Do you Know When To Buy Airline Tickets -New Research!

The Myths and Truth about When to Buy Airline Tickets for your Leisure/Vacation or Business if they aren’t part of a Package – Infographic! 

Did you think that when to buy airline tickets is when you want to travel, any time any day? Well so did we years ago…and guess what it is true. Book your flight when you need to, yet…

My instinct always tells me that when we are planning our travels abroad its always best to know when to buy airline tickets for the best value and seats. Its all part of the process right! Like anybody else we do love a good deal or even a bargain…who doesn’t?

And by the way if you do love bargain and tips on travel you might like our last post on why travel matters where we share the pros and cons of travel and how it does affect your economy!

One of the biggest mistakes we have been making is booking our flights too early…despite being frequent flyers! We noticed a trend yrs ago yet inspite of that we felt like kicking ourselves on a recent trip to Florence. We learnt that a friend who flew on the same exact flight as we did paid 45% less than we did…what, blooming heck? So what did we do wrong?

Booked too early…

Yet hang on a minute, aren’t we supposed to buy early to get the best deals? Well, apparently airlines use complicated algorithms to determine demand for their seats. This basically means that the flight quote/price you find online or are given may not be the best/lowest deal!  Apparently flight prices are based on demand for that flight based on historical averages. Many times when we didn’t click that “buy now” link, the fare was gone like fairy dust! What, it truly can be a frustrating process!  Begging the question; when to buy airline tickets online? 

If you book too early before your trip, you definitely might pay more than others. Fortunately we have the Rate-shrinker Technology as part of the benefits of being world travellers. For those without this benefit, as part of your quest on when to buy airline tickets cheap, remember to factor in baggage fees, extra leg room fees and food purchases before booking city hoppers and local cheap flights and even some international red eye flights these days! For some airlines credit card holders it may be possible to get a free checked bag and other perks.

And here is the deal, since we have been looking for a deal on airfare, you would think that common wisdom dictates that we book early and set flexible dates, right? We should be doing that…lol.

Well to help make us feel better and we know you too will; we have learnt that although being flexible is super cool, booking your tickets too much in advance could be costly. So we are sharing with you our research on when to buy airline tickets online for the best deals and save you some mullah…

So while we missed the October value sales for the Dominican we know without a shadow of a doubt we are gonna get some super value flights in January… This followed on after we got so frustrated as to when to buy airline tickets, with the price increasing every day…!

Then we landed on some good news; CBS News’ travel editor, Peter Greenberg, shared some of his super tips on when to buy airline tickets, to avoid expensive mistakes and save money. One of the things we have learnt about when to buy airline tickets is its advisable to book at lest 8 weeks  prior to your journey. We used to think and actually thought that it was best to book your flights on a least Tuesday or Wednesday early morning.

It is advisable to book your flight at lest 8 weeks prior to your journey. If you can! #traveltips #supertuesday via @kkpauli Click To Tweet

You might like to try an air fare predictor. We use bing, which helps us determine whether prices are still too steep, and if they might drop! We advise against waiting too long though; flight prices usually rise 7-14 days before the departure date. If you’re flying in 6+ months time, why not wait for a flight sale. 

We are blessed to be part of a platform where, once you’ve purchased your fare, you can track your flight using the Rateshrinker technology.  Which automatically tracks and refunds us the difference if the flight price drops before the travel date. So we don’t have to keep checking our emails at all. Absolutely makes when to book airline flights a breeze and joy.

Don’t fret though, you could use a fare tracker like Yapta, which could also help you get a refund of the fare difference if the price of your ticket drops  to below $150 an amount most major airlines will not pay if its less than that! Our technology will refund you any amount even if its $20. 🙂 

Following our Dominican Republic confusion we researched some more and learnt that; now its best to book your flights on a Sunday night approx 1:00 am in the airline’s time zone, says the flights price fairy 🙂 …So we are still in with a chance for an April bargain!

Question is are the savings worth it, esp. the lost sleep and well being? You decide. 

But then we are way ahead of ourselves here….

