The best times to book flights — including how you could save nearly £1.5K on a trip to the Maldives

There are two types of people at the airport: the ones who get there three hours early and the Type Bs of the world who think a single hour is plenty of time to navigate security, hit up Pret and meander onto the plane just before take-off. And likewise, there are two types of holiday bookers: the last-minute, spontaneous ones, and the regimented planners who are au fait with incognito windows and the exact live times of new flights. But who’s really winning? Is booking far in advance really the best way? And is there a prime time to make the transaction?

New travel data for 2025 from Opodo has revealed everything from how far in advance to book for the cheapest prices on short and long haul flights, as well as the best days and even the hour to book. Plus when you might find a deal on the hot destination you’ve got in your sights for 2025, including The White Lotus-approved Thailand.

The data was extracted by analysing all bookings made for return flights by UK passengers in 2024, and the findings were calculated by averaging the number of travellers, and the ticket prices across all plane classes, in order to illuminate when you might find the best deals on travelling during the year ahead.

So exactly how far in advance should you book? The data shows that this varies greatly for short and long haul trips. For intercontinental trips, 61 - 90 days before departure is the ideal window. Prices across all destinations long haul were shown to average £784 when booked within this window, and at £818 when booked just 16 - 30 days in advance. And for those secured just a few weeks in advance, the average price increased to £891.

It means that booking around three months in advance could save you £107 for international flights. For example, when flights to Costa Rica were booked two weeks or less before departure, the average ticket price was £843, compared to £1,074 when booked one to two months before travel. That’s a saving of £231. While, if like pretty much everyone, you have your sights set on the Maldives, booking three months ahead rather than a month or less could save you a whopping £853.

As for the best day of the week to book, this depends on your destination of choice, but the savings can be staggering for some major destinations, with the Maldives providing the biggest opportunity for savings. The Opodo analysis reveals that the best days to book by some of its most popular destinations such as the Seychelles, the Maldives and Mauritius, is a Saturday.

For example, booking on the first day of the weekend to the Seychelles offered flights from £642, compared to Thursday, when flights averaged £1,511. That’s a potential saving of £869 for travellers.

While choosing to book on a Saturday for a trip to the Maldives saved some travellers nearly £1,496, (with some Saturdays seeing lows of £605, versus Wednesdays at £2,101) .

Monday is the best day to travel to New Zealand, with the average cost of £1,193 compared to booking on Fridays, with prices up to £1,727. So holidaymakers could save upwards of £534.

For Sri Lanka, Wednesday bookings could save people £168, versus Saturdays. While Sundays are the day to book flights to the US to save up to £661. And Tuesdays are the best day for European flight bookings to both France and Greece.

Time of day is also a factor to consider. If you want a weekend break to France, it could pay off to set an alarm for 3am to save up to £46 on flight bookings compared to 9am. Similarly, flights to Switzerland booked at 4am could cost just £164, compared to 7am, when the price jumped to an average of £227. As for India, 7am was the cheapest time to book for savings of up to £193.

The month you decide to splash out on your trip also makes a major difference. If you’ve got your sights set on set-jetting to The White Lotus’ latest destination of Thailand, then it should pay to wait until May to secure your flight. With prices as low as £737, compared to December when they hit an average of £1,242.

For South Africa, December is your best bet, while September is the smartest time to shell out on your Australia flights.

If you manage to crack the code with all the above data on your chosen destination, you could be left with some serious savings to spend once you’ve landed. Or perhaps it’s worth derailing your plans for one of the best deals.