Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Travel

The Manual may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site.

Booking an international flight? Study reveals best time to buy (and fly) for every locale

We found the best days to book air travel and get big savings. You're welcome.

BethAnn Mayer
By

Summer vacations are back. After a couple of muted years because of COVID-19, expect more and more foot traffic at airports this year. But what about prices? If you’re looking to score a cheap plane ticket, you’ll want to be savvy when trip planning and booking flights. So many factors come into play regarding the price of air travel, from whether you’re looking at international flights vs. domestic flights to which day you take off. When you book may also matter. Airline prices may vary (just like their reliability).

What’s the best time to book a flight? What’s the cheapest day to fly? Cheapair.com analyzed more than 917 million airfares in every continent. The report is robust. We scoured it to bring you the answers to your most pressing questions.

airport at sunset

How to score a cheap plane ticket, according to data

Booking air travel? Here’s how to get the most bang for your buck, so you have more to spend at your destination.

Related

Canada

Average airfare: $45

Cheapest days to fly: Customers saved an average of $47 per ticket on Tuesdays compared to Sundays.

Recommended Videos

Cheapest months to travel to Canada: February and March

Mexico

Average airfare: $504

Cheapest days to fly: Wednesdays are the cheapest days to fly to our neighbors to the South. Customers pay $95 less flying on a Wednesday versus a Sunday, the most expensive day to fly.

Cheapest months to travel to Mexico: February and September. Expect to save $200 on a plane ticket in February compared to December.

Caribbean

Average airfare: $548

Cheapest days to fly: Score cheap tickets to the Carribean by choosing to fly on a Tuesday. You’ll keep about $79 in your pocket choosing that date versus the prime day, which is Sunday.

Cheapest months to travel to the Caribbean: January and February

Central America

Average airfare: $577

Cheapest days to fly: People who fly to Central America on a Tuesday save about $67 more than those who opt for a Sunday.

Cheapest months to travel to the Caribbean: January and February

South America

Average airfare: $798

Cheapest days to fly: Tuesday travelers snag the most savings — $75. Plot twist: Saturday is the priciest day to fly to South America.

Cheapest months to travel to South America: February, March, and May

Europe

Average airfare: $986

Cheapest days to fly: Tuesday airline tickets are generally the cheapest — $121 less per ticket compared to Saturday flights.

Cheapest months to travel to Europe: February and March

Africa

Average airfare: $1,287

Cheapest days to fly: Tuesdays, which are $90 cheaper per ticket than Saturdays.

Cheapest months to travel to Africa: February and March

Oceana

Average airfare: $1,977

Cheapest days to fly: Tuesdays generally net travelers $141 in per-ticket savings versus people who fly on Wednesdays.

Cheapest months to travel to Africa: October and November

Asia

Average airfare: $2,046

Cheapest days to fly: Wednesdays save customers $286 per ticket compared to Sundays.

South Pacific

Average airfare: $1,085

Cheapest days to fly: Save $96 per ticket by flying on a Tuesday instead of a Sunday.

Cheapest months to travel to Africa: February and March

Middle East

Average airfare: $1,287

Cheapest days to fly: Tuesdays, which are $90 cheaper per ticket than Saturdays.

Cheapest months to travel to Africa: February and March

A busy airport with people getting in line at check in.

What is the best time to book a flight and score a cheap airline ticket?

The best time to book a flight to each of these destinations is 10 months in advance. Some have longer prime windows for booking flights. For example, Canada’s prime window is about three to 10 months, and Mexico’s is 1.5 to 10 months. Want to jet off to Asia? Try to book at least 4.5 months in advance. However, the best time to book a flight remains 10 months to ensure the top price.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
BethAnn Mayer
BethAnn Mayer
Contributor
Beth Ann's work has appeared on healthline.com and parents.com. In her spare time, you can find her running (either marathons…
The 3 best ways to ship golf clubs when traveling
Instead of lugging those golf clubs through the airport, here are other ways to travel with your sticks
A golf bag with clubs in it out on the golf course.

When the weather warms up, golf courses everywhere prepare for the influx of players about to storm the green. If you use golf season as an excuse to get a bit of traveling in, the thought of how to transport your golf clubs might pose a problem.

Do you drag them through an airport or try to Tetris them in the car? Neither of those sounds like a good time, so we have other options you might want to take a swing at.
Send it, don't lug it
Ship golf clubs? Absolutely. You can ship anything these days. Well, not everything. You can't ship people anymore, and, yes, that used to be a thing. But we've all thought how much easier travel would be if we could magically teleport our luggage.

Read more
These are the most popular summer travel destinations, according to Google Flights
Know the hot summer travel spots so you know where you want to go for vacation - or where you want to skip
Tourists sightseeing in Rome.

Once that weather warms up, we can't wait to race to the most amazing vacation spots. Whether we like that everyone else on the planet also is going there or not, there are specific summer destinations that we will go to, no matter what. Google Flights did the work and tracked where the summer travel is likely going to happen. From solo travelers to couple's retreats, look at where the crowds want to flock to.

The most checked-out places
Make sure your passport is up-to-date, book that flight, and see if you'll join other vacation-goers to these popular spots. With a group of friends or the whole family, these are where most people have their eyes pointed.
In the US

Read more
These are the airlines US travelers avoid flying at all costs: Survey
Have a favorite airline you fly with? See if other travelers disagree
Man walking through airport with luggage.

Whether you have a vacation, a friend-cation, or a solo-cation you want to plan for, one of the largest expenses you think about is the flight. If you took the cost of your flight out of it, what airline would you most want to fly with? Or, maybe more importantly, what airline do you always stay away from? Well, The Vacationer did a little survey to see what travelers say are the worst airlines to fly with that they avoid at all costs.

How they obtained their info
No, they didn't just ask people boarding their flight for the day why they picked the airline they did. Sort of. They used SurveyMonkey. You had to be 18 years old to participate, but other than that, your opinion counted.
The stats by gender

Read more