Small Group Tour Travel Blog

24May

How Far in Advance to Book International Airline Tickets

The Professor books approximately 100 international flights each year for his travel clients. A question The Traveling Professor gets quite a bit from travelers is "When Should I Book My International Flight?". Before answering, there are a few things flyers need to know beforehand:

Flight schedules for international flights become available 330 days in advance. So, if booking a round-trip flight from New York to Rome departing on October 1, 2025 and returning on October 10, 2026, that flight could have been booked November 23, 2020 at the earliest.
On legacy carriers like American, Delta, United, Lufthansa, etc. it is can be significantly cheaper to book a round trip flight instead of two one-way flights.
Check passport and visa requirements. Going into effect this year is the UK ETA.

So, when is the best time to purchase international airfare?

If buying with award miles, purchase tickets ASAP. Also, if you have been reading The Traveling Professor's blog posts, please be reminded that it IS recommended to purchase one-way flights using award miles. Also, avoid purchasing award miles tickets where routing takes you through London LHR or other UK airports - the additional fees can be unreasonable.
If buying with award miles and the flights you want are not immediately available, sometimes additional seats will be released 30 days ahead of departure time.
If purchasing international airfare with money, it is usually best to purchase far in advance. Otherwise, we find the "sweet spot" to be about 2-3 months in advance.

Some Rules to Ignore

Some will say that Tuesdays are the best time to buy airfare. Study after study shows that there is no significant difference from buying airfare on any particular day.
A rule to ignore is that airline ticket pricing is based on logic. After purchasing international airfare for over 25 years on hundreds of overseas trips, The Professor's experience tells him there is little "rhyme or reason" to why airline tickets are priced and what "rules" are followed.