2025’s trending flights

2025 insights on booking the cheapest flights

2024 insights on booking the cheapest flights

Flight prices are constantly changing — even day to day — so it’s hard to know when prices will be lowest to book an upcoming trip. Usually, it’s smart to book your travel far in advance, especially if you need to be on a specific flight.

But if your number one priority is getting cheap airfare, you can look at some historical patterns to guide you along the way. When you search on Google Flights for a specific destination and dates of travel, we’ll show you the cheapest time to book, so you can decide whether it’s better to wait for lower prices or book ASAP.

If you want a general sense of the best time to book across different scenarios, here’s a look at our latest insights for U.S. travelers, based on four years of aggregated Google Flights data — plus a few more trends that can help you find cheaper airfare.

Domestic flights

For trips within the U.S., average prices have been lowest 38 days before departure. The historical low price range is 21-52 days before takeoff.

International flights

If you’re traveling abroad, you should probably book as early as you can. While average prices have been lowest 101 days before departure, the historical low price range is anytime 50 days or more before takeoff. In other words, for international travel from the U.S., average prices don’t meaningfully drop anytime before departure, but they usually do start to rise within 50 days of the flight itself.