Huffington Post - March 1, 2014
Finally, thereâs a scientific answer to that magic number of days before a flight when tickets are at their cheapest.
The answer? Are you ready? Are you reeeally ready?
Fifty-four daysbefore takeoff is, on average, when domestic airline tickets are at their absolute lowest price. And if you donât hit 54 days on the head, you should usually book between 104 to 29 days before your trip -- within the â
prime booking windowâ -- for the lowest possible prices. In this window, ticket prices
typically hover within $10 of the lowest price theyâll ever reach.
At least thatâs what the data from 2013 tells us.
The folks at
CheapAirspent the last year analyzing
over four million airline trips. They tracked ticket prices from 320 days before takeoff all the way up until the day before, calculating precisely which day each one hit its lowest point.
Air travelers tend to believe theyâll find the lowest of low prices when they book âat the last minute.â This, according to all present data, is one hundred percent false.
The researchers found that, on average,
a ticket was at its highest priceon the day before the flight. The second-highest price was two days before the flight, the third-highest was three days before⊠and so on, all the way to 13 days before the flight.
This pretty much solidifies the rule that you should NEVER book your ticket within two weeks of a flight⊠a mistake that
36 percent of CheapAir usersmade when planning their trips.
While the researchers found that 54 days was indeed the magic number for booking on average, theyâre quick to point out that
this isnât a hard-and-fast rule: your flightâs âbest priceâ window depends a lot on the specific trip youâre taking.
If youâre going somewhere incredibly popular at an incredibly popular time -- like spring break in Florida, for example -- you should book well before the âprime booking windowâ begins. When thereâs constant, strong demand for a flight,
the researchers explain, airlines have no incentive to lower ticket prices as time goes on. The same principle holds true for flights to hard-to-reach airports in small cities: thereâs little airline competition here, so ticket prices donât drop nearly as much over their lifespan.
Foreign countries are incredibly popular destinations with hard-to-reach airports, so the researchers suggest booking much earlier than the 54 days recommended for domestic flights.
Here are the â
magic numbersâ for some common international destinations:
Europe: 151 days before your flight
Asia: 129 days before your flight
The Caribbean: 101 days before your flight
Mexico: 89 days before your flight
Latin America: 80 days before your flight
Happy booking, travelers!