Travel Tips: How to get the best deals while booking flight tickets online

Learn practical strategies to score the lowest fares when booking flights online, including timing, comparison tools, flexible dates, and alerts.

Planning a holiday but not sure what’s the best time to buy flight tickets? Here’s all you need to know about how to get the best flight deals

Get the best deals while booking flight tickets(Canva.com)

Ask any old-time traveller and they’ll tell you that Tuesday is the best day of the week to book flight tickets. That long-held belief wasn’t baseless - most airlines release sales starting from Monday night or Tuesday morning, which meant if you bought tickets when the sale started on Tuesday morning, you’d get a better fare than, say, you were booking on a Saturday.

But things have changed. Tuesday is no longer the best day to buy flight tickets; Sunday is. In its recent 2025 Air Hacks report, Expedia busts travel myths and offers conclusive suggestions on the best day to book flights, best day to travel, busiest/quietest month to travel, etc., to help travellers make informed decisions and get the best deals.

Expedia 2025 Air Hacks:

• Best Day to Book Flights: For the third year in a row, data shows Sunday is the cheapest day to book flights. Domestic travellers can save 6% while international travellers can save 17% compared to booking on a Monday or Friday, the most expensive days to book flights.
• Best day to travel: Domestic travellers should depart on Saturday instead of Sunday to save 17%. On the international front, Thursday is the cheapest day to fly - travellers can save 15% compared to flying on a Sunday, the priciest day, on average, to start a trip.
• Ideal Booking Window: Domestic: 34-86 days before travel date.
• Ideal Booking Window: International 18-29 days before travel date. Book international airfare not earlier than four months in advance, for optimal availability, selection and savings. Travellers who booked 28 days prior to departure saved 24% on average compared to those who waited until the last minute.
• Most Expensive Month to Travel: March
• Cheapest Month to Travel: August (Savings 12%).
• Quietest Day to Travel: Tuesday is the quietest day to travel.
• Quietest Month to Travel: February is the quietest month to travel.
• Busiest Month to Travel: July
• Cancellations: Data reveals that there are usually 12% fewer cancellations between 9 am and 3 pm. Year-to-date flight status data reveals flights that depart after 3 pm have a 50% higher chance, on average, of being cancelled than those that depart earlier in the day.
• September has the fewest cancellations (roughly 1.2%). August also sees the shortest average delays, making it one of the smoothest months for travel.

Tips to find the best flight ticket: Though various studies have picked the best day/month to buy flight tickets but the truth remains that there is no foolproof or universally accepted best day to buy tickets. Here are a few handy tips to find the best flight deals:

• Get smart with your searches. Compare flight prices on various platforms like Skyscanner.com, kayak.com, hopper.com, etc. Always compare prices before booking.
• Being flexible with your travel dates can make a big difference. Use Skyscanner’s flight search and select “Whole Month” to see which days offer the cheapest fares.
• Look for budget airlines; they invariably offer better rates. These discount airlines typically don’t provide drinks, meals or free seat assignment, but the final price could still be a great deal if you ignore the add-ons.
• To save more, avoid weekends, public holidays, and school vacation periods.
• Price Alerts: Set up Price Alerts early, as soon as you know your destination. You can also get price alerts for any routes that you have saved in Saved Lists.
• If you travel light, look for a Cabin-Baggage Fare because baggage fees might be hefty.
• Price Drop Protection: Data reveals that the prices of international flights sometimes drop a few days before departure, but instead of waiting last minute. Get Price Drop Protection that lets travellers get an automatic refund if the price of their flight becomes cheaper on Expedia after they book. Available for a nominal fee, or free for Gold and Platinum tier One Key members on the Expedia app.
• Studies show that the cheapest flights are in the early morning, say, pre-dawn or around dawn. Most people do not prefer setting out that early, but if you can, you can, snag a cheaper deal.
• Check the nearest airport flight price - often, it is cheaper to fly into the nearby smaller and less crowded airport. For example, flights into London Heathrow are often more expensive than flights into London Gatwick. It is often cheaper to fly into Newark (EWR) than New York JFK airport due to lower operating costs, less congestion, and fewer restrictions on airlines.
• Multi-city flights are a smart way to see more destinations in one go, by adding extra legs to your trip. They are typically less expensive than booking one-way flights between multiple destinations.
• Try the Travel Opportunistically strategy, that is, planning where to go based on places that have cheap flights. Use Google Flights' map view or Skyscanner’s “Everywhere” search, among others, to find the cheapest destinations from your home airport around your travel date.
• Sign up for newsletters like Going, Thrifty Traveller and The Flight Deal - you’ll get an email whenever an airline publishes ultra-low prices.

Best Airfare Search Sites:

1. skyscanner.com, skyscanner.co.in
2. tripadvisor.com
3. kayak.co.in
4. booking.com
5. google.com/flights
6. Tripinsider.com
7. hotwire.com
8. hopper.com
9. kiwi.com
10. priceline.com
11. CheapOAir.com
12. momondo.com
13. farecompare.com

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