When will plane tickets become cheaper? How to buy airline tickets cheaply. The earlier the better

It would seem, what kind of question is that? The sooner, the better. But this statement is only partly correct, because there are other factors besides the amount of time. Let's figure out when it's cheaper to buy plane tickets.

There are many authoritative studies that convincingly demonstrate how profitable it is to buy air tickets as early as possible. This causes many travelers to go out of their way to plan a trip a year from now, only to be disappointed when they find out that they could have saved the same amount (and sometimes more) by making the purchase a couple of months before departure. Why is this happening?

When can you buy the cheapest air tickets?

If you buy a ticket a year before departure, then this benefits, first of all, the airline, and not you. The carrier receives guaranteed passenger and working capital, and you will have a headache, because, you see, it is not easy to predict the date so much time in advance.

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Experienced travelers advise starting to think about buying an air ticket no earlier than 4-5 months before desired date. It is at this time that airlines, based on the percentage of flight occupancy, begin to “throw out interesting offers to the market.”

Most tourists consider the optimal time for purchase to be 90 days before departure, plus or minus 10 days. American journalist and traveler Peter Greenberg claims that the cheapest way to buy plane tickets is 50-60 days in advance. In his opinion, it is at this time that statistical data is updated and prices temporarily decline. But long-term statistics from CheapAir even give the exact date - 54 days.

When there are less than 50 days left before departure, the chances of buying a profitable ticket are rapidly disappearing. Apparently, not everyone knows this, since this is when the peak in demand begins. According to statistics, most tickets are purchased 30-40 days before departure, when they are almost the most expensive.

If you missed the 50-day mark, then there is still one more chance to get a cheap air ticket. True, the chance is quite risky, so you should resort to it only if the crash is not critical. You need to calmly wait for the time, and on the eve of departure, start “live” on the airline’s website, in the hope that someone will cancel the reservation and the ticket will be put up for sale at a bargain price. This happens, however, like miracles, it is very rare.

What days can you buy the cheapest air tickets?

Yes, don't be surprised. The day, and even the hour, of purchasing a ticket plays no less a role than the time remaining before departure. The cost of the same air ticket purchased, say, on Thursday evening and Friday morning, may differ by 10-20%.

The best days for shopping are Tuesday and Wednesday, when airline bases are updated. The already mentioned Peter Greenberg claims that the ideal time is one hour after midnight, on Wednesday. Whether this is true or not is unknown, but there is a certain sense in the fact that it is more profitable to buy plane tickets at night.

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Most people are looking chip flights on so-called aggregators, such as Aviasales.ru. These are sites that collect information from different agencies and operators by downloading prices from their pages. If you visit such a site during the day, when the load is increased, there is a possibility that it simply will not have time to load all the data in the allotted time. As a result, some of the tasty options may simply not be included in the search results. At night the load is minimal, which eliminates this possibility.

Thus, knowing when it is cheaper to buy plane tickets, you can save from 10 to 40% of their cost and fly more often to the countries you plan to visit.

Additional tools for finding cheap flights:

When it comes to vacation, our compatriots very rarely look ahead: for some, the reason lies in the fact that he puts off purchasing plane tickets until the last minute, since there is no extra money; for others, the dates of his vacation cannot be determined in advance due to manuals. As a result, even those who book air tickets 1.5-2 months before departure save only 6% of the cost. But it is possible to save up to 30%.

Airlines have long figured out that under New Year, on May holidays and in the summer, there are a lot of people who want to relax. As a result, ticket prices are always inflated these days. Carriers organize sales and promotions only when they cannot plan the loading of the aircraft in advance. This means that the actions of air carriers can be predicted and outplayed. So:

1. Choose dates for your vacation so as not to fall into the “peak season”.

2. Book your tickets before their prices go up.

When flights from Russia become cheaper

There are 2 periods when it is profitable to go on vacation from Russia. The first period begins from January 15 to the end of February. The most best time– mid-February, at this time air ticket prices drop by as much as 35% compared to the summer season.

The second period begins on November 15 and lasts until December 15. The most profitable time for a holiday in the autumn-winter period is from November 20 to December 12. Tickets for these dates will cost 33% cheaper than on new year holidays, and 37% cheaper than in summer.

The most expensive tickets fall during the summer and New Year periods, the overpayment can range from 15-21%.

