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Just wondering if flights get cheaper nearer the date of departure or is it better booking as far in advance as possible?
in my experience they always go up the closer to departure date. book as far in advance as you can
Wot he said.
As far in advance as possible. Last minute prices are hiked for business customers who are less price sensitive and tend to travel at short notice.
Occasionally they canbe cheaper later if the flight is underbooked but I'd never bank on it.
Budget airlines always go up!
Others may do deals very late in the day
Ampthill nails it. 'Proper' airlines often do last minute deals. Often to fill undersold cabins. I recently got First to Seattle for less than Club. Which was nice. 🙂
I got a cracking deal on a flight Australia a few months ago, booked it 3 days before I traveled. This involved constant monitoring of several booking sites and I would say is a dangerous game to play, especially if you're fixed in your dates and/or have other people relying on you.
It does depend on location, airline pricing systems are not so straightforward as to simply price based on time to departure. On average 7 weeks is the cheapest point, but varies significantly depending on where you are going from and to https://www.skyscanner.net/bttb/best-time-to-book-uk
Depends. If it is a popular flight then you will pay more the closer to the departure date, if they're struggling to fill the flight then you'll get good deals. Pricing is the only mechanism airline have to stimulate demand. If there is high demand then the prices will go up, if low the prices will come down. When I travel with work if I don't book flights three or four weeks in advance i'll either not be able to get a seat at all or will be paying double or more for the same seat.
If you want to play the last-minute game try Turkish Airlines via Istanbul; I flew to Addis with them last month and the C cabin was almost empty.