Need two return UK internal tickets for November.

Is there an optimum time to buy them, or is it just a case of keeping on looking as the prices fluctuate.

Or is this in fact a load of bollocks?

Prices go up as seats get bought, so the more popular the plane the faster the cheap ones go.

Pick your route, see who flies, pick how much you want to pay, make sure you know what is in and not included with whoever you choose. The price is not always what it costs.

So not likely to go down then?

No. Usually earlier = cheaper

Budget airlines they only go up…

Ok thanks

There was some analysis done on when the best time, will be on Google somewhere and they do sometimes
go down a little, but not for long or by much, generally earlier is better.
One thing I’ve noticed is they seem track you checking the price, if you look at the same flight a couple of times they put the price up because they know you are likely to buy it, found a number of times this has happened and on checking the same flight from work it’s cheaper at the old price.

I think I’ve found it.
skyscanner linky and Guardian linky

Yep use a phone on data then a computer on broadband.

Crazy though.

Book early as poss? 6 months?

Use a broker?

Planes can go down anytime. Hopefully it doesn’t. I hate
flying but ships take too long.

I heard on the radio that the cheapest time to buy tickets from the budget operators was about 6 weeks before.

Planes can go down anytime. Hopefully it doesn’t. I hate
flying but ships take too long.

Sea going ferries are statistically the most dangerous form of mass transport.

There have been numerous disasters with massive loss of life. A lot of accidents have happened out in Indonesia and the Philippines so get little publicity.

Hmm from the SkyScanner link

5. NB!
There is no golden rule or set date when all flights are at their cheapest. However our hope is that by sharing our knowledge and providing you with the tools to do your own research, you will feel confident in making an informed decision when it comes to booking your flights.

They should probably start with “We make money when you use our site to book flights”
and from the Guardian piece

However, Filip Filipov of Skyscanner advises that while five weeks is the average, the optimum time to book your flight can vary significantly between destinations. “Price patterns can vary by type of airline and between short and long haul travel, so is very much destination dependent.”

but follow with

The best time for flights to Turkey, for example, is 13 weeks before departure, while the US should be booked five months (21 weeks) ahead.

Which really means have a look, if the price is acceptable then book, if you want to gamble the there will either be
1) A sale on
2) They drop the prices
3) Your destination suddenly becomes unpopular

There are times when I book flights a couple of days in advance and get a nearly empty flight with really cheap fares, but normally I pay a hell of a lot more for not being able to plan.

So basically it’s a gamble?!

I’ll just book them, don’t want to miss the rugby now!

Ah if your booking flights because you need to be somewhere at a certain time, book them.

As late as possible, pay full fare, fly with a super brand and keep me in employment with a healthy bonus :lol

But seriously as mike says above if you need to be somewhere, then book them. The days of airline’s off loading seats at last minute prices has passed, probably been that way for more than 10 years now.

Not saying never say never, but on a domestic service, unlikely, when there is rugby on, even less so

The cheapest seats on the budget airlines are the earliest ones so hang around their website until the flights for the day you want are available. I’ve been doing this for the past few years with flights to Sofia with Easyjet and got the cheapest flights available. They will have x number of seats at the lowest prices then y number of seats a bit more pricey, z number of seats more expensive still and so on and so forth, so get in as soon as they come available then you’ll get the cheapest. The only exception is when they advertise a ‘sale’ on tickets – but you can’t predict that and they might have restrictions so unless you are flexible on flight dates/times/destinations you’re unlikely to be able to take advantage.

Don’t discount the proper scheduled airlines too – if you book early enough they are often competitive with budget airlines. On the face of it the budget airlines advertised prices seem cheaper – but their advertised prices bear no resemblance to the price you end up actually paying by the time all the cheeky hidden charges are added on.

I stumbled upon this and thought of stw:

“Book your flight 21 days before you want to fly: Booking a flight is like playing a game of chicken. Airlines want to get the most money possible for their tickets and have sophisticated computer algorithms that adjust their prices automatically. Book too early, and you might miss out on some major deals. Book too late, and you might be shocked to see prices skyrocket. The general consensus is to book your flight 21 days before your planned departure date to get the best deals.
Tuesday is the best day of the week: Most airlines update their reservation systems on a Tuesday at 7pm GMT. People tend to buy the bulk of their tickets on the weekend, so airlines make changes on one of the slowest days of the week – Tuesday.
Fly on Tuesday or Wednesday: Tuesday and Wednesday are the least busy days at airports, and are also the cheapest days to fly. As an added bonus, you’ll also have less people to deal with at the airport. Friday and Sunday are the peak flying days of the week, and are the worse, and most expensive days to fly.
Book Early for International Flights: The best deals for international flying are found 11-12 weeks in advance. You can also try flying into smaller airports, which sometimes have better deals.
Eat Your Cookies: Delete your Internet browser cookies if you’ve visited an airline site within the last 30 days. It’s been discovered that some airlines will raise prices for previous visitors to their websites.
Compare Prices: Use travel search engines, in addition to airline websites, to make sure you’re getting the best deal possible.”

Airlines use very complex algorithms to maximise revenue from bookings. It isn’t as simple as book early or late.
Very early = really need the flight, so charge a lot.
Very late = desperate for a flight, so charge a lot.
Inbetween it fluctuates.

+1 as early as possible especially when here’s an event on at the destination