When is it cheaper to fly to Europe?

Price increases in December, May and summer are an obvious pattern in airline pricing policies, but they can be easily circumvented. For example, you want to have an inexpensive holiday in Hungary. The cheapest time to buy tickets is in February, but the weather at this time is not entirely pleasant. But this is not a reason to plan a vacation for the May holidays or summer - these are the most expensive periods for a holiday in Hungary. Go on a trip between September and October - you can save up to 5% than the yearly average, and up to 15% than in May.

When is it cheaper to fly by sea?

It often happens that holidays are tied to the “peak season” - for example, to summer period. In this case, you won’t be able to outwit the airlines, but you can still save money. To do this, you need to avoid directions that use in great demand: for example, in August, air tickets to Montenegro soar by 10%, and to Croatia and Bulgaria by 2%. In June, tickets to Israel fall by 6%. If you can shift your vacation to the first week of September, then you can go to the UAE or Cyprus with a 5% savings.

When to buy air tickets for the May holidays

The deadline to buy tickets for the May holiday is the beginning of March. If you're in time, you'll save 15% on tickets. And you can save as much as 30% by booking tickets for travel as early as December.

The most ideal time to buy tickets for the May holidays to France, the Czech Republic, Greece, Germany, Spain, Hungary and Italy is November and December, you can save up to 16%. At the end of February, it is still possible to purchase air tickets for the May holidays in Europe at 8% lower average price, but then they will quickly rise in price.

Also, at the end of February you can still save on tickets for the May holidays to Canada, the USA, Cambodia, the Maldives, Thailand, Vietnam and Sri Lanka.

5 proven ways to save on airfare

1. You can save on tickets for flights from Russia by purchasing tickets in February and November. Manage your dates so as not to fall into the season of rising prices.

2. Choose dates for your vacation according to the seasonal decline for the country you are going to visit. It is more profitable to fly to the Maldives in June, to Thailand better in autumn, and to Canada - in February.

3. To save up to 33%, book your tickets 7.5 months before departure.

4. Do not purchase air tickets 1 month before departure. Basically, starting 5 weeks before departure, they begin to rise sharply in price.

5. If you already know exactly when and where you want to fly on vacation, then follow and compare ticket prices to catch a good deal.

Each airline has its own rules for selling air tickets. They independently create schedules and open ticket sales for their flights. Therefore, it is impossible to answer the question unambiguously. But usually all airlines begin selling plane tickets approximately 330 days before departure.

How many days before departure can you usually buy the cheapest air tickets?

Buying air tickets more than six months in advance is usually unprofitable - over time they become two times cheaper. But you shouldn’t postpone the purchase until the last day either - the price of tickets usually rises closer to the departure date. Although it also happens that if there are not enough passengers, air tickets may become cheaper immediately before departure. But hoping for this and postponing the purchase of air tickets until the last day is still very risky, especially if you are planning to fly to a resort destination during the season.
In our opinion,the best and least risky option is to purchase air tickets approximately 2-4 months before departure.
It was at this time that airlines began to offer various

Buying a plane ticket these days is not difficult - a simple query in a search engine will immediately give you dozens, even hundreds of links to sites where you can make a purchase. These can be official websites of airlines, websites of travel companies and agencies. But how to choose the optimal one from all the variety of offers? How to search for cheap flights? How to save on buying air tickets? How long before departure is it better to buy? Having studied your own experience, the experience of fellow travelers, as well as information various airlines and agencies on the Internet, we have collected answers to these and other questions in the form of 18 life hacks. After studying them, you will receive the necessary knowledge in order to buy the most profitable air tickets.

Search on airline ticket aggregator sites

To quickly and easily find the right air ticket at a good price, it makes sense to use metasearch engines or, in other words, aggregators. These are sites that do not carry out sales themselves, but perform the function of collecting information from airline websites and travel companies. Thanks to this service, you can literally in half a minute see offers from various carriers for the desired flight, sorted by ascending price, and choose the option that suits you. In addition, you can customize search filters to suit your wishes. For example, show only non-stop offers, select only evening departure times, show only certain airlines, and so on. In a word, customize the search for yourself and get only offers that satisfy your own needs.Once the choice is made, the aggregator site will redirect you to the website of the airline or sales agency to pay for tickets.

