purchasing airline tickets online – when is the best time to purchase?

sweetpea: purchasing airline tickets online – when is the best time to purchase?
When is the best time to purchase international airline tickets online? I had heard that the best deals only appear about 2 months before departure date, as that is when airlines will try to get rid of their empty seats – has anyone heard this or am I all wrong. I’m getting concerned – we are planning a trip to France in June and right now, tickets are expensive – but I wonder if they will be cheaper in April.

Answers and Views:

Answer by the M
when booking them don’t go back a few days later and then book them or the price will go up. you see a cheap deal that you like take it. that happens with cheap airlines like easyjet and ryanair

Answer by coolpyrofreak
Generally, for going to France, the tickets get much more expensive as it gets closer to your travel date. Unfortunately, the time you want to go is the start of the busy travel season. I doubt you will be able to find a flight to Paris under $ 1000 anytime in June. However, I have tickets to go to Germany in May, and I was able to get my tickets at a very cheap rate. If you really want to wait, I would watch Farecrawler.com. There are sometimes some excellent deals on flights.

The other problem with flying into Paris is that Charles de Gaulle is one of the busiest airports in the world and is one of the two main international airports on continental Europe, so that is going to cause tickets to be a little higher.

Answer by smyli12
yes your tickets willl be cheaper in april i think. i know someone who traveled in march to central america and said her tickets were very cheap b/c she traveled during i guess “off season” and there aren’t as many people traveling at that time. and yes it is cheaper to buy your tickets months in advance as well.

Answer by GWW
Some airlines (British Airways being one) will push out a limited number of really cheap seats for summer travel before Xmas. Most of the other airlines dont really offer their best deals until January/February. While they sometimes offer deals in April – it would only be if travel bookings were soft. I go to Europe at least – every 2 summers and I am normally looking for deals now until the end of February for travel into London. Because London now has 4 airports that you can connect cheaply anywhere in Europe – it often turns out to be cheaper to get a fare to London – then book on RyanAir, EasyJet or who ever to get a $ 20 fare to Paris etc.

Also some speciality places like BestFares.com offer up a deal where you fly into London get a couple of nights in a hotel for next to nothing then allow you fly onto your final destination for the same price.

If you want to monitor prices – see its a free service that emails out price changes as they are filed by the airlines.