TFC Answers. How far in advance should you book your flight to save money
Probably, if I compiled the top5 questions I am asked most often, the one that asks the best timing for [...]
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Probably, if I drafted the top5 questions I get asked most often, the one asking for the best timing to book an airline ticket would be on the podium.
In all honesty I think it is impossible to answer this question with serious foundation, however, there are some elements to take into consideration.
How far in advance should you book an airline ticket to save money
As mentioned the perfect answer to this question does not exist, as in my opinion are just urban legends those of booking mid-week and I've never found any real use in using a VPN to scout out a cheaper ticket, also because a lot of carriers now have put a constraint on the nationality of the credit card used to pay, for example if you try to book on AA.com you are still sent back to the Italian site to finalize the booking.
The first thing to understand is. How long before airline tickets go on sale, because contrary to some hotel chains it is not possible to book very far in advance. If we are talking about traditional airlines hardly exceed 11 months in advance, for low-cost airlines sometimes even less.
The average range is 330 to 350 days in advance, this means that if you want to book today for the May 1, 2025 bridge, you will not be able to move until mid-June 2024 at the earliest.
How to evaluate the ticket price
There are tools, such as Google Voli, which make it possible not only to monitor price trends, but more importantly to see a rate history and thus understand whether we are talking about an average price or not.
I use so many aspects of the search engine to unearth cheap routes, perfect for my reviews, and whenever I catch some interesting fares lTo shoot immediately on our free whatsapp channel.
At the same time. I also disprove the legend that under date it is impossible to find affordable rates or premium places, as we have recounted in several articles in the past.
Booking a ticket well in advance why yes and why not
Many readers tell me "but how can you plan so far in advance," but just as many readers tell me "lucky you that you can travel when you want and not only during the classic vacation periods." Sure if you have "commanded" vacations moving in time, especially when it comes to award tickets, is a very good thing.
It should not be forgotten that vacation calendars do not correspond in different countries, so what is very high season for us, is not for others or vice versa. When I think of educational stops in the UK, Germany or France if we exclude Christmas and Easter they are profoundly different from those in Italy and this opens up the possibility of finding affordable tickets during other people's off-season periods. Taking advantage of a stopover in Paris, Frankfurt or London.
Booking a cash ticket with ample time has advantages and disadvantages:
- The company may make adjustments to operations and cancel/change flights
- External events could change the situation in the chosen destination
In the former case the passenger is protected, in the latter case not. It may then happen that on the occasion of new route openings the company to support the launch of the route applies attractive offers to kick off sales, this happens so much with low-cost and less with traditional carriers, but it is not so rare. One advantage of these company changes is that opens up the possibility of adjusting the trip, perhaps by lengthening it or changing the airports of arrival/departure.
Poodle's advice
The beauty of award tickets is that they are flexible and rarely have small penalties for changes and cancellations. So my advice is if you find the place you are looking for you have to book ASAP, don't tergiversate because places go away like hot buns, as told one of our readers very well, If, on the other hand, you are aiming for a cash ticket understand, thanks to the tools found online, whether the fare is affordable or not and also take advantage of The indirect benefits that booking too far in advance can give.
- 6,000 Mile Registration Bonus
- Collect miles WITH EACH PURCHASE
- Your miles with no expiration*
- No fees for ATM withdrawals and foreign purchases
- Without having to change banks
- Autonomous card activation
- Multi-function mobile application
- Free travel insurance
- Free credit for up to 7 weeks
- Contactless Payment
- Mastercard® SecureCode
- 20€ discount directly in your statement by spending €60 in one or more transactions with Carta on Italotreno.it
- Free fee the 1st year. From the 2nd €5.50 per month
- You can choose to pay in full or in installments
- Premium level of the Italo Più program
- 4 Vouchers per year for access to Italo Club Lounges
- Preferential Access to Italo's Fast Track at the station
- For every 5 purchases of Italo ticketing and/or onboard services made with Italo American Express Credit Card you will receive 1 voucher for room upgrade
- Welcome bonus of 100,000 Volare points upon reaching 6 thousand in spending in the first 3 months after card issuance
- Accumulate 1.5 qualifying Volare points for every euro spent, accumulate an additional 3 non-qualifying Volare points ( for a total of 4.5 Volare points) for every euro spent on ticketing purchases and other services offered by ITA Airways
- Access to the Premium Club of ITA Airways' Volare program.
- ITA Airways Lounge Access
- Free excess baggage
- Points Back