The most popular and convenient metasearch engines for air tickets are Aviasales and Skyscanner. See how it works - try searching for the direction you are interested in:

Aviasales has a very convenient mobile app, which is a pleasure to use on both iOS devices (download) and Android devices (download).

Use incognito mode in your browser

Modern browsers with which you view pages on the Internet save your browsing history, and sites selling airline tickets can easily use it. For example, you monitor ticket prices for a destination you are interested in for several days in a row, and the system gradually increases the price, or displays a message that tickets are completely running out and there are only a couple of seats left. All this is done with the sole purpose of giving you the impression that prices are rising, seats are about to run out and to encourage you to buy a ticket as soon as possible. These tricks can be circumvented by turning on the “incognito” mode in the browser, which does not save or take into account browsing history and cookies. To launch this mode, you can use a keyboard shortcut, depending on your browser:

  • Chrome or Opera: Ctrl + Shift + N (Windows), Cmd + Shift + N (Mac).
  • Firefox: Ctrl + Shift + P (Windows), Cmd + Shift + P (Mac).
  • Safari: Shift + Cmd + N (Mac).
  • Internet Explorer: Ctrl + Shift + P (Windows).

The same function is available for smartphones. For example, if you have an iPhone, then in the Safari browser for iOS it is called “Private” or “Private Access” in Russian translation. And if you have an Android smartphone, then in the Chrome browser you can use “New incognito tab”.

Browse the Internet anonymously

The incognito mode described above does not take into account the history of your previous visits, but at the same time does not hide other available information about you. This may be the browser and device from which you access the site, as well as your physical location. For example, if we try to access the flight aggregator Skyscanner from Indonesia, we will automatically be shown the Indonesian version of the site, and will also select the local currency (rupiah) to display all prices. From this we conclude that information about us is accessible and successfully used. But it can be used not only for the convenience of users, but also for separate pricing. With a high degree of probability, Macbook owners (as expensive products) or people located in a developed country (USA, UK, etc.) will be offered more high prices.

To avoid this, you can use a service called VPN (Virtual Private Network), in Russian it is a “virtual private network”. The service allows you to replace your real IP address with a virtual one, so sites will not know your actual location, as well as the device from which you access the Internet.

One of the most popular and easy to use is the Hola service. It is installed as a browser extension and supports all the most popular ones - Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Android, Internet Explorer. Through Hola, you can choose the country whose IP address we will imitate. Thus, you can, for example, use the Yandex.Music service, which is available for free only to people in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus or Kazakhstan, even while outside these states. And also compare prices for air tickets under different countries. Of course, there is no point in looking at all countries of the world; it is enough to check one developed western country(Great Britain, Germany), one Eastern European (Romania, Hungary), one Asian (Thailand, Vietnam) and Russia. And choose the cheapest option.

Don't fly during high season

Modern pricing almost everywhere involves the principle of seasonality, in which the highest price is offered during periods of greatest demand. For example, if we go to the cinema on Friday or Saturday evening, we will pay 2 or even 3 times more for watching the same film compared to Monday morning. The same thing happens with air tickets. For flights from Russia, the high season is the end of December, New Year holidays, May holidays, and almost the entire summer. During these periods, you will have to significantly overpay for tickets in almost all directions. The most favorable time for flights from Russia is the period from mid-January to the end of February, as well as from the beginning of November to mid-December. At this time you can save up to 30% compared to high season, and sometimes even more. If you don't believe me, compare the prices yourself. It is understandable that many people find it difficult to find the opportunity to go to the cinema on Monday morning or go on a trip in November, but with a lot of desire and a limited budget, nothing is impossible! In addition, you can try intermediate options, such as September or October.

Fly midweek

The same applies to the days of the week. Weekends are traditionally in higher demand because most people usually go on vacation on Saturday or Sunday, after the end of the work week, and return on the same days, at the end of the vacation and the beginning of a new five-day work week. Monday and Friday are popular days to start and end business trips. We conclude that the most profitable days for flights are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Don't be tied to specific dates, be more flexible

It often happens that we plan a flight on a certain day and do not consider any other options. However, it may well be that by checking dates a couple of days earlier or later, we can find a much cheaper ticket. The largest aggregators Aviasales and Skyscanner have a low price calendar function, which clearly shows in the form of a table or graph the most favorable dates for flights in the desired direction.

