When to Fly - Tips

The Economist has some great tips for snagging the best price when traveling.

Here's the breakdown:

• Buy two months in advance. On average, flights are the cheapest about eight weeks before the departure date.
• Buy during the middle of the week. The cheapest fairs are usually available on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.
• Afternoon is the best time to buy. One of the Economist's experts even figured out the perfect time: 3 pm on a Tuesday.
• Follow airline Twitter accounts for last-minute deals. Many companies will post specials only to their social media sites.

You can also use your favorite travel search engine like Kayak.com to send you alerts. This way you can have an idea on how much your flight is going to cost and when a below average price might occur.

Last but not least, you can try and fly to hub/gateway city first. For example if the flight has a stop (usually the hub), you can seperate your flight and buy two tickets instead of just one. One from your local city to the hub and another from the hub to your final destination.