Flight Booking Strategies for 2024
20 September 2024
Booking a flight when you want to stick to a reasonable budget takes persistence, and it can seem daunting. It’s like hitting a rapidly moving target. Advertised fares in an email can be unavailable even if you open it quickly.
Online travel agencies are back too, and it’s hard for those of us who are used to travel planning to trust that industry change (who could have seen THAT coming?).
I write this article every year because a lot changes in a year. That’s not bad news either—it’s great news! One of the most exciting 2024 travel trends is that capacity has grown, and ticket prices are stabilizing. This is excellent news for travelers looking to book flights later in 2024 and starting in 2025.
The top recommended tool for searching is Google Flights, according to all the experts, and here’s why:
- Google Flights is faster than any other search tool, displaying months’ worth of fares in a fraction of a second. That speed matters when you’re ready to book
- It has a calendar view, which shows you what fares are expected to fall or rise over the next 12 months. This lets you match the time of your trip to the cheapest flights.
- Multi-airport search lets you track the fares between up to 7 origin and 7 destination airports. That’s a huge deal when you know about open-jaw flights.
- Map-based search lets you find the cheapest location to fly from within your selected date ranges.
Plus, Google Flights will tell you if the fare you see is high, low, or average based on years of data, which Google has been tracking since it launched Google Flights in September 2011 (a mere 13 years ago).
Before you start planning your holiday travel, here’s what the current data says about getting the lowest airfare possible.
Best day of the week to book a flight
According to Expedia’s Air Travel Hacks 2024 data report, the best day of the week to book a flight is on Sunday. This can save you 8% on average.
The worst day to book a flight is Friday. This makes a lot of sense to me because when I’m exhausted from working all week, I dream big travel dreams on Fridays.
Sleep on it and wait until Sunday.
Ideal booking window for domestic flights
For domestic flights within the US, average prices are lowest 38 days before departure with one caveat: this rule of thumb does not apply to holiday travel, including Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s’ and Spring Break. Memorial Day and Labor Day are also high-volume travel weekends where, again, this handy rule of thumb does not apply.
- CheapAir’s survey findings were somewhat similar: the prime window falls between 21 and 74 days before departure.
- Expedia’s most recent report says the sweet spot for booking domestic is current 28 days before you plan to depart.
For trips I plan in advance, those options are too big a risk in my book.
I prefer to start tracking the rise and fall of flights as soon as I have the rough trip dates. Using Google Flight’s calendar comparison and the general feel of price changes, I’m usually happy booking when the flight price reaches the price I want to pay – no matter whether that’s 4 months or 2 months ahead of time.
Ideal booking window for international flights
If you’re traveling internationally, start tracking flights as early as possible, ideally as early as 12 months before your intended travel dates.
For example, if you want to take a summer vacation in Switzerland for two weeks in July, set up the flight tracking tools in August the year before, if possible (or as soon as you can).
This will give you two advantages:
You can gently watch the prices rise and fall so you know when a good deal comes along.
You have plenty of time to adjust the exact dates of your trip based on historical data and the real-time data you’re tracking yourself.
Often, I keep a notepad with notes like this:
- Fairbanks in February – nonstop
$534$429 - Quebec in March – nonstop
$372$292$206
As I cross out the higher prices, I wait for a lower than average price to appear and I pounce. The best thing is that I have 24 hours to confirm with my traveling companions to ensure the dates work for them, and if I need to cancel, it’s no problem.
Best days of the week to travel
Looking at historical data, the cheapest days of the week to fly are Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. These days are routinely 13% cheaper than flying on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.
Layover magic
In addition, the data shows that if you’re willing to opt for a layover rather than nonstop travel, you can probably get a better deal.
On average, nonstop flights are 25% more expensive than flights with stops–whether you want to spend a little more time in transit depends on how much time you have available. Personally, it’s often been a more restful experience to have a long-ish layover and get some exercise or sightseeing in before the next leg of flying begins.
Finally – what the experts agree on
Google and all the human travel experts agree on these things:
- Flight prices are constantly changing, and that makes prediction difficult.
- The data can show you past trends only – not future ones.
- It’s critical to start planning farther ahead when the date may be important (like weddings, school breaks, or Christmas).