Booking tickets - how far ahead?

[Benni]

I've read conflicting reports about booking flights -- some say to do it 6 weeks ahead of time, some only 2 weeks. What is the best time to do it?

[Tooki]

I'm not sure how flights work between the US and Canada but I try to book it as far in advance as I can. The prices do fluctuate slightly but they increase in general as well.

I bought my tickets just before they jumped up around $100 in price. There was a flash sale about 3 weeks later where I would have saved around $250, but those sorts of sales cannot be predicted.

[Benni]

That's another thing -- one day I check and it's $1300, another day it's $1500!! Hard to figure out the best deal. I plan on booking 6 weeks ahead then. Thanks Tooki!

[Tooki]

That's another thing -- one day I check and it's $1300, another day it's $1500!! Hard to figure out the best deal. I plan on booking 6 weeks ahead then. Thanks Tooki!

I have also *heard* that the booking websites will take note of how often you search for flights and they will adjust the prices accordingly (if you search often it will skimp on possible savings) [Take this with a grain of salt].

If it's an option for you, I would also recommend trying to fly to/out of larger (cheaper) airports to save money.

[hans]

To me it seems that of course the longer in advance the cheaper it is, but up until 2 weeks is fairly flat prices, but it's getting really expensive less then 2 weeks in advance. Another thing - but not sure if it's true - is that it tends to be cheaper in the beginning of the week..

[Zephii]

For domestic flights, I book last minute. You can get really good deals, and if you don't the price doesn't seem to skyrocket so badly that you have to sell a kidney, but with international I always book months in advance. I mean months, sometimes six months in advance. We're going to Canada in May, and I booked last week. I got lucky with one of those flash sales as well

I try to fly during off peak seasons, leaving and returning on a weekday. If you fly on the weekend it costs you more. Not a lot more, but 100$ is better in my pocket than the airlines!

[Benni]

Thank you all! I'll stick to my 6 weeks plan, and I'm going to clear all cookies on the travel sites -- that might help so they can't track my searches!

[bethyylovee]

I didn't know there was a big thing about when to book tickets? Stephen bought his June plane tickets in December, and when we planned our last-minute trip, he bought them 2 weeks ago for this Friday. I didn't realize the prices fluctuated! Good to know!

[Kiyama]

Yeah it's strange. I once looked into flights and the ones two weeks later were a lot cheaper than The ones 6 weeks later. Really unpredictable...

[Jezah]

I always read sooner the better for international flights, domestic wait till last minute. Also Tuesday is the day to book tickets, since the airlines release sales on Monday and by Tuesday the other airlines have adjusted their prices accordingly to be competitive. I really would not wait until the last moment for international, me and HBB did this out of necessity and it cost us 150 pounds more than it would when we had looked at prices 2 weeks before. I also like skyscanner.com for deals, me and HBB use it and it scans all sorts of other travel sites for the best price....it saves us a bit! Good luck!

[Benni]

I've read the same -- to purchase them on Tuesday. I'll check out skyscanner! Thanks!

[Malaga]

I heard that if you repeatedly go to a ticket selling website and search for the same route, they track you via cookies and inflate the prices for you when you come back. That's why you should clear cookies before you look for tickets. I don't know if it's true or not but I guess it can't hurt.

In my experience generally the sooner the better. Especially when it comes to low cost carriers. However, it happened to me a few times that I rushed to buy tickets and then a couple of weeks later they were on sale. The problem is sales cannot be predicted, I tried keeping track but couldn't find a pattern tbh. By logic they should happen right after high season.

Kayak has a useful tracker keeping note of price changes for selected routes, so maybe you could look into that.

[Benni]

As I stated before, I intend to clear my cookies first. I checked out Kayak a while back. Need to do it again. Thanks.

[LittleBox]

I posted a question a while back about international traveling and got some helpful responses https://members.lovingfromadistance....ell-in-advance

[Benni]

Thanks! I'll check it out!