Secrets to Buying Cheap Air Tickets—Part 1

February 26, 2016 by Larry Shapiro

Before settling into your airplane seat headed out for a new food and travel adventure, you’ll likely first endure the aggravating journey into the opaque world of air fares, online travel agencies, travel apps and a myriad of airline web sites.

This special 2-part series is designed to show you the secrets to saving money on air travel, including the best day to buy tickets. Plus, you’ll be armed with several time-saving tools and tips to reduce frustration when booking flights.

Are You Good at Whack-a-Mole?

It’s a fact of life that air fares (and hotel and rental car rates) are constantly changing and prices are never guaranteed until booked. Few other industries’ products or services have such murky and volatile pricing as those in the travel industry.

So not only can it seem tough to find the lowest fare, there’s always the lurking unease that you’re not getting the best deal possible. Add to that what I call the casino factor—buy today and lock in your fare or wait for a sale and bet that prices will drop.

This could be a costly gamble because prices can jump instantly. What’s more, as your departure date approaches, good seats vanish.

So once you give up and finally buy your ticket, you could end up losing your airfare showdown–forking over more cash than you had to and, adding insult to injury, finding yourself scrunched in a lousy middle seat in the back of the plane next to a burley guy with a tuna fish sandwhich.

However, there are some proven tactics that can help you make smarter purchasing decisions. Part 1 of this two-part series will help you prepare with important buying tips to sniff out the best fares. Part 2 will focus on several great internet tools and apps to help speed your search and boost your odds of scoring the cheapest–and best–flight.

Airfare Buying Tips

Timing is everything. The basic questions are first, how far in advance to buy. Second, what is the best day of the week to book. The other point to know is which days of the week are statistically the least expensive to travel.

Fortunately, answers to these questions now have some scientific data behind them, not just urban legend.

1. Book early.  This seems obvious since everyone knows last minute tickets are typically the priciest. However, new research helps pinpoint when to buy.

There are two important recent studies which looked at literally billions of air ticket transactions. The first is a 2014 report from the Airline Reporting Corporation, or ARC. This is the accounting clearing house for air tickets sold by travel agents, both online and brick and mortar (but doesn’t cover direct sales from airlines).

The second is a joint report released at the end of 2015 by ARC and Expedia (including data from Expedia’s Orbitz and Travelocity brands).

Though there are always exceptions, their findings can help guide your search.

The study uncovered these optimal advance booking statistics, with possible savings ranging from 5% to 24%:

• Domestic North America travel: the lowest fares are 57 days out,

• Flights to Europe: 176 days in advance is optimal,

• North America to the Caribbean: the best deals are 77 days in advance,

• ŸFares to Asia and the Pacific: Check 160 days ahead,

• Tickets to Africa and the Middle East, book 144 days before departure,

• Seats to South America: 90 days lead time is cheapest,

2. The best day of the week to book a flight, There’s lots of controversy about the best day to buy a plane ticket, but the data is clear: you’ll likely pay less booking on Sunday, followed by Saturday and then Tuesday. The highest priced tickets are generally sold on Mondays and Fridays, which is when many business trips are booked.

3. Fly the cheapest days of the week. The ARC study shows important differences between domestic and international journeys:

• Domestic flights. The lowest fares are usually departing on Saturday and returning on Tuesday. The most expensive days are leaving on Sunday with a Monday return.

• International flights. The lowest priced long haul foreign trips leave on Tuesday and return Monday. Most expensive are Friday departures with a Saturday return.

Some of the web tools we’ll look at in Part 2 have very handy fare calendars that show you at a glance the lowest priced days to fly.

When You Spot a Deal, Jump on It

Knowing how far in advance to buy your ticket, shopping on weekends and flying on the least expensive days can save you a lot.

While it’s hard to predict with absolute certainty when you’ll get the lowest fare, using these statistical guidelines for shopping in advance to get a feel for prices will give you confidence to spot a deal and when you do, jump on it.

More to Come

In the upcoming Part 2 of this post, the focus will be on several easy-to-use and helpful web tools and resources that can boost your chances of finding a cheap air ticket and make booking a trip a lot easier.

Plus we’ll look at the latest airline marketing practices and several strategies you can use to uncover the airlines’ best deals.

c 2016-2023 Larry Shapiro/Fork on the Run

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