When to Book the Flight for the Best Price

The bad news is that there are way too many factors in play, including economic changes, to ever be able to say conclusively what the best time is.

There are sites that will show historical pricing, the best you can do is either by those sites or past experience set an expected price. If you see it, buy and don't look back, otherwise wait as long as you feel comfortable before you Lock in.

The reason there seem to be so many answers is ... there is no one answer. At a certain point you have to bite the bullet and buy the ticket if you need a specific date and time.

You might also look at Kayak, YAPTA and Google Flights. They have little graphs showing fare history and sometimes they even have little colored advisories like BUY or WAIT.

There is no magical time to buy tickets IMO. You said you've found a ticket in June there seams reasonable to you but what is the date? June is a transition between shoulder season and high season and there can be dramatic price differences from the first half of the month to the last half. Check your return price also to see if the big picture is something you like. What seems good on the east coast is just a dream on the west coast usually but we can always hope and look.

Blue Dart Aviation, Deccan Charters, Jet Airways these airlines provides good deals. I have traveled through such airlines earlier.

There's no solid rules, as far as I can tell. I've seen that prices drop slightly if you buy over the weekends vs midweek (fewer business travelers buying on Sunday?). Also, about a month ago I got tickets for late May-mid-June - so it was close to 10 months out. Prices were amazing - I'm not sure if they are just low when you buy that early or if I just got lucky. I usually buy 4 months out.

I think if you are happy with the fares you see 280 days out, then buy. IF your itinerary is set and you can afford it, of course. Buying flights is always a bit of a gamble, they could go down further. However, given my recent experience, I'm inclined to say that earlier is cheaper right now. This may change!

That 171 days out comes from this study by Expedia

https://viewfinder.expedia.com/img/STOR-23513_White_paper.pdf

Note that fares start low and stay low, with minor fluctuations, until about 60 days out, then they rise steeply. The 171 day mark is a minor downward tic and does not apply to all airlines. As my hubby likes to say, " averages do not apply to individuals."

That fare looks good, so why wait? We almost always buy 8-10 months ahead. Once, and once only, I waited until 90 days, on the strong and insistent advice of someone on this board. We got burned to the tune of $1200 or so on our tickets for waiting.

But Sasha, given the "logic" of airline fares, if you had waited a week more you could have made a killing. There's no way to know.

The only benefit to buying your tickets very early these days is there is more choice -- more flights with seats available, more seats available on those flights. No real benefit on price. So if you find something you think is a good deal and it fits your schedule: buy it!

With fuel prices constantly falling and being at a decades long low, I still don't understand why prices remain so high on most airlines. I am going to Italy soon and the price for a ticket to anywhere in Europe on the airline I usually fly is 3 times what it was when I went last year. I usually buy my tickets about 90 days before I go and this year they have been fairly stable over the past 6 months just at a fairly inflated price.

That fare sounds great. I suggest you buy now

I think earlier is better for summer travel. Europeans, as well as students and teachers over here, are back at home now and will start planning and booking for next summer soon. As seats get booked, prices go up.

For a couple of reasons I think travel to Europe may go up more than usual this year:
- American Airlines and the former US Airways will combine into one reservation system next month. So now there are two big alliances that will be coordinating their transatlantic schedules and prices, one being British Airways/American and the other being Virgin Atlantic/Delta/KLM/Air France.
- Oil prices are unusually low and may start going back up any time. OPEC hasn't adjusted their supply, but if they do it could have a significant impact on oil prices.

I usually use Kayak to compare prices. We've flown Boston to Paris a few times and have found good and not so good fares. I bought tickets for $895 rt in August for an end of Sept departure. That price is more than $100 less per ticket than the price had been for the 3 months I was watching them. Last year we paid $1100 for the same flights purchased in July for Sept. Both are Delta/Air France, non stop.
Aer Lingus tends to have good fares Boston to Paris. We flew them one year.
I tend to decide on a travel plans late, as mentioned previous, seat selection isn't great if you wait but we still got seats together, albeit toward the back of the plane.
I feel like under$1000 rt is a good price to Paris so $393 one way is very good. Unless you are looking at WOW air where you will easily get that fare up when you add all the extra fees.

Thanks for the warning about WOW, yes we noticed the baggage fees alone make up the difference, and the lack of entertainment is a concern even though I've flown to Europe four times without any real entertainment before. WOW is so small (5 planes!) that I'm too nervous to give them a shot. We're looking at Iceland Air which has three flights daily from Boston in peak season (so if one flight gets cancelled it might not mess up the whole trip). For the person who asked, the date is June 15, so heading out of shoulder season. Wish we could go a week earlier, but not possible. I appreciate the thoughts.