Best Days to Book and Travel by Air

Best Days to Book and Travel by Air

Did you ever wonder when the best time is to purchase airline tickets and which days are most economical to travel? Knowing the answers to these questions can save you money and valuable time.

Best Time to Book Airfare

Many travelers do not realize that the best time to book air tickets is at the time that the airlines announce their sales. This happens weekly on Tuesdays, making this the best day to book. And to be even more specific, 3:00PM Eastern Standard Time, so synchronize your watch if you are hoping to get a great fare!

Best Time-Frame to Shop

Procrastination is not a good thing when shopping for or booking travel. Many passengers mistakenly think that if they wait, the fares will come down. This is not necessarily the case, and as a result, individuals end up spending even more than they had bargained for.

Depending on whether you are traveling Domestically or Internationally, here is the time-frame you should keep in mind if you are hoping for the best airfare prices:

> Domestic Fares (U.S.): purchase between three months and 30 days before departure.

> International Fares: purchase between 5-1/2 months and 1-1/2 months before departure.

Cheapest Days and Times to Fly

There’s not much strategy involved here folks, as common sense tells us with anything, the law of supply and demand rules. A good rule of thumb is that the least convenient travel is, for say, school and work schedules, the more likely it is to cost less.

So, as far as the day of the week and time during the day goes, this is the general rule for cheapest times to fly:

> Days: Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays

> Times: When people normally do not want to Fly, such as the red-eye and overnight flights and those at dawn and dinnertime.

Most Expensive Days to Fly

Friday and Sundays, which of course, are, in general, the most convenient days for most leisure travelers.

Great Tricks When Booking Airfare

Here’s a little helpful hint. When shopping and booking airfare, shop one passenger at a time. The reason is that the airline system will find the cheapest flight when searching for one. If you input more than one, and the inventory shows one ticket at a low fare and many at a higher fare, the system will grab the fare that is higher when searching for more than one tickets.

Another recommendation for finding the best airfare is to utilize the Price Alerts with online booking services like TripAdvisor, Expedia and FareCompare, as they will send you an email when the fares have dropped.

Here’s to economical travels!