Best Deals on International Flight Tickets

In the past, it was the least guarded mystery in the aviation industry: you get the best offer when you make your Tuesday flight reservation. You' re not getting the best offer on Tuesday. What's the best date? Best date to reserve your flight depends on who you ask. CheapAir.com's 2017 survey found that, on balance, no single weekday is better than any other to make a flight reservation - fares are less than 1 per cent different.

Hopper's 2017 figures, on the other paper, confirm that Tuesday at exactly 12:00 p.m. is actually the best date to buy tickets for flying domestically, even if it only means saving an estimated 18 US dollars, even though Thursday is the best Thursday for international flying. In December 2017, Expedia and the Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC) worked together on a joint flight traffic survey that found that Sunday was the best booking date for most cities.

So what about all the good business that landed on Tuesday? "There have been more past man-made interventions where executives have been able to make purchases in Flashs, often on Tuesdays and Wednesdays," Patrick Surry, Hopper's senior analyst, tells Bloomberg. A big determinant of how much your tickets cost is how far in advance you make your booking.

The CheapAir found that the cheapest rate on a flight changes 71 changes on one flight and goes up and down an average of $33 every four and a half flights. It also found that the best flight booking period was between three and a half hours before the trip, as tariffs are usually within five per cent of their minimum.

The CheapAir survey shows that the lowest flight times are Tuesday and Wednesday, when you can spend an estimated $73 per fare on a single flight. Expedia/ARC found that the best date for domestic trips depended on the airports, but Thursday and Friday were the best international time. If you want to conserve cash on your flights, it's best to anticipate and be agile about your itineraries ( PTO damn it!).

Nowadays, price may be determined by algorithm, but we human beings still have some tips up our sleeve. You can find more trip mysteries under "Cockpit Confidential: All you need to know about air travel: