Best Time to Buy Airline Tickets

I start checking prices about 10 months ahead of time and buy as soon as I see a good price I can live with.

I already have my March flight booked and next month will starting checking prices for my June trip.

Last night I booked plane tickets for March 2024. This is the earliest I've ever booked but I found a good price/route and went with it. Previously I've generally purchased 4-5 months out. Usually what I do is as soon as I start thinking about a location and/or decide where I'm going I start 'stalking' the prices for those dates (aka Google alerts).

I would ignore any source that tells you "4 months and 3 weeks" unless they also have a proven record for predicting lottery numbers 😄

The best time is when you see a price that seems reasonable in light of current fares and the routing you are interested in is available. There is no magic date.

Some people feel more comfortable waiting and others feel more comfortable purchasing far in advance.

I tend to be a far in advance person. The tickets I purchased last October for a trip this September had tripled in price by the time the flight was 4 months and 3 weeks out.

The most exhaustive survey I've seen is this one. https://www.cheapair.com/blog/the-best-time-to-buy-international-flights/

Most important for me has been maintaining a little flexibility. I use the date chart on Google flights and move my dates around to get the cheapest.

That can be worth hundreds of $$$.

But I am rarely able to buy more than 3 months in advance.

The other thing I do is fly the cheapest fare. I can rough out the cheap seats for 7 hours to save $500. Do that 2 or 3 times, and I save enough for the next trip. Rebooking fees on cheap seats? I have rebooked 2 times out of 20. The savings has more than paid for those two times. Bags? I carry-on. I have an unusual circumstance so rarely I pay for a checked bag to Europe, but haven't brought it back. $80 last time.

I travel solo so center section, aisle seat with the opposite aisle seat booked as the center seat is the last to sell and 75% of the time it's empty which is a little more comfortable. And as far forward, out of the cave as possible.

Personally I don't buy the internet lore of the exact precise time to buy. There's a few particular routes that I'll follow to have an idea of average pricing and the ups and downs and I'll purchase at a price I'm willing to pay. I've bought as far out as 9 months and as close in as 4 1/2 months. Last two have been 6 months out.

PreCovid strategies for booking flights have gone away, especially with the crush of tourists who want to travel again. Seat sales are also few and far between. We start looking at routings and prices on Google Flights as soon as we decide on the dates for a trip. Then monitor them for a month or 2 to see what's what. At 6 months, give or take, as soon as we see a price and routing we like, we jump on it. But the big HOWEVER since COVID is that flights will invariably be changed at least a couple of times. It might be the times, or it could be the aircraft type, or both. So be prepared to check periodically, and set up notifications with your airline. Be prepared to call the airline if any changes are unworkable for you.

If you know your travel dates, then I would begin to look as soon as the window opens (usually 330 days out). However, I have found this is not always the cheapest time. Flights prices vary in the first few months they come available. I tend to buy my tickets about 10 months out. Last year we purchased tickets for a June Greece trip in September. The tickets were double the price 6 months later. The key is to monitor and get a good feel for the routing price. Check the major airline sites often. Book directly with a major airline (your recourse is better if something goes wrong). I also always buy Main cabin (not basic) as you can at least change or get a travel credit if need be. I would also not buy a cheap ticket and have a horrible routing. Nothing worse than sitting 7-9 hours in a connecting airport waiting on a flight just because it was $50 cheaper. In post-covid times, there are many Americans traveling to Europe. Some will not think about summer vacations or airline tickets until after Christmas, so getting this far ahead is a good thing. I tend to plan a year in advance these days.

Nothing worse than sitting 7-9 hours in a connecting airport waiting
on a flight just because it was $50 cheaper.

100% agree. 2 to 4 hours is my mandatory window and for it to be 4 hours, it better be a good savings. Also won't go through LHR or ChuckyD and try very, very hard to do it with one change. While 90% of my flights are to the same place in Europe, I have 3 departure airports to choose from, further complicating life.

I am also doing Village Italy in spring of 2024 and I have already purchased my flights - I got a return on KLM for Vancouver to Venice through Amsterdam, fully refundable and changeable, for $1670 Cdn which I was happy with. It is an economy fare but with seat selected and the refundable and changeable conditions that I wanted, in case life happens. For me it is worth having the big things booked and if it costs a bit to do it this far in advance, I can live with that.

You can SEARCH for this in the SEARCH BAR as this topic is brought up VERY OFTEN.

We go to Europe yearly and we typically have the best luck when we buy on OPENING DAY -- which is 330 days from your return trip home.

We are going to Europe in December (which we go almost yearly for the Xmas Markets in Germany & Austria) - and we bought our tickets on opening day back in February and we got Into Munich and out of Amsterdam, Business Class for $1278. Now, you can't even get COACH class for that for those dates.

We are going again in April 2024 and we bought tickets in May -- Into Zurich, out of Amsterdam - Premium Select for $1260, Coach was $920 at the time. Now, when I just looked, Premium Select is $2076 and Coach is $1114.

We are going to Italy in Sept 2024 and we will look at prices on our opening day which will probably be around Oct/Nov. We know what we typically pay, so we buy when the price looks 'acceptable' to us. It's always a gamble and a risk.

My good friend is a Travel Agent with AAA and she always encourages us to buy EARLY to get the seats we want and she says the price is 'usually' better earlier.

You do risk flight time changes by booking early, but it's never been an issue for us.