Nailing down the perfect moment to book airfare can be agonizing. Starting your search too late nearly guarantees you’ll get gouged by airlines. Book too early and “you actually might be missing out on a future price drop,” says Scott Keyes, founder of the airfare booking site Going.com.
To find the sweet spot, embrace window shopping: not strolling down 5th Avenue peeking into the Saks display, but giving yourself a timeline on when to pursue your airfare. The idea is not too early, but not too late. You’re looking for what Keyes calls the “Goldilocks Window.” This is the period when cheap fares are most likely to pop up.
The Goldilocks Window will vary depending on whether you’re traveling domestic or international, and during peak or off-peak times. Use it as a time frame for your shopping, not an immediate pressure to book.
Over the course of your Goldilocks Window, which could be days, weeks or months, Keyes says you should pay extra attention, because that’s the time you have the best odds of spotting a cheap flight.
If you miss the window, you’re doomed (just kidding). “It’s not a zero percent chance [of finding low fares] outside of the Goldilocks Window, but it’s a lot lower,” Keyes says.
Once you’ve established when you should be shopping based on your travel dates and corresponding Goldilocks Windows, try the set-it-and-forget-it method of signing up for airfare price alerts. You’ll be notified when fares drop, or look reasonable.
If you’re not sure whether you’re getting a good deal, plug the trip into Google Flights. The site will tell you whether a price is high, low or typical compared to past averages.
Without further ado, here’s when to start looking and booking, depending on when and where you want to fly.
The most popular spots: 3 to 7 months out
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Getting to in-demand destinations at popular times will be expensive no matter how far in advance you book, so you’re out of luck if you’re flying to Paris for the Olympics or Tokyo for cherry blossom season. You can still keep an eye out for unexpected drops in price, mistake fares or sales. Or opt to visit during shoulder season when crowds are smaller, hotels and car rentals are cheaper, and the weather might even be better. In Spain, Keyes said, “the weather’s way better” in the spring, September or October than in the middle of the summer.
Otherwise, Keyes advises travelers to start shopping for hot spots during the opposite season (so winter for a summer booking), or about three to seven months out for domestic trips, and four to 10 months for international.
The same is true for flights around nationally-recognized long weekends, says Hayley Berg, lead economist at the travel booking app Hopper. For the Fourth of July, for example, you should consider booking by “very early April” she says.
Source: washingtonpost.com
George Barham, an accomplished journalist and avid gambling enthusiast, serves as the esteemed Editor-in-Chief at fly-to-australia.com, Australia’s leading source for comprehensive gambling news and insights. With an unwavering passion for both the written word and the ever-evolving world of betting and gaming, George brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the helm of our editorial team.
