If you want a great deal on a holiday flight, try to buy your ticket about 38 days before a domestic departure. That is when you are most likely to find rock-bottom pricing, according to four years of aggregated Google Flights data.
Historically, domestic travelers get the best deals in a window between 21 and 52 days before takeoff, Google says.
Prices tend to be lowest for Thanksgiving travel when you book 45 days before departure, with a low-fare window of 26 to 59 days out. So, booking in early October might be in your best interest.
For Christmas, prices bottom out about 58 days prior to departure, with lower prices most likely to pop up between 36 and 72 days before your flight date. That means you might be better off booking during the last two weeks of October.
The rules are a bit different for international travelers. For flights overseas, your best bet is to book as soon as you can, according to Google.
You are likely to get the best deals on international travel if you purchase a ticket 50 days or more in advance of the flight, with 101 days prior to departure offering the absolute best deals.
Google says that for international flights, you are unlikely to see prices drop meaningfully at any time. However, they will begin to rise once you get within 50 days of departure.
The analysis of flight data also found that:
- Tuesday is the cheapest day to book. However, it’s only 1.3% cheaper than booking on the most expensive day, Sunday.
- The cheapest days of the week to fly are Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Traditionally, they have been 13% cheaper than flying on Friday, Saturday or Sunday.
- Nonstop flights are 25% more expensive than flights with layovers.
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