Airfare Savings Tips for 2018

Ready for some Airfare savings tips for 2018! I’m sharing highlights from a report from ARC (Airlines Reporting Corporation) with airfare

Airfare savings tips-Photo by Ross Parmly on Unsplash

savings tips. This report was prepared by Megan Leader, senior brand and content strategist for ARC.

Many of my readers are consulting with me just in the past few weeks to begin planning their trips for the New Year. I read a report on Airfare savings tips for 2018 and share some highlights below. If you want to read the entire report, I share the link on the bottom of this post.

Airfare savings tips for 2018:

Economy travel:

For most economy air travel, booking more than30 days ahead often results in cheap-airfare success.
For most economy international flights, booking on a Sunday and departing on a Thursday or Friday is the best recipe to find a good price. (Noting highest [Average Ticket Prices] ATPs for international economy flights tend to occur on a Friday.)

Premium travel:

For most premium air travel, booking more than 30 days ahead often results in cheap-airfare success.
For most premium international flights, booking on a Saturday or Sunday, will save you money as compared to booking flights on other days of the week.
For most premium international travel, starting the journey on a Friday or Sunday delivers the lowest ATPs

Here’s our saving tip for leisure travelers wanting to upgrade to premium seats, at bargain prices:

book premium fares on the weekend, and/or start the journey on a weekend. Weekends are when travelers paid the lowest domestic and international premium ATPs, as this is when it’s least likely for corporate/business travelers to book their travel

Airfare Savings tips 2018 Photo by Suhyeon Choi on Unsplash

Mythbusted:

despite popular belief in the benefits of last-minute booking, in most parts of the world, no matter where you are headed, economy fares tend to increase as departure date gets closer. The most cost-effective booking lead time for an economy flight is one month, or even earlier, from the departure date.

Advanced Purchase ATP trends for Premium: As a rule, the further in advance premium fares are purchased, the cheaper the fare. So, in most cases, it pays to book early.

Insights from Corporate business Travel

During the same period as ARC data captured in this report (i.e., between Sept., 2016 — Aug., 2017), and also comparing year-on-year trends, Egencia clients (business travel management arm of Expedia) have been shifting to longer booking windows (15+ days out) for premium cabin tickets originating across multiple countries including the US, the UK and France. This indicates customers, or their travel managers, are savvy to this book-as-early-as-possible price-saving trend. A snapshot of Egencia data for the same period also shows one-third to one-half of its clients include Advance Purchase (AP) requirements in their policy, varying depending on country of origin and client segment (e.g. global businesses versus small and medium enterprise).

Insights into when the highest and lowest fares occur in North America:

International economy flights

Highest ATPs were paid in:

· December for international economy travel from US
· July for international economy travel from Canada

Lowest ATPs were paid in:
· February for US and Canada international economy flights

Domestic economy flights

Highest ATPs were paid in:

· June for economy travel within the US
· August for economy travel within Canada

Lowest ATPs were paid in:

· September for economy travel within US
· May for economy travel within Canada

There you have it, book sooner than later. And, last minute deals are a myth (for the most part). Want to see the entire report?

Click Here

Finally, do contact me for all aspects of your trip as your international airfare is one of the key parts of your trip where I will work with you.