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To secure the cheapest flights for 2026 holidays, you may not need to book as early as you think.
When Which? analysed flight data based on Skyscanner searches in 2024-2025, we discovered that booking 10 to 11 weeks in advance was usually cheapest for the dates we looked at. But it very much depends on when you want to go. When we looked at August departures, it was cheaper to wait a little longer - eight weeks beforehand offered the cheapest fares.
And, while most destinations were cheaper when booked two months in advance, there were huge variations in the 24 routes we looked at.
For a few travel hotspots, such as Amsterdam, you should consider snapping up airfares further in advance - almost four months before August trips, and a whopping five months before if you’re planning a festive visit in December next year.
Similarly, you need to get organised if you want to head to Portugal’s buzzing capital. August holidays to Lisbon are cheapest more than five months before (March), while December visitors need 18 weeks' notice to bag the best airfares.
Booking this far in advance, though, is the exception. For most destinations, book later to secure bargains — in some cases, it may even be better to book as late as a month beforehand. See below for when last year’s visitors secured the cheapest prices.
When you book can make a big difference to how much you pay.
Destination | How far in advance to book for April | How far in advance to book for August | How far in advance to book for December | Cheapest month to fly |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alicante | 9 weeks | 6 weeks | 11 weeks | January |
| Amsterdam | 13 weeks | 15 weeks | 19 weeks | January |
| Athens | 10 weeks | 4 weeks | 9 weeks | January |
| Bangkok | 7 weeks | 6 weeks | 5 weeks | September |
| Barcelona | 13 weeks | 10 weeks | 16 weeks | January |
| Budapest | 6 weeks | 6 weeks | 8 weeks | January |
| Berlin | 13 weeks | 16 weeks | 13 weeks | January |
| Dalaman | 8 weeks | 4 weeks | 18 weeks | January |
| Dublin | 8 weeks | 13 weeks | 11 weeks | January |
| Faro | 9 weeks | 6 weeks | 11 weeks | No data |
| Krakow | 12 weeks | 14 weeks | 9 weeks | January |
| Lanzarote | 11 weeks | 6 weeks | 4 weeks | No data |
| Lisbon | 14 weeks | 21 weeks | 18 weeks | January |
| Malaga | 10 weeks | 5 weeks | 8 weeks | No data |
| Nice | 10 weeks | 7 weeks | 24 weeks | January |
| New Delhi | 17 weeks | 4 weeks | 12 weeks | September |
| New York | 13 weeks | 12 weeks | 11 weeks | September |
| Paris | 11 weeks | 8 weeks | 15 weeks | September |
| Porto | 11 weeks | 24 weeks | 10 weeks | January |
| Prague | 5 weeks | 8 weeks | 14 weeks | January |
| Seville | 9 weeks | 18 weeks | 13 weeks | January |
| Sydney | 6 weeks | 8 weeks | 15 weeks | September |
| Tenerife | 11 weeks | 3 weeks | 8 weeks | January |
| Vienna | 5 weeks | 9 weeks | 9 weeks | January |
The best time to book is calculated using Skyscanner flight pricing data (based on the six months leading up to the last completed occurrence of the referenced month which includes 2024 and 2025 data), showing travellers how far in advance of departure the cheapest price is usually found. The cheapest month to fly is based on a full year of 2024 data.
Want an Easter break in Porto, Paris, Tenerife or Lanzarote? If 2025 is a guide, you should book your flight for 2026 around 16 January (if you plan to fly on Good Friday).
For many destinations, holidaymakers most recently found the best prices by booking between two and three months in advance, but there was some variability. For instance, those who visited Vienna, Prague, Budapest or Sydney in April 2025 snapped up the cheapest fares just five to six weeks before.
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Booking early for summer might end up costing you. Eight weeks in advance is the best time to book, based on this year’s data averages. However, it’s best to use the table above as a guide for individual destinations. Earlier this year, booking just six weeks in advance paid dividends for those visiting Alicante, Bangkok, Budapest, Faro and Lanzarote.
Early December is typically a cheap time to travel, but prices shoot up at Christmas.
You need to secure airfares a little earlier than you would for the summer. According to the data, it could pay to buy your flight around 11 weeks in advance, although this varies.
Remember, not all locations followed the same pattern. For Budapest, Tenerife and Malaga, the cheapest flights were available just eight weeks in advance.
To get a cheap flight, you need to know how much your trip would typically cost.
Start your research at least six months before your flight, checking fares on comparison sites such as Google Flights or Skyscanner. On both, you can set up an email alert for when the prices rise or fall.
Always bear in mind that the cheapest deals on low-cost carriers won’t necessarily be that cheap in the end if you want to take luggage. We found that adding cabin luggage and seat selection quadrupled the cost of the lowest fares we found on Wizz Air and doubled it on some easyJet and Ryanair flights. If you want to check in hold luggage, you’ll pay even more.
One easy way to save is by ignoring the suggestion to pay for seat reservations so you can sit next to your travel companions. Our research found that almost 90% of passengers who didn’t pay for seat selection were seated next to their travel companions anyway. The exceptions were Ryanair and Wizz Air passengers, who were more likely to be split up.
If you're trying to decide when to book a flight, you can also check Skyscanner's Savings Generator tool. It predicts when prices will be at their lowest for your chosen travel date.
Tell it where you're flying from, where you want to go and when you want to fly, and it will tell you how far in advance you needed to book to get the cheapest flight last year. While this is a good indicator for the coming year, remember that flight pricing is dynamic and may not always follow the same patterns.
The cheapest time to fly is, naturally, when it’s cold or wet and most people don’t want to go.
However, if you don’t mind wearing a coat and having a brolly on standby to check out the beauty of Barcelona, Lisbon or Seville, you can save by travelling in January. Plus, you’ll contend with far fewer fellow tourists so it could be much more peaceful than at other times of year.
For 17 of the 18 short-haul routes we looked at (for which we had enough data), January was the cheapest month. Choose somewhere like Seville, though, and you’ll find temperatures around 16°C; it’s pretty mild, especially compared to the UK, although rain is still a possibility.
Paris, however, was the odd one out. Skyscanner data showed that visitors found the cheapest flights in September 2024, which is an idyllic month to visit. Daytime temperatures are around 20°C (compared with 6°C in January), so it’s warm without being stifling or horribly cold for sightseeing and, on average, there are just four rainy days throughout September.
September was also the cheapest month to visit various long-haul destinations, including Bangkok, New Delhi, New York and Sydney.
