When Is Cheapest Time To Book Flights?
The concept of when is the cheapest time to book flights.
Traveling by air is not an easy task since it is a costly affair particularly when you are not selective in getting airline ticket offers. You can be able to find a good discount in air fare by planning for your trip at certain periods by having some research on the internet. This article will also give information on how you can time it right in order to be able to catch those cheap airlines.
Book Early The best tip that can be given to majority of travelers who wish to save their money on airplane ticket is that they should always book for the flight a long time before the dates of travel. There are always general guidelines on when to book your flight tickets; for a domestic flight, it is recommended to book 3 months before the intended travel date while for an international flight, it is recommendable to book 5-7months before the intended travel dates. Airlines normally publish there flight timetable and start accepting bookings about nearly one year from the travel date. At the time of posting the flight on the booking sites, the airlines have an initial round, which is the posting round, in which they may put up some sales and list promotional fares. Normally, these are the best rates that you are going to get for your flight and what makes them early bird discounted fares.
This means that early bird airfares are often restricted to a few seats only and one has to book as soon as they see a cheap fare. Remember, while the early bookings involve a commitment to the travel plans much earlier in advance. If you do not have tight daily schedules, then booking for a flight that falls within your acceptable time of the week and plus or minus a few days is cheaper.
On Tuesdays and Wednesday the look to Book ratio will be high
It has also been identified that the day of the week on which one books his flight has an impact on airfare. This trend in the historical bookings indicates that most of the flights are booked at lowest price during the weekdays particularly Tuesday and Wednesday. It is also worth knowing that the prices increase during the weekends and decrease during weekdays. Though there are some speculations that can be made with regard to this Tuesday/Wednesday price drop within airlines and booking platforms. Since fewer people are searching for flights during weekdays, there can be situations where airlines will release higher fares in order to get more people to buy what is otherwise, their slow moving midweek products. Hence, if you are not very rigid with your schedule and you prefer to fly during weekdays, then it can be a good idea to try and look for a flight on Tuesday or Wednesday.
On the options concerning the departure airports the evaluation should be less strict.
Trying to find flights only to a specific airport also limits your options of how you are going to find the cheapest flights to your destination of choice, so widening your search to regional airports that may be closer to your destination is recommended. Neighbouring airports often offer the same or similar flights and destinations, although they may have differences in the ticket fares. While you would usually search for the airport nearest to home, it’s worth trying to include 1-2 more airports within a few hours’ drive in your search. Extra drive to use an airport that is somewhat distant could mean saving hundreds of dollars on flights if only the prices are lower at that airport.
Air travelers should compare connecting flights versus non-connection or direct flights.
Direct flights are flights that do not require the client to make transfers and change over from one plane to another. But here’s a little secret: you can often get connecting flight options for a considerably lower rate. Since passengers do not solely travel with one airline but with a number of airlines and flight segments to build the connection, the total route price through the connection is often cheaper than direct. If the idea of getting off and on a plane in between, or even getting on another plane for the final destination does not bother you, do not close out the possibilities that exist in CONNECTIONS and MULTI-CITY fares while you search for the best airfare. Sometimes, the savings may be enough to balance the inconvenience of an additional flight connection.
Leverage shoulder seasons
Seasons describe the periods between the high demand for travelling especially during the summer, and end of the year holidays. As for the weather conditions, months that precede summer and occur after the winter months are referred to as the shoulder seasons. In reference to flight, it concerns the environs of the key festive days and the periods before and after academic terms. As the travel demand slightly reduces during the early spring and late fall, the companies operating the flights will have to lower their fares to meet the demand.
Wise tourists try to get a flight with the best prices for the desired destination of travel during the shoulder season if pricing rises too much in summer or around the Christmas period. The best time to travel is early spring; either in March, April or early May because apart from the good weather prevailing in many tourist friendly countries, there are other advantages that include cheap prices for hotels and other accommodation facilities, excursions and shows , meals and drinks ,and air fares. The second favourable period is the end of September through to the beginning of November as while it is still warm the tourists have not arrived en masse. No matter where you would like to go, the analysis of average temperatures and precipitation rates by month will allow you to find out what time it is better to travel during shoulder seasons.
Flash Sales This is another strategy that is used to increase the sales of products and services by offering them at a cheaper price for a short time.
To address this, shoulder season pricing is typically lowered and, in addition, airlines periodically announce promotional fares for specific dates and specific flight connections to instantly fill demand gaps. A flash sale usually runs for 1-3 days and is up after some time meaning that you need to be quick in getting a product from this category. To get some of the best deals, you will need to subscribe to emails from your preferred airlines and travel sites since they give you first word on flash fare sales.
When travelling by air, it is important to be flexible with regard to the times of flight.
Selecting flights during odd hours that are not considered usual working hours is also likely to attract other cost savings. Almost all business travelers and families prefer to travel during the day and avoid flying at night and in the early morning. As fewer passengers are interested in booking red eye flights or those that are willing to travel at the crack of dawn, the airline will offer cheaper prices to more people in a bid to fill many empty seats during off peak flight times.
If you do not have fixed time when your flight should take off and when it should land, take a look at search results with various options in the departure and arrival time. This is because sometimes, the midday or the evening flights are more expensive as compared to the early morning flight, a flight at about 6am or a late evening at 10pm or a redeye flight at night. Think about whether it might be possible to change certain aspects of your flying schedule to be more in line with cheap ticket prices.
Loyalty Programs or frequent flyer Programs, Points Programs and Travel Rewards.
When traveling, using points from a specific airline or hotel chain will enable the regular traveler to get gathered miles, status and at times, cheaper flights. This way, you become a member of all the important travel booking sites where you can subscribe to be alert every time the company sends out newsletters, especially during the holiday seasons, coupons and limited time promotions. Depending on the travel credit card, there are often reward incentives offered that allow cardholders to gain extra miles to redeem towards future travel.
Imagine all the tiny pennies from the flash sales, the email coupons, and the loyalty point privileges that go a long way. It’s also important not to burn your miles the moment you get them. Therefore, with some level of patience, one can earn more overall value for travel rewards that he or she has accumulated by waiting for the right time to redeem the points when there is a sale on air tickets, and then applying the available credits and miles to bring down the price further.
Conclusion
Availability of cheap fare is the matter of timing, how early one starts searching flights and his/her ability to search on a large number of parameters. It is advisable to book early within midweek sales days to get a better chance to use shoulder seasons and other non-favored flight times. Then, the rewards and loyalty programs offer more chances for further savings. If you approach the right strategy, budget, and time and if you are patient enough, then scoring budget airline tickets is not impossible at all.