Fly on low-cost airlines

Low-cost airlines (English: low cost) are airlines offering more low prices on tickets, while cutting down on service and everything Additional services. On such flights, baggage is not included in the price (only hand luggage), no free meals on board, no refund option for a paid ticket, self-pre-registration online and printout is required boarding pass. If you are not confused by any of the listed nuances, you can save a decent amount. Here are the most popular low-cost airlines: RyanAir (all of Europe), easyJet (Europe), WizzAir (central Europe), AirAsia (all of Asia), TigerAir (Asia), GoAir (India) and many others.

Fly from major hubs

There are many cities in the world that are large transport “hubs” with large developed airports and a huge amount flights in various directions. In this regard, since there are many more flight options and higher competition, it is often necessary to fly from such large nodes much cheaper. In Russia, as you might guess, such a city is Moscow. Therefore, if you are going, for example, to India, then even if you live in St. Petersburg, do not be lazy to check flights from the capital. You can get from St. Petersburg to Moscow by train or bus, spending only 1000 rubles, but you can save a much larger amount on a flight from Moscow. There are quite a lot of similar examples. If you are in Phuket in Thailand, check flights from Bangkok. If you're in Penang, Malaysia, check flights from Kuala Lumpur. And so on.

Using the example of air tickets to Bangkok, we demonstrate that flights from Moscow are much cheaper than from other major Russian cities:

Share your route and use local low-cost airlines

Sometimes, to save on flights, you can try to divide the route into 2 or more sections. To begin with, you can fly to one of the major transport hubs described above, if you wish, stay there for a day or two, and then fly to your final destination by plane local airlines. This method can be much cheaper direct flight. For example, we are from Moscow and want to relax in Thailand on the island of Phuket. Instead of taking a more expensive direct flight, we can first fly with the same Aeroflot to Bangkok, see the capital of Thailand, and then get to our final destination with the local low-cost airline AirAsia. The money saved will just allow us to live one or two days in Bangkok.

Consider exchange rate information

If your future flight is international, then the ticket price in rubles will be calculated based on the dollar or euro exchange rate. Where does this course come from? Most often it is installed International Association Air Transport(IATA) once a week. This happens on the night from Tuesday to Wednesday. The new rate is formed from the rate of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, rounded up to 50 kopecks, and begins to operate at 0:00 every Wednesday. The established rate will be valid until the end of next Tuesday. Accordingly, for example, if you see that the ruble is growing, then it makes sense to wait until next Wednesday to buy a ticket at a more favorable rate. If the ruble falls, then, on the contrary, have time to make a purchase before the end of next Tuesday. However, it is worth noting that the IATA rate is not forced to be used by airlines; some can calculate it themselves.

Use search in all directions

If you have not yet decided where you want to go and are free to choose your destination, try searching in all directions. It will show you all the airports you can fly to from your current location in ascending order of price. With this approach, you can find the optimal solution that combines your desires with your current financial capabilities.

Buy tickets in advance

What is the best time before departure to buy air tickets? The question is quite ambiguous. The well-known American airline ticketing agency CheapAir conducted a major study, examining data from 1.3 billion fares on almost 3 million flights (a flight in their case is a round-trip route from point A to point B with fixed dates). As a result of the study, the optimal time to purchase tickets was calculated - 54 days before departure. According to statistics, this is when they have the lowest cost. Of course, this is an average result and may not work for every specific case. Therefore, for greater clarity, CheapAir has allocated 5 time zones for purchasing air tickets. Airlines typically begin selling tickets 11 months before departure, setting fairly high prices, which tend to decline thereafter. The decline can continue until there are only 3 weeks left before the flight. The most profitable period for purchase is 21-112 days before departure, and the least profitable period is 0-13 days before departure. It is clear that the spread of the optimal time was almost 3 months, which is quite a lot. But it is precisely at this time that it makes sense to most actively check changes in ticket prices.

Check charter flights

If you like to buy air tickets at the last minute, a few days before departure, or you simply have such circumstances - you urgently need to fly in the very near future, then it makes sense to try to find an inexpensive charter flight. Such flights are usually purchased by travel agencies and are intended for package tours. But almost always last days before the departure date still remain free places, which are offered for sale at very attractive prices. The most popular site for finding last minute tickets to charter flights- Tourdom.ru. The downside is that you can only find popular ones there tourist destinations. For example, from Moscow they usually fly to Bangkok, Phuket, Goa, Nha Trang, Rhodes and other places that are in great demand among Russians.

