Finding the best flights that provide a bang for your buck can be difficult, but according to travel experts at The Points Guy, a global travel resource company, some key strategic moves are necessary to find the best flight deals.
According to experts, flying during the summer or holiday season means you will deal with notoriously expensive prices. Limitations to available flights and the risk of bad weather can also impact the pricing of a flight.
While some believe that booking a flight on a specific day of the week, such as Tuesday on any given week, these are indeed just rumors.
There was formerly a level of truth to the rumor, travel experts at the Points Guy said, noting that booking app Hopper found that less than 2% of routes yielded more savings.
"There is no one day or 'golden rule' about when to book that applies to all travel," Hayley Berg, lead economist at Hopper, told The Points Guy, citing eight years of data and 70 trillion flight prices to come up with the best time to book specific routes and dates. "There's a common myth that 'booking on a Tuesday' will guarantee a traveler the best price. The reality is prices change so often and depend on the route, the travel dates, etc., that there isn't one day that guarantees you the best price."
Domestic vs. international travel
When traveling within your own country, travel experts recommend watching prices for your projected flight for three or four months before you plan to depart, and only booking a month or two ahead of time. However, international trips are different, requiring several months of monitoring and at booking at least three to five months ahead of the trip.
Prices fluctuate during the week, so unfortunately booking on a certain day is believed to be just a myth for hopeful travelers.
Flights booked during the week, compared to the weekend, average $70 less per journey, according to data provided by Hopper. Even a long-haul flight is expected to be significantly less expensive when booked on a weekday compared to flights on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.