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Should I Book My Flight Now or Wait? The Pros and Cons of Booking Early vs. Late

  • lukaswalker79
  • Aug 19, 2023
  • 7 min read


If you want to save on airfare in 2022, the best bet is to aim for shoulder season or even better, low season. No matter what your dates, the savviest move you can make is to set flight alerts on Google Flights, or take advantage of creative tools, like Capital One and Hopper, with their prediction guarantee.




should i book my flight now or wait




Raise your hand if you've ever stayed up late on a Tuesday in hopes of booking a cheaper flight. Okay, now lower your hand, and never do it again. Because the truth is that almost every tip and trick you've heard about the best day to book flights is wrong.


But don't just take our word for it, according to a new analysis from the team behind Google Flights, there is a negligible, 1.9% savings when you book your flights Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday instead of Saturday or Sunday over the past five years.


It's a convenient but outdated myth that ignores the fact that airfare pricing is constantly changing. Airlines tweak their pricing by the hour to try to win over more customers and undercut their competitors. So don't assume you're getting the best deal on your flights just because you're booking on a Tuesday night.


Stop clearing your cookies when you're shopping for flights. Seriously: Clearing your cookies or searching incognito for flights won't make cheaper flights magically appear. This is another travel myth about booking flights that has long been rampant in the travel world. It's time to put this myth to rest.


That's why you should start each and every search with Google Flights. Google's search tool pulls flight pricing from nearly every airline, giving you the most up-to-date pricing. You can easily set filters, browse the calendar for the cheapest dates to travel, and search the world map for the cheapest destinations from your airport. Once you've found the perfect cheap flight for you, Google Flights redirects you to book directly with the airline.


You can always compare the flights you find through Google Flights against your other favorite flight search engine like Expedia, Orbitz, Skyscanner, or others. But with all the uncertainty around coronavirus, now more than ever we recommend booking directly with the airline rather than with online travel agencies. You'll save yourself a headache if your travel plans change down the road.


Here's the key: Avoid booking within 30-45 days before your flight. Some airlines offer decent flight prices the in the weeks leading up to departure, but these are few and far between.


Never bank on getting a last-second fare. Instead, we recommend booking your flight at least 45 days to 2 months before a domestic trip. For international flights, give yourself even more time: start looking at flight prices at least 2-6 months beforehand. These general rules of thumb will help make sure you're not paying too much.


And remember: Start your travel planning by booking the cheap flight first on the dates that are cheapest to travel. Once you have the cheap flight booked, you can plan lodging, activities, and the rest of your trip. Not following the Flight First Rule is the #1 mistake that travelers make.


One way to get around paying for a peak holiday flight is to use points or miles to book your flight. Book as early as possible and you should be able to snag a flight for a normal amount of points. Get started with points and miles, and take your next holiday flight for free.


Instead, research by Expedia shows the ideal day to book a flight is Sunday. For domestic flights, you can get the best airfare by booking at the end of the weekend. Doing so can save you around 5%. For international flights, the savings are nearly 10%.


Seasonally, demand typically slows around mid- to late June, as most travelers have already booked their vacations for peak May, June and July travel. Lower demand for late summer and early fall travel means you may be able to get lower airfare by traveling in September or October. In fact, according to Berg, you can save an average of $118 off domestic airfare if you wait and travel in late August or early September.


Most travelers know that booking a flight at the last minute means paying through the nose. Travel experts, travel agents, online travel booking sites will all tell you that booking earlier is better.


There used to be some truth to the concept that certain days were better for finding flight deals. However, research shows that this is more of a myth nowadays, per booking app Hopper. Hopper found that this only applied to less than 2% of routes and yielded savings of just 6%.


"There is no one day or 'golden rule' about when to book that applies to all travel," Hayley Berg, lead economist at Hopper, says. The booking app relies on eight years of data and 70 trillion flight prices to recommend the best time to book specific routes and dates.


Even though 2023 just started, now is the time to start booking your flights for both spring break and summer travel if you haven't already done so. Finding flight deals over popular travel dates requires planning five to six months in advance.


When deciding whether to buy now or wait to see if the price will go down, our first recommendation is that if you see a good price on a route, book it. Our price trend forecasts provide an additional piece of information, and we also suggest using our general when to book guidelines.


The rumors are true: finding the cheapest time to fly is no easy task. Most of you will have heard from people who have their own 'tips' on the best time to book flights; your super-organized friend will tell you booking early can save you a fortune. Another, less prepared pal will tell you to book as late as humanly possible.


We've found that short-haul flights are more predictable when deciding the best time to book: the best time to book a short-haul flight is a few weeks to four months before departure. The price variations for short-haul flights are consistently competitive, especially for popular destinations.


When searching for a long-haul flight, booking in advance is a pretty good idea. Broadly speaking, buying tickets somewhere between 8 months and 6 weeks in advance gets you the lowest prices - but more detail on that soon.


We've written a guide on finding the absolute best time for the best chances to score a cheap flight from the USA to some of the most popular countries worldwide. It's worth bookmarking for your next trip!


Finding the best time to book is deceptively simple on the surface, but it comes with a few caveats. To get the thrill of securing a massively impressive deal, keep an eye out for the distance of the flight, the high and low seasons, and the right window for holidays. If you'd like more tips and tricks on how we find great deals, check out our ultimate guide to finding cheap flights.


Of course, this depends on a ton of different and ever-changing factors, like how well that particular flight or route is selling. But here at Skyscanner, we love a bit of flight price data analysis, so we crunched some numbers and found a few patterns, which should help you find the best-possible price for your trip.


Happy cheap flight finding! And a quick reminder: please always be sure to check local government guidelines and restrictions before booking flights. Learn about flexible booking options so you can plan travel confidently, no matter where you want to go.


But given ongoing uncertainty around the pandemic, is it advisable to book those big 2022 trips now? Or is it better to wait and see how things shake out in the coming months? Below, travel experts share their advice.


Looking to buy flights but pay later? Prefer to pay for your flight tickets weekly, bi-weekly or monthly? Alternative Airlines can help.With Alternative Airlines, you can book flights now on over 650 airlines such as United, British Airways and American Airlines and pay later with different payment plan options available. Check out with either PayPal Credit, Affirm, Klarna, Zip, Laybuy, Afterpay, Clearpay, Postpay, Tabby or Spotii and pay for your flights later.A Fly Now Pay Later plan is a convenient and easy way to buy flights that helps you manage your budget. It allows you to spread the cost of flights on airlines such as United Airlines or Virgin Atlantic to destinations like Las Vegas, Tokyo, Bogotá, Delhi, Rome, Copenhagen or ANYWHERE in the world that you'd like to go.Even if you're on the go, in a hurry and catching a last-minute flight, Fly Now Pay Later doesn't require any pre-planning. You can book today and fly tomorrow without having to pay until a later date. See all the Buy Now, Pay Later options available at Alternative Airlines.


Fly Now Pay Later (or Buy Now Pay Later) is a way for you to spread the cost of flight bookings into small interest-free payments or over instalments with Alternative Airlines. Instalments can be paid back monthly, weekly or bi-weekly, depending on the payment provider and plan you choose. You can choose from over 10 different Fly Now Pay Later payment providers, including PayPal Credit, Afterpay, Klarna, Affirm, Laybuy, Zip and many more. The payment provider available to you will differ depending on which country you're buying from. View all the available options of our pay-later plans for airline tickets.


Yes, you can book your flights today with Alternative Airlines and pay over a fixed number of weekly, biweekly or monthly instalments rather than upfront. This is an ideal payment option for last-minute, spontaneous or unbudgeted travel.At Alternative Airlines, we offer many ways for you to book your flights now and pay later. Some of the plans we offer are provided by Afterpay, Klarna, Affirm, Laybuy, Zip, Postpay, Tabby, Uplift and PayPal Credit, among many others. 2ff7e9595c


 
 
 

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