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How to find cheap flights
If you want the cheapest flight to Nice, Paris or Seville this summer, start thinking about booking in the next few weeks.
When Which? analysed flights data from Skyscanner, there were some destinations where - last year - the cheapest flights were found by booking almost six months in advance.
For Paris it was 26 weeks - meaning for a late-July trip you’d need to book this week.
However, for other destinations the cheapest flights were bagged just a few weeks before departure. For summer holidays to the Algarve (Faro) it was five weeks, Athens six weeks, and Tenerife 10 weeks.
When you book can make a big difference to how much you pay.
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When is the cheapest month to fly?
The cheapest time to go is when it’s cold and most people don’t want to go.
However, if you don’t mind wearing a coat to check out the beauty of Barcelona, Lisbon or Seville, you can save by travelling in January. November and early December are also cheap months.
For 13 of the 16 short-haul routes we looked at, January was the cheapest month. For long-haul flights there was more variation, with March the cheapest month to fly to New York or Cape Town, and November is best for Chicago and Sydney.
When’s the cheapest time to book Easter flights?
Want an Easter break in Dublin, Seville or Valencia? If last year is a guide, you need to be booking your flight around now for trips in April.
For most destinations, the best prices were found by booking between three and six months in advance, but for Valencia and Dublin it was 12 weeks and for Seville it was 13 weeks.
When’s the cheapest time to book for December?
Early December is a cheap time to travel, but prices shoot up at Christmas.
You don’t need to book as early as you would for the summer. It usually pays to buy your flights around three months in advance, although this varies.
For Budapest and Tenerife, the cheapest flights were just eight weeks in advance last year. For Nice you needed to book 23 weeks in advance to get the best deal.
When to book the cheapest flights
Destination | How far in advance to book for April | How far in advance to book for August | How far in advance to book for Christmas | Cheapest month to fly |
Amsterdam | 20 weeks | 15 weeks | 20 weeks | January, £86 |
Athens | 18 weeks | 6 weeks | 10 weeks | January, £75 |
| Bangkok | 25 weeks | 8 weeks | 16 weeks | January, February or March, £386 |
Barcelona | 17 weeks | 13 weeks | 17 weeks | January, £50 |
Berlin | 24 weeks | 24 weeks | 20 weeks | January, £61 |
Budapest | 17 weeks | 6 weeks | 8 weeks | January, £62 |
Cape Town | n/a | n/a | n/a | March, £472 |
Prices are average return fares, based on bookings made over the past 18 months on Skyscanner. n/a means we didn’t have data.
How to get cheap flights
To get a cheap flight you need to know how much your trip would normally cost.
Ideally you’d start your research at least six months before your flight, looking at fares on Google Flights or Skyscanner. On both sites you can set up an email alert for when the prices rise or fall.
Always bear in mind that the cheapest deals on low-cost carriers will probably not be that cheap if you want to take luggage. We found that adding cabin luggage and seat selection quadrupled the cost of the lowest fares we found on Wizz Air and doubled it on some easyJet and Ryanair flights. If you want to check in luggage, you’ll pay even more.
One easy way to save is to ignore the suggestion that you should pay to reserve your seats to ensure you sit next to your travel companions. Our research found that almost 90% of passengers who didn’t pay for seat selection were seated next to their travel companions anyway. The exceptions were Ryanair and Wizz Air passengers, who were more likely to be split up.
The best time to book a flight
If you're trying to decide when to book a flight you can also check on Skyscanner's own tool for predicting when prices will be at their lowest. Tell it where you're flying from, where you want to go and when you want to fly and it will tell you how far in advance you needed to book to get the cheapest flight last year.
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