I hear you ask when to buy airline tickets for Christmas…The answer is you missed the fair value and cheaper tickets. Right now you are looking to pay thru the teeth, unless you are willing to wait till the last minute and don’t mind where you are going or time of arrival! For instance last-minute travelers to Africa should prepare to pay an average of £1500+ (courtesy of Traveltrolley) on December 17. It also only gets worse from there. According to CNN the most expensive days to travel around the holidays are the weekends after Christmas (Dec 26-27) and New Year’s Day (Jan 2-3).

Yet we now feel so motivated to get online and really find our flights to the Dominican like yesterday. Patience is the sauce though. For all future travels whether for pleasure or for your business we encourage you to check  this out and you will too – enjoy! xx

Infographic based Latest Research on when to Buy Airline Tickets for the best Bargains! 

If you wish to download & use this “When to buy airline tickets infograph please Link Back to our post thank you 🙂 

Please note that the above information is based on airlines and economic research by Cheapair, who have done research on billions of flights and share up to date statistics;  CNN, Airfare watchdog  and Farecompare as well. Yet it is not set in stone.

We have actually found some fantastic (yet very rare) last minute flight sales before. For instance when we decided to hop off to Dublin for a weekend and got a Ryan Air Flight for £49 for both of us round trip of which the return was £1 each. We were stumped and quickly grabbed them. In such cases, booking two days before the flight was the best day to book. This occurrence is extremely rare, so please DO NOT wait till two days before travel as you might miss your event or time away completely! We at pkjulesworld Do Not ADVISE IT!

DO NOT wait till two days before travel as you might miss your event or time away completely! We at pkjulesworld Do Not ADVISE IT! Click To Tweet

The point is, for individual trips, when to buy airline tickets varies and really depends on the time of year i.e. month, season etc. the destination and number of days of travel.

We have learnt that from the time a flight opens for sale and fares do drop steadily until they get to a low price point between 28 -115 days before travel. Its essentially a 3 month advance window, that is the “prime booking window” for  your flight.

For our First Time Fliers: 

Please note that when to buy airline tickets can be a pain but this could hurt:

Most airlines now have all kinds of limitations and restrictions. So make sure you get it right first time why: 

• If you want to make a change, it could cost you $100 to $200 plus any fare difference.
• Make sure your names are correct for you wont be able to correct the name on a reservation, you might have to buy a whole new ticket, A simple typo could be very expensive.  
• DON’T MISS YOUR FLIGHT unless its the airline fault. You will have to buy a new ticket for the next available flight.
• Finally we advise you whether first time flier or not to check out these frequently asked questions compiled by  columnist, author and consumer advocate Christopher Elliott, that will definitely get you more travel savvy and your next flight a pleasure to book. He also goes a long way in answering most of your questions not just when to buy airline tickets! 

When To Buy airline Tickets – Its  a Wrap: 

And, finally, we really cannot end this post on “when to buy airline tickets” without sharing with you some awesome tools. There are myriads of Apps, you can create your own as well. So you will be able to simply tap your very own App and buy not just your flight tickets but also your hotel, cruises, car rentals or weekend villas all via one App. 

We have the Booking.com App downloaded to our phones and we get notified of all Flights and Hotel bargains! Click Here to Create your Free account and get $20 cash back on your first booking and $15 every time someone books via your link as well.

Its an android, iOS and Tablet App that simply is amazing. 

If you purchase with us you get a unique price guarantee, a kind of price protection as a bonus – Kerching (T &Cs apply.) So you can get travel credit back for referring others too! No limit per passenger. So you can worry less about when to buy airline tickets and buy with more confidence!

Our last word on when to buy airline tickets is: if you find an airfare you can afford and is within your budget, book it immediately and that’s it. See, you might indeed find a cheaper flight, but at what cost to your time? You could do that packing and planning your trip activities. 🙂 

Be sure to TWEET THIS now, So much appreciated! 🙂 

[clickToTweet tweet=”If you find an airfare you can afford and is within your budget, book it immediately #airtravel” quote=”If you find an airfare you can afford and is within your budget, book it immediately”]

Did you enjoy this post on when to buy airline tickets? Then you will definitely enjoy our earlier post on why travel maters for us all!

And we would really appreciate your insights on when to buy airline tickets too below. Be sure to also like, tweet, pin, and Share on Facebook too…

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Paul & Julie Syl

Skype: Julie.Kalungi1

Twitter: @KKPauli

Instagram@pkjulesworld

Email: julieatJuleskalpauli[dot]com

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