Subscribe to price update newsletters

From the largest aggregators air tickets Aviasales and Skyscanner has a subscription feature for price changes. By selecting the direction and date of the expected departure and leaving your email address, you will receive an email when the cost of tickets changes. Don't be afraid, letters will arrive no more than once a day. As soon as you understand that the price suits you, or you get tired of waiting for it to go down, you can proceed to purchase!

Follow airline promotions

Airlines like to organize various promotions and Special offers when tickets can be bought for very interesting prices. Such promotions bring them a significant percentage of sales, so they organize them quite often. To stay informed and not miss a profitable ticket, you can subscribe to our newsletters. However, we are unlikely to want to litter our Mailbox hundreds of letters from all possible airlines, so it makes sense to look at sites that find and collect interesting promotions in one place. Try it vandrouki.by, 100500miles.ru and piratesru.com.

Buy round-trip tickets

If you know the date of your return flight and are sure that you will not want to stay longer where you are flying, feel free to buy a round-trip ticket. It will always cost an order of magnitude cheaper than if you took flights separately. See for yourself using the example of the Moscow-Phuket flight:

Earn miles

Many airlines have bonus programs. If you fly often, then by participating in such a program, over time you can accumulate enough points (miles) for free ticket. Aeroflot, S7, AirAsia and many other airlines have similar programs. If you are an avid traveler, take the time to register and provide your account number with every purchase. It will take a minimum of time, but in the future there is a chance to fly for free.

You can earn miles not only by purchasing tickets, but also on any purchases in general - many airlines cooperate with banks that issue special debit or credit cards. By paying with them, you can accumulate treasured miles. An example of such a card is “All Airlines” from Tinkoff Bank. Once you sign up, you will immediately receive 1,000 welcome miles to your account. Further, when paying for any purchases with this card, you will receive 2% of the total cost in your account in the form of miles. And for certain purchases the size of bonuses can be 5% or even 10%. When you have accumulated enough miles for the desired ticket, you can travel for free!

Act smart

And finally, the final, but no less important piece of advice - act wisely. There is no point in spending several hours, bothering with a VPN, and so on, in order to save 300-500 rubles on a flight from Moscow to St. Petersburg. Most likely, you will earn more if you spend this time on your work or business. Compare the time spent searching for profitable tickets and the benefits you can get as a result. And if you feel that it is not worth it, just make a choice and make a purchase.

22.04.2016, 09:13

Due to the fact that the price of a flight depends on the load on airline flights, the cost of plane tickets is constantly changing. It is often not easy to understand the logic of these fluctuations. But still, some patterns still exist, and we will help you find the answer to the question, When are plane tickets cheaper??

1. How many days in advance is it better to buy plane tickets in order to buy them cheaper?

Typically, all airlines begin selling tickets approximately 330 days before departure. But buying air tickets more than six months in advance is often unprofitable - over time they become two times cheaper.

It’s also not worth buying plane tickets on the last day - their prices usually go up. Although it also happens that if there are not enough passengers, air tickets may become cheaper immediately before departure.

But hoping for this and postponing the purchase of air tickets until the last day is still very risky, especially if you are planning to fly to a resort destination during the season.

In our opinion, the best and least risky option is to purchase air tickets approximately 2-4 months before departure. It is at this time that airlines begin air ticket sales, offer promotions and discounts, stimulating sales, so you will have the highest chance of purchasing an air ticket at a low price.

2. On which day of the week is it more profitable to buy plane tickets?

Most often, plane tickets are cheaper on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. On Friday and Sunday there are usually no discounts on air tickets, and their prices reach their peak. Airlines offer discounts on air tickets most often on Thursdays.

3. At what departure time are plane tickets cheaper?

Night flights and flights between 17:00 and 20:00 are usually the cheapest.

4. Cheapest time to buy tickets

Typically, the best time to buy cheap plane tickets is 1 am from Tuesday to Wednesday (time zone of the city where the airline's head office is located).

Since ticket prices often fluctuate unpredictably, and airlines have different

 

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