Buy a Plane Ticket

The best time to buy a plane ticket, according to study of 917M flights

By Mike Moffitt, SFGATE 

You actually can afford to travel.

When you know you're going to need to fly somewhere — for example, to visit your relatives on the opposite coast — when is the best time to buy a ticket?

Waiting until the last minute is obviously a bad move. The price can easily double.

But buying far in advance can also be unwise. Early birds often pay a premium to lock in seats.

So what is the sweet spot? The travel site CheapAir.com wanted to find out. Its 2018 Airfare study analyzed 917 million different flights listed on its site.


The answer is, it depends.

The study found that on average, the best time to buy an airline ticket in 2017 was 70 days in advance, a couple of weeks longer than it was in 2016 (54 days). But the optimal time varies by season.

Say you're planning a vacation in the summer, the most popular travel season for Americans. The study found that the prime airline booking window is 14 to 160 days from travel, with 47 being the average. If you fly in July, Cheap Air recommends you book earlier than if you're going in August or September, which tend to have the best summer deals.

The fall is a good time to travel, as most people have already taken their big vacation trips. The prime booking window is 21 to 100 days before the travel date, with the average 69 days. Booking later normally won't cost you much more except over Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving flights sell out fast and should be purchased early.

As the least traveled season, winter brings good bargains, excluding the flights during Christmas-New Year's holidays, which, like Thanksgiving, also sell at a premium. The prime booking window is similar to the fall — 21 to 110 days in advance, with an average of 62 days.

Spring offers the largest prime booking window — 46 to 122 days in advance with an average 90 days from travel. "Spring break" dates in March through April tend to ratchet up prices, so buying early is generally the best strategy.

Of all the seasons, spring punishes travelers who don't choose their travel dates wisely the most. The difference between the best- and worst-price travel day is $263 , compared to $83 in the fall.

The day of the week you purchase an airline ticket doesn't really matter, according to CheapAir, but the day you fly does. The cheapest flights depart on Tuesday and Wednesdays. The most expensive ones leave on Sunday.