TRAVEL PROS
Thursday, 4am
Knowing how much we all love a good deal, KAYAK, the world’s leading travel search engine, has analysed data from millions of travel searches from the past two years (2017-2018), to predict the best time to book flights from New Zealand to top destinations and help travellers make the most out of their holidays.
KAYAK’s data and analysis show that Kiwi travellers can save up to 61% on airfare by booking at the right times for top destinations.
- On average, for top international destinations, it is best for Kiwi travellers to book flights 2 months in advance
- Tuesday at 2am is the best time to book to enjoy the highest potential savings on flights.
But as we always say, if you see a good deal - book it.
Best Time to Book Flights to Top International Destinations
| Ranking | Top Searched Destinations | Best time to book (months/weeks in advance) | Potential Savings (%) | Cheapest month to travel |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sydney | 2 months in advance | 25% | September |
| 2 | Melbourne | 2 months in advance | 30% | March |
| 3 | London | 3.5 months in advance | 24% | July |
| 4 | Nadi | 3 month in advance | 21% | October |
| 5 | Los Angeles | 3 months in advance | 15% | November |
| 6 | New Delhi | 2 month in advance | 19% | March |
| 7 | Honolulu | 2.5 months in advance | 29% | March |
| 8 | Bali | 1.5 months in advance | 18% | November |
| 9 | Brisbane | 3 months in advance | 33% | March |
| 10 | Gold Coast | 2 months in advance | 11% | February |
See more
Best Time to Book Flights to Trending International Destinations
| Ranking | Top Searched Destinations | Year-on-year search growth (%) | Best time to book (months/weeks in advance) | Potential Savings (%) | Cheapest month to travel |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Honolulu | 356% | 2 weeks in advance | 23% | November |
| 2 | Bengaluru | 195% | 2 weeks in advance | 12% | March |
| 3 | Rome | 156% | 1.5 months in advance | 16% | November |
| 4 | Ahmedabad | 129% | 2 weeks in advance | 14% | January |
| 5 | Bogotá | 107% | 1 week in advance | 61% | January |
| 6 | Noumea | 100% | 4.5 months in advance | 58% | September |
| 7 | Nadi | 88% | 2 months in advance | 44% | March |
| 8 | Cebu | 84% | 4.5 months in advance | 25% | August |
| 9 | Hyderabad | 78% | 2 weeks in advance | 34% | June |
| 10 | Dublin | 75% | 3 months in advance | 24% | October |
See more
Money Saving Tip #1: Check Price Forecast before you book a flight
So you’re about too book your ticket, but there’s always that little nagging fear – what if the price suddenly drops tomorrow? Should you wait? But then, what if the fare goes up?
Lucky for you, there’s KAYAK Price Forecast, a seemingly magical tool to help you guess if it’s a good time to book.
KAYAK data scientists have studied years of flight data to gain an understanding of the factors that normally affect price fluctuation. Pretty brainy, huh? It’s not an exact science, but we’re pretty confident in it.
Whenever you make a flight search, simply check the top left corner once the results have loaded – you’ll see a recommendation on whether to BUY NOW or WAIT. If it’s a good time to buy, grab your tickets while they’re hot! If not, cool your jets and wait for the price to go down in the next 7 days. You can also create an alert to make sure you know as soon as they do.
Money Saving Tip #2: Set up a Price Alert to get notified when price changes
Maybe you know exactly where you want to go but you’re not really concerned about the when, as long as you get a good deal.
By setting up a KAYAK Price Alert, you can track prices for the hotels and flights you want. We’ll send you an email or a push notification whenever prices change. That way, you’ll know if it’s the right time to book.
This is often a win for long-haul flights, which can sometimes have huge fluctuations in prices.
Money Saving Tip #3: Check if you can bring your luggage as a carry-on to save baggage fees
If you are travelling alone, chances are you probably just need hand luggage and don’t need to check in any bags.
Our new Bag Measurement tool helps you calculate your bag’s size and know if it’ll fit in the overhead bin (or not) before you get to the airport so you can confidently breeze through check-in and not have to worry about having to pay extra fees to get your bags checked in.
Learn more: https://www.nz.kayak.com/news/measure-carry-on-bag/
Easily the most important... search KAYAK before you book.
Data methodology
Unless otherwise indicated, we considered searches conducted on the local KAYAK site between 2017/1/1 – 2018/11/15 for travel occurring between 2017/1/1 – 2018/11/15 for KAYAK “Best Time To Book” Travel Guide 2019. All flight searches are round-trip, economy, for 1 adult, based on a certain minimum click threshold. Potential savings are comparing the cheapest month with the most expensive month of booking in advance to the travel date. All potential saving claims are based on the prices found for these search dates and may change, vary with time.
Top Destinations: Flight destinations with the greatest number of searches.
Trending Destinations: Flight destinations ranked according to the greatest % YoY increase in search from the top 100 most searched destinations. Based on search dates 2018/1/1 – 2018/11/15 for travel dates 2018/1/1 – 2018/12/31, compared to corresponding period in the previous year (search dates 2017/1/1 – 2017/11/15 for travel dates 2017/1/1 – 2017/12/31)
Best Time To Book (Months In Advance): Only considered maximum of 6 months before departure date. Based on the same search parameters as above.