When it comes to travel, snagging a choice flight at a reduced rate is easy if you know the best times to book a trip and save big. To help, here are the three golden rules.
When it comes to travel, knowing when to book a trip can get you a flight at choice times and at reduced rates. The following guide offers some useful information on booking domestic and international flights, including what day of the week you should try booking on.
Rule #1: Book in advance—but not too far
The general belief is that booking as far in advance as possible can lead to big savings. For big holidays such as Christmas or Thanksgiving, this is true. However, this is not always the case with dates that fall outside travel season.
- Research suggests that booking between five to six weeks in advance for domestic flights usually delivers the best fare—a useful rule of thumb to follow.
For international flights, evidence indicates that booking your flight well in advance, even up to a year, will net you the best fare. This may not be practical for most travellers, as travel plans are not often made this far ahead of time.
- In general, booking around 22 weeks from the travel date will allow you to grab some decent rates, especially if you're traveling to Europe.
Rule #2: Mid-week is the best day to book
In general, Tuesday is considered to be the best day to book tickets. This has to do with the way most airlines release their deals and offers.
- Most major airlines release their rates and deals onTuesday, followed by budget airlines releasing new rates tocompete on costs.
Another idea is to check rates on Wednesday at 1 a.m. Keep in mind the time zone in which the airline you're looking to book with is operating.
- Low airfares tend to appear on Tuesday night, with people having 24 hours to book tickets.
- Unpurchased tickets are re-released on Wednesday morning so if you can time your booking right, it could save you big bucks.
Rule #3: Be flexible and remember the 24-hour rule
You can save hundreds of dollars if you're willing to be flexible with your booking dates.
- Check online travel fares over a period before booking and consider traveling on days which airlines offer lower rates than usual.
- Most airlines have a rule that if you book a ticket with them and the flight price declines within a 24-hour period, you're eligible to re-book with them for the new ticket cost.
