Summer vacation, holidays, Christmas: when and how to buy airline tickets to save money in 2024

During your long-awaited trip, you don't have to spend a lot of money on flights, but rather spend it on your own pleasure. In fact, there is a way to do this, and it involves not only purchasing tickets in advance, but also finding the so-called "Goldilocks window" when you can save a lot of money on transportation. Depending on the holidays and seasons, this period has no precise boundaries.

The "Goldilocks window" varies depending on the type of travel - domestic or international, as well as the rush hour. Scott Keyes, the founder of Going, a flight booking resource, told The Washington Post that this period can last from a few days to several months. It's important to keep an eye out for changes in flights to save the most money on your flight.

The easiest way to choose the right time to travel is to subscribe to price change notifications, which are available from many ticketing services. In this case, it's important to analyze how much the price has decreased or increased on a daily basis and choose the best option.

Popular tourist destinations

Usually, flying to a popular tourist city will cost a lot of money compared to the same distance to places that are unfamiliar to the world. Moreover, if the trip coincides with a significant event in the desired country, such as the cherry blossom season in Japan, tickets will cost even more than at other times.

As a result, one possible way to save money on transportation is to travel to a tourist destination out of season. For example, it's best to go to sunny Spain in September or October, leaving the hot mid-summer to other tourists.

If there are no options to fly during an unpopular season, you should consider looking for tickets at the opposite time of year. For example, if you're traveling for Christmas, you should start thinking about the flight in the summer. For domestic travel, this time ranges from 3 to 7 months, and for international flights - from 4 to 10 months.

Traveling during non-festival times

For regular domestic travel during the period when there are no major celebrations in the destination city, the time of the Goldilocks window is reduced to 1-3 months. However, according to Keyes, for an international flight, you need to decide on tickets in advance, because they can be the cheapest in 2-8 months.

Spring vacation

To save money on your spring break vacation this year, you can look for cheap tickets in February. According to Keyes, this month is the cheapest of all the other eleven months for paying for a flight. According to Google Flights, prices for domestic flights in March and April are usually the lowest if you buy tickets 23-59 days before departure.

Summer vacation

"If you're thinking about traveling this summer, start planning now," said Hailee Berg, an economist at the Hooper app. The best prices can be expected from February to April.

Autumn vacation

"Last year we saw the lowest prices in the fall for domestic travel since at least 2018," Berg said. If you move your summer trip to September or October, you can save about 30% on airfare.

However, if you are planning a trip to a popular tourist destination, you should think about the flight in advance - 1-2 months earlier, i.e. for a domestic trip 1-5 months, and for an international trip 2-10 months.

Holidays.

To get to Thanksgiving, which this year is celebrated on November 28 in Western countries, the cheapest flights should be found in late September or early October.

You should start thinking about your New Year's holiday vacation in mid-summer. "When July 4 comes around, that's when you should look for flights for Christmas travel," Keyes said.

Earlier, OBOZ.UA told about the cities that can be visited in the very center of Eurasia - Kazakhstan. This underrated country has many cultural monuments and interesting places that are a must-see.

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