Travelling May 2016

From personal experience as well as research I've done, I'd say 4- 6 months ahead.

It usually works out we buy around 2 to 3 months out max.

I research and compare prices to get an idea of what's a decent price I'm willing to pay. Then, as soon as I've set my itinerary and dates, I start watching and when/if it gets to my target price I buy and don't look back. It's been anywhere from 3-9 months for different trips so it's hard to tell. If it gets to 3 months out and it hasn't met my price I will probably raise my price at that point. I get nervous any closer than that - unless I'm flexible about where I fly to, then all bets are off.

Are you looking at open-jaw (multi-city) tickets? I usually fly into one city and out of another - saves backtracking time and money, even if it costs a bit more for the airline ticket (which it often does not).

I buy 6-9 months ahead of travel, checking prices for a few weeks, then I buy the least objectionable ticket and never look back.

Start looking now through search engines. And look at nearby airports. I've heard stories about the best price being 3 months or 6 weeks before you want to fly but that has never worked for me. In May you might still get shoulder season prices depending on how early you fly. Have fun!

Agree with the others, i.e. it depends on where and when you're going. What works in one year may not work in the next. One year we bought tickets in February for an August trip to Madeira and shortly after we booked the prices climbed. Another time we bought tickets in April for a December trip to Paris and the prices climbed the following week. Last July we bought tickets for a February trip to Puglia and the prices still have not gone up. As soon as we decide where and when our trip will be we begin to check the fares, decide what is a good price, then watch for fluctuations. We generally book anywhere from 9 months to 6 months out. I read an article in AARP newsletter that said when flying to Europe the best time to book a flight is 276 days before departure - about 9 months in advance. But in the end, we all have to do our own research and book when we feel comfortable with the price.

All the information on "best time to buy" just tells you what WAS the best time for the period studied -- but as they say about mutual funds "past performance is no guarantee of future performance. "

I like to buy tickets as soon as I know my dates. Here's an article from Cheapoair.com that explains best times to buy based on your destination: https://www.cheapair.com/blog/travel-tips/how-far-in-advance-should-you-book-an-international-flight/

It depends on your tolerance for seat selection vs. price. We want the first seats behind first class (tall, semi-claustrophobic husband), and one ticket purchased with Delta frequent flyer miles. We are traveling in late June. I booked his FF miles ticket a couple of weeks ago, and bought mine this week (after the closing date on my credit card cycle so I could push the payment off another month). If you are more price-sensitive and are willing to sit in any coach seat, you can probably wait until two or three months before you fly and your ticket won't vary much in price from what they are now. I've been checking flights for a couple of months now, just checking options and noodling around what days to go and come home. Kept seeing "only 1 seat left" and "only 2 seats left" when looking at the FF-mile available seats. I knew my time was limited before those seats were gone, so I jumped.
(In case anyone is curious, ATL to CDG and return NCE to JFK to ATL was 130K FF miles. Upgrading to Comfort+ was $119 and $109, respectively.)
BTW, if you book tickets separately like this, call the airline and get the reservations linked so in case there are any schedule or flight changes, they stay together.