Is it cheaper to book a flight earlier or later?

The first tip: Wait for work. I believe people who often fly have this experience. It is much cheaper to buy tickets in advance than to buy tickets at the airport on the day of departure; the longer the advance time, the greater the discount you will get. The more. Experts believe that it is generally appropriate to book air tickets more than 15 days in advance to enjoy more discounts; during peak seasons such as the Spring Festival Golden Week, more attention is required than during normal periods. The reporter learned from a number of travel websites that air tickets during the Spring Festival have now been booked, and the discounts on air tickets vary depending on the booking time. Some flights can even offer a 30% discount. Unfortunately, many people don’t understand this. According to statistics from China TravelSky, more than 50% of Chinese civil aviation passengers booked tickets within 3 days, while less than 20% booked tickets more than 30 days in advance. The main reason why travelers do not book significantly in advance is due to the accumulation of consumption habits over the years, and some people are unable to determine their itinerary one month or more later; more people are still not clear about the discounts brought by advance booking. The second trick: take advantage of the situation. Weekends are generally when the proportion of travel is relatively large. If time permits, if you want to find low-price tickets, try to travel in the middle of the week to avoid high passenger flow periods such as weekends. This year’s Spring Festival falls on February 18, so the previous week is the time when ticketing resources are most scarce. If there are no special requirements for the travel time, you can pay more attention to the price of mid-week bookings before or after the period. Now, professional air ticket booking websites such as elong.com and Qunar travel search engine can query and compare the price distribution of every day and hour at any time. Tianyiyou Business and Travel Network has been publishing the "Air Ticket Pre-purchase Index" since 2006, announcing the price trends for the next week or half a month. The purpose is to allow more people to choose to purchase tickets in advance, thereby reducing travel costs. The third trick: seize the opportunity. Currently, China's civil aviation industry is also a relatively competitive industry. Especially with the emergence of private airlines such as Spring Airlines and Okay Airways, the monopoly of the market by a few established airlines has been loosened. The air ticket price monopoly barrier has also been broken. Coupled with the fact that the WTO has entered a period of full opening-up, people have reason to have high hopes for cheaper air tickets. Many airlines will introduce a series of air ticket discounts. Although some of these discounts are only for members or certain specific groups, ordinary consumers can also encounter opportunities to steal them if they choose wisely. For example, Spring Airlines' ultra-low-price promotion some time ago and China Southern Airlines' 1.5% discount on air tickets were very large. Consumers can choose targeted promotional flights launched by each airline and enjoy considerable advantages in discounts on promotional flights; generally speaking, consumers may find it cumbersome to pay attention to promotional information from different airlines. Dai Zheng, vice president of "Qunar" travel search engine, told reporters that the search engine links, integrates and publishes product information of more than 100 airlines and large air ticket providers in real time, so consumers can save a lot of trouble. With time and effort, you can get a clear and orderly set of choices. The fourth trick: Flowers bloom on the tree. Unity is strength, and the advantages of the group should also be used in the process of purchasing low-price air tickets. Generally speaking, it is relatively cheap to get 40% off individual ticket prices in normal times, but during peak demand periods such as the Spring Festival, it is basically difficult to get such low discounts on your own. However, if it is a group purchase, the possibilities increase a lot. Consumption demand during the Spring Festival is mainly divided into two categories: going home and traveling. Therefore, people traveling to the same destination can contact each other in advance, find a few more traveling companions, and collect group tickets for about 10 people; after getting the quotation from the air ticket provider, they can purchase tickets as a group when booking air tickets with the provider over the phone. If you negotiate the price based on the conditions, you will usually find that the other party still has a lot of room for price reduction. The amount of room for price reduction is closely related to the advance time for booking air tickets. Therefore, it is recommended to use this method together with the advance booking method. Tips from experts: You get what you pay for. Before buying a low-cost ticket, you must first find out the restrictions of the airline. The airline does not assume the responsibility of changing your ticket. For discount tickets of different prices, foreign airlines provide different services to passengers. For example, in the same booking class, full-price tickets or tickets with lower discount rates will have better seat locations; discount tickets Or tickets with a larger discount rate will have poorer seat locations. In terms of service procedures, there will be differences on the premise that basic requirements are met. At present, apart from the differences in purchase conditions between domestic discount tickets and full-price tickets, there is no difference in enjoying the services provided by airlines. Online ticket purchase search engine The travel search engine will compare the travel products provided by major airlines and air ticket agents at a glance in terms of price, service or time, making it easier to find the option that best suits your situation. The biggest advantage of doing this is that you can get a clear ranking of prices from low to high among more than 100 airlines and air ticket agents; it saves more time and energy, and you only need to use one website interface. It can be completed without having to switch between more websites; in fact, considering various factors such as time, energy and price, using search engines is more cost-effective. There are many discounts for booking tickets in advance. Starting half a month before the Spring Festival, air tickets on various routes begin to be in short supply.

The closer to the Spring Festival, the smaller the air ticket discounts will be, and the choice of cabins will also be relatively smaller. Those tourists who are still unable to determine the date of their vacation can estimate the most likely date for their trip, and then choose flights that can be canceled or changed on the same day, so that tourists can decide by themselves which day they can travel. If you cannot travel as planned due to company holidays, there is no loss in refunding the ticket.

For example, e-Longe currently has a relatively abundant inventory of air tickets during the Spring Festival, with a wide choice of fares and various cabin classes.