It is common knowledge within the travel industry that on average, the best time to book your flights is 54 days in advance. Booking too early or too late could cause you to pay more than you have to, and the prime booking window usually ranges from 20 to 120 days before departure.

However… There are circumstances where you may want to book your flight much earlier. See, in order for prices to drop, there needs to be a decent number of seats left on a flight. If you’re traveling to a popular destination at a popular time, flights might fill up well before what is normally the prime booking window. This means that airlines have no need to discount any of the seats.

Flights to Florida for Spring Break for example.  Or if you want to travel on weekends.  Or if your destination is a small airport with limited service on a small choice of airlines.  A study done by CheapAir.com found that the best time to purchase flights to Europe for the summer was 319 days in advance! And that the best day to buy domestic flights for both the Thanksgiving and Christmas periods was June 4th — 5 months before Thanksgiving and 6 months before Christmas.

For both reasons above (they are popular and there is less air service to them) it’s usually better to book international flights further in advance than you would book a domestic ticket.

Also keep in mind that there is usually a trade-off between price and convenience. You may be particular about which airline(s) you fly with, the time of day, number of stops, or other factors.  If these particulars are of concern to you, it is best to book earlier than someone who is more flexible, because as time goes by you will find you have less options to choose from, even if the tickets stay around the same price point.

So to summarize, buy sooner if you’re flying:

• near a holiday
• internationally
• to a popular destination
• to a small airport
• at very specific times

…..you’re able to buy later if you’re:

• traveling domestically
• going to a large city
• flying at off-peak times
• flexible about airlines and times

It is definitely better to buy too early than too late, so if in doubt, purchase now!