Want a cheap flight? – then book 53 days in advance says new study

New research following exhaustive analysis of 12.6 billion fares across the globe says passengers should buy their air tickets 53 days before they plan to travel.

Flying is cheapest on a Tuesday and dearest on a Saturday according to latest research. Image by Stephen Wolfe / CC BY 2.0

The findings show that booking a seat at just under two months ahead of flying would cut the price by an average of 26%.

The study by Momondo, the British travel comparison site, also found that Saturday was the most expensive day of the week to fly.

Saturday’s averaged 11.5% more than a Tuesday that the research revealed was the cheapest day to travel..

The investigation has also highlighted the importance of the time of day when a passenger travels. The stats underlined that between 6pm and midnight was the time that cheaper fares were on offer.

The most costly time to fly was between 10am and 3pm – an average of 6% dearer than at any other time in the day.

The dearest tickets were the last minute ones, particularly if you try to buy one on the day of departure.

Momondo’s Lasse Skole Hansen said they had come up with golden travel rules that could secure the cheapest fares.

The research found that the optimum combination was to book for a Tuesday evening flight.