When Is The Best Time To Fly?

The best time to book flights for the late-year season is typically in September and October, when airlines offer low fares to attract travelers. There’s less competition for seats than there will be closer to the main holidays since flight demand is lower, making December the most expensive month to fly.

When to book?

No matter where you plan to travel, book your flights early and be flexible with your travel dates to get the best deals. However, there are some tips for finding the best deals on late-year holiday flights:

• Fly on weekdays and avoid the weekends. Both domestically and internationally, Tuesdays and Wednesdays are generally the cheapest days to fly because business travelers tend to fly on Mondays and Fridays, leaving more seats available and lower prices on the other days of the week.
• Consider flying into a smaller airport. Smaller airports often have lower landing fees, translating into lower passenger fares.
• Sign up for email alerts from your favorite airlines. This way, you’ll be notified when they have sales or special flight offers.

Photo: Stokkete | Shutterstock

• Choose morning flights since they are cheaper and less likely to be delayed than afternoon or evening flights because there are fewer weather disruptions in the morning, and airlines have more time to recover from delays.
• Book your flights as early as possible, especially if you’re flying on a major holiday, such as Christmas.
• Use a flight search engine to compare fares from different airlines. Many flight search engines are available to compare prices from several sites before booking, like KAYAK.

KAYAK rolled out a holiday version of its Best Time to Travel tool to help travelers find the cheapest days to fly for over 8,000 routes worldwide for the winter holidays.

According to a recent survey by EyeforTravel and Fornova, 44% of travelers “always used metasearch tools,” 73% “did so regularly,” and 94% were “at least occasional users.” This suggests that tools like KAYAK are used by many travelers, from those planning their next vacation to those simply looking for the best deals on flights and hotels.

KAYAK is one of the most popular travel platforms that searches hundreds of travel sites to help people find the best deals on flights, hotels, rental cars, and vacation packages, aggregating results from other travel sites and allowing users to compare prices directly with providers.

Photo: Africa Studio | Shutterstock

The latest Best Time to Travel tool (Holiday Edition!) uses a variety of factors to determine the cheapest days to fly, including historical data, demand trends, and current airfare prices. The tool considers the day of the week and time of day that you fly, as well as the number of days in advance that you book your flight.

Furthermore, suppose you missed the ideal time to book your trip or are not quite ready to commit. In that case, KAYAK’s price graph lets you experiment with different dates for when you plan to leave and return based on past and current trends. So, with its price forecast tool, travelers can decide when to book their flights and other travel arrangements to get the best deals.

Have you ever heard about this KAYAK’s tool? Let us know in the comments below!

Sources: KAYAK, EyeforTravel