Best time to book flights?

[marco79]

I need to book flights for my family from Cpt to Durban 24 March returning 29 March.

How long before the time could I get the best price?

I checked prices yesterday and today, and it is 15% more expensive today.

 

[Cage Rattler]

Generally 6 weeks before flying according to international stats. For local depends on holidays, etc. and often earlier the better. But then, airlines seem to have various specials every now and again so difficult to have hard and fast rule locally. What sort of prices are you looking at? Also, maybe book outward and inward flights on different carriers for a cheaper total cost. Btw, overseas flights to Germany have increased by around 20% compared to last year when booking out 4 to 5 months in advance.

 

[ISP cash cow]

I read an article where it said to never book flights on a weekend. Apparently the best day to book flights is on a Tuesday and the sooner the better as prices tend to go up the later you leave it. However I cannot remember if the article was more about international flights than national.flights. also try travelstart.co.za as they tend to have good prices sometimes

 

[Grubscrew]

I don't know what magic they use, but recently I had to use a travel agent and she managed to get better prices than what I could get online.

 

[T-Man]

Check the same flight on a different browser/computer.

 

[pinball wizard]

What about going to the airport and getting a last minute ticket? Is that a myth or only on TV thing?

 

[chrisc]

I read an article where it said to never book flights on a weekend. Apparently the best day to book flights is on a Tuesday and the sooner the better as prices tend to go up the later you leave it. However I cannot remember if the article was more about international flights than national.flights. also try travelstart.co.za as they tend to have good prices sometimes

100% correct. Neighbour is a travel agent. Going to the airport also works, but less in SA since South Africans are known for always turning up to flights. Its big business in the USA and Germany though

She also said that travel agents, or the work, is a dying concern and in 10 years or less, there will be none left