Best time to buy airline tickets?

While you’ll probably get better fares buying early, there’s also a good chance the flights and/or times will change, possibly multiple times. We usually buy tickets 3-4 months in advance. While recently searching fares for a couple international trips there don’t seem to be many good fares. All airlines’ fares seem to be way up.

I keep a spreadsheet to track monthly prices so I know when I see a good deal based on historical activity. I also use Scotts Cheap Flights which sends me an email when they see a good deal, that's how we scored our last two international flights. I would have never thought to use Aer Lingus for my flight to Paris.

you can purchase tickets 330days from your RETURN flight. Always book MULTICITY tickets if arriving in and leaving from different countries/cities. We always begin looking at 330 days out -- we are going to Europe 9/15 - 10/1 and our booking window opened today. We will watch trends for a couple weeks - we know what we usually pay to fly to Europe, so book when the price is right for us.

We are going on back-to-back RS Italy tours starting in early September and ending in mid October. We have already purchased airline tickets at great rates through the travel agency recommended by the RS group. I don't know if I can mention the name of the agent or agency here, but I highly recommend using an agent. They are worth their fee.

All the old rules of thumb were pretty much knocked out by Covid. Use the tracking function on Google Flights and also use their research capabilities, you'll see what the typical price is and you'll know when a true sale comes along. Beware anything that is non-refundable and non-changeable.

In the last few years before COVID, we would see some good deals in the week before Thanksgiving (NOV 25), so I'm holding off until then. But it really is too unpredictable, especially with COVID. I check every day (for a trip in May) to get a feel for what the range is.

Once flights are released, I'd suggest running the route #'s thru Flight Aware, to determine if the flights are actually being flown. I am one of the many who had several flight cancelations on my fall trip, and we then discovered that we had been sold flights that hadn't flown in over a year. according to comments here, that practice wasn't limited to any one airline.
Safe travels and good luck!