So as a budget traveller, I am super conscious of flight prices. I might have 15-20 different fare alerts set up at one time just to make sure I’m getting the best deal. I miss the days of being a student, when I could just hop on Student Universe or a similar site and pick out international flights under 1,000 USD a the drop of a hat. Unfortunately, being an adult means planning, and so here is some advice based on my personal experience.

Travel is often case by case, there are some parts of the year when you must book out several months or even a year in advance to get the best deal. Other times the price won’t fluctuate much from 10 months out to 3 months out. So I suggest when you first decide “Hey, I really want to go to XYZ” check out 3 months, 6 months, 10 months and a year out for international travel. Also, always price check in incognito mode! This blocks your computer from submitting cookies to your favorite travel sites and thus lets you always see the best deals (if a travel company knows they have your demand for a specific product, they’re less likely to offer you the best price because they assume you’re going to buy it anyways).

Set up fare alerts. If you’re feeling like you might not be able to swing the cost of your ticket right now, set up a fare alert and have your travel company send you emails when your fare price has dropped. This gives you a little wiggle room for budgeting and saving up and gives you a better idea of when the best times to travel to your favorite destination are.

It’s been my own experience that you get the best price on domestic flights either 3-6 weeks out or the night before your flight leaves (super risky, but sometimes worth it if you’re an early morning or late evening flyer; I highly recommend lastminute.com if you choose this route). But there are exceptions to this: keep in mind that October-April are considered “season” for southeastern beaches (especially Florida: I’m a native of a beach town, trust me) and May-August are big travel times for the West Coast (festivals, beautiful weather, etc.) Point being, research the tourist cycles of your destination and expect to pay more during the height of these cycles unless you book several months in advance.

If you’re travelling from the US or Canada to the Caribbean, plan about 2-3 months in advance for buying your airfare. Up this by a few months if you’re travelling in the winter. There’s a huge influx of “snowbirds” when the weather gets cold up north, so by staying ahead of the airline’s planning (and everyone else’s) you can often snag a winter getaway at a summer price.

If you’re travelling to Central and South America, I recommend 3-4 months advance if you’re north of the 35th parallel and 2-3 months out if you’re south of the 35th. Proximity helps keep the prices down longer and you’re more likely to get a better deal heading to Rio from Miami than you are from Saint Paul. And also keep in mind that it’s sometimes cheaper to fly from your home city to an international hub and grab another flight out of the hub. I like to check the price difference before booking. If I’m going to save more than the cost of the round trip airfare of going through the hub, I’m willing to add a little travel time and change planes! (I often fly out of JFK instead of National or Baltimore here because I save huge amounts of money [$300-$500] and I can easily take the Amtrak up to NY for under $100 round trip)

Europe can be a fickle creature when it comes to booking flights from the US. There really is no “sweet spot” for all of Europe. Eastern Europe is almost always cheaper to fly to than Western Europe (makes no sense to me since I’m flying farther, but whatever you say airline logic). I recommend the case by case approach I mentioned above. Check several different dates and take a look at the price differential. If you’re going somewhere popular like Paris or Rome, the price won’t really change by season, but less popular destinations can vary greatly. Also, remember that Europe is excellently connected by rail. So you can fly into a less popular destination and take the train to your desired location for much, much less than the original ticket.

I don’t have much experience flying east of Europe or west of Alaska, so the following information is based on a quick Kayak sweep I did. It seems that booking about 6-8 months out for Asia is a good bet if you’re on the East Coast. You lucky kids on the West Coast get a little more wiggle room, best pricing happening about 4-5 months out(This also applies largely to Australia). For more often traveled areas of Africa, like South Africa, Morocco and Egypt, you can usually book 3-4 months out and be sure you got a good deal. But if you’re connecting through Jo’burg or Marrakesh on to somewhere less traveled, you’ll want to put an extra 2 month cushion to work out your flight.

Do you have anything to add to this? I’m always looking for travel hacks to enhance my experience and pass on. Leave me a note and I’ll be happy to share it with my followers.

Happy Travels!