Cheap Air Flights

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The best way to make a reservation? A further data-driven hypothesis

The attempt to decode the best timeframe for buying air ticket is like a Reddit-Threads about Making A Murderer. Mumondo is insisting that you click on the "Book Ticket" link 53 working days before your flight starts; Expedia will suggest a 77 to 176 day lead according to your destinations; and the FareCompare executive will only list the times when you should not make reservations.

CheapAir.com has also put its data-driven cap in the ring by analysing 1.3 billion fares from 2015 and setting up five "zones" where travellers can find the best times to reserve a flight. Said Jeff Klee, chief executive officer of CheapAir.com: "For fifty-four is a good number to begin with, but it's important to know that every journey is different.

This is why we have the Prime Booking Window, which is between 21 and 112 flights before take-off. The best moment to buy anywhere in the area for most home travel." Fifty-four calendar nights? Gah, what about 53 days?) This one-day gap aside, CheapAir's five zone tour plan includes:

The first reservation (335-197 working days before departure): CheapAir's analyst says those who make this early booking are paying on an average $50 more than those who make it during the Prime Booking Window. Conflict of mind (196-113 workingdays after departure): Travellers who make bookings that far in advance may have more possibilities to fly, but they could still be able to afford up to $20 more per tick.

Prime-booking window (112-21 working days before departure): Three months is quite a long sweet-spot, but CheapAir says rates can change almost every day, so if you see a ticket that looks too good to be real - make your booking now. Pushing Your Heart (20-14 day before departure):

Sure you could find some kind of deals this weekend, but you could be paying an additional fee for your hesitation - or finding that the ticket you saw is out of stock. Praise be to Mary (13-0 day before departure): It' s seldom ( and CheapAir rarely stresses the word) bargain, but most of the times, travellers who are waiting until the last moment could somewhere between $75 - $200 more than they would be paying during this prime booking window.

explained to CheapAir: "that you can count on to make a recall x few trading day in advance and know that that is the best date to book." However, it has built a "When to Buy Flights" computer that allows you to input your departures and arrivals airport and then tell you when the best moment to buy this rate might be.

Perhaps this is a good opportunity to emphasise the floor, because the only thing that seems certain when you buy air fares is, well, all this insecurity.