When to buy flight tickets?

Durhamdragon

We are attending a wedding in Italy in September 2025. There will be about 10 of us travelling, ideally to Verona from any airport in England. When is the best time to buy the tickets, on release or wait for a possible reduced price? 

FlorayG

You have two options - the day they are released, or a couple of days before you fly. Those will be the cheapest options. I once made the mistake of 'waiting for a reduction' and ended up paying a lot more because I wasn't going to risk waiting until a few days before my holiday and the prices just went up and up

bagand96

Flight prices are dynamic and based upon a multitude of factors. There's no "best time to buy" as it will be different for each flight. 

There may be keen prices available when the flights go on sale. There may well be bargains available last minute. Although if the flights have sold well last minute prices may be expensive. 

The issue you have is flexibility - a wedding is an event you need to be there so that much is set in stone. Also you need 10 seats - may be better to break that up into smaller groups to get lower fares, although then you'll be on separate bookings. 

I was watching some Ryanair flights this summer (to Verona funnily enough) and had a price alert set up on Kayak. Start of this year they were £250 rtn. They fluctuated a lot, but about