When to book flights

I started researching the best times to purchase airfare, since I had some flights to book for my BlogHer trip this summer.

While theories on the best window for buying plane tickets differ, most seemed to recommend purchasing 2-6 weeks ahead of your travel and caution against booking your flight too far in advance. (More details at the bottom of the post.)

I learned this 12 weeks ahead of my trip. I really wanted to get my airfare taken care of and move on to the next thing on my list, but this made me worry I’d be purchasing too early and regret it if prices went down later.

However, as I thought about it and did additional research, I realized there’s more to consider.

Before you book your flight, think about this:

• How low? – Those lower fares during ideal times are less than 6% lower than average. That’s about an $18 difference on a $300 flight.
• Averages aren’t guarantees – The fact that research has shown when prices have tended to drop in the past isn’t a guarantee the same will happen for your flight. When to buy is still a gamble.
• Holidays – When it comes to holiday travel (and possibly summer travel too), all bets are off and the earlier you book the better.
• Availability – You may have fewer choices about when you fly as weeks pass and flights fill up. If specific dates and times are important to you, you might want to book sooner to dibs a seat at your ideal time. (For example, I’m looking at certain flight times to make my upcoming trip itinerary work better. Also, I should watch out for early flights.)
• Peace of mind – For me, the relief of having this taken care of and off my plate outweighed the amount of potential savings I imagined could come from waiting.
• Refunds – Whether you can get a refund for a fare drop is another topic for another post, which I’ll be writing soon. (Subscribe or check back to see when it’s up.) [UPDATE: My post on airfare refunds is up now!]

In the end, I added all this up and decided to buy my tickets about 11 weeks ahead of my flight. It wasn’t what any source recommended, but it made the most sense for me and this particular trip.

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When different sources say to buy plane tickets:

• A 2012 study by the Airlines Reporting Corp. found that airlines offer the lowest fares 6 weeks before departure and the highest 1 week out.
• An infographic from Angie’s list compiled information from a number of sources and recommended 6-8 weeks out.
• Airfare tracking service FareCompare says to book domestic flights on a Tuesday at 3pm EST – but not earlier than 3 or 4 months out or later than 2 weeks out.
• CBS News Travel Editor Peter Greenberg says to book within 45 days (about 6 weeks) of your departure at Wednesday 1 am in your airline’s time zone. (Really.)