to take your travels into your own hands and take advantage of all of the tools at your disposal, e.g. the Internet and your calendar.
Finding the best deals definitely deals with your timing. The trick is in the planning, you should know at least 3 months in advance that you want to take a trip.
Browse websites and sign up for email alerts about low-fare deals. For specific destinations, sign up for a low-fare alert from Yapta or AirfareWatchdog. If you don’t have a specific destination in mind, sign up for general email alerts about ticket packages and deals from different airports.
Find the best time to book tickets. According to studies cited by The New York Times, international flights have been the cheapest 3-5 months in advance, but it varies with the destination. Domestic flights are a bit trickier, but it’s a good idea to follow the 6-weeks in advance rule and see if they get any cheaper as the weeks progress.
Note when airfare prices are the lowest. During the week, Airlines generally release sales for specific destinations Monday night because they want travel agencies to catch wind of the sale. These discounts or packages are then matched by competitors by Tuesday morning. So your best chance at snatching a deal before they run out would be searching for discounted tickets on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon or evening.
Clear out your cache and cookies. It’s something we’ve all forgotten one time or another: if you are searching by the day for different deals and discounts on airline tickets, then you should remember to clear the cache in your web browser in between airline searches. Your cache will sometimes keep all of the old prices from memory and not truly refresh the page and the best price may be hidden from you.
Don’t rely on one method of purchase. Compare prices among the airlines, travel agents, online booking sites and consolidators. Piece together flights by hand. Search for two one-way tickets separately. Book red-eye flights and other unpopular flight times. Fly on holidays. Shop as though you are from another country, when you are abroad (Traveling from France to China? Search the French websites).
Popular Travel Sites to Begin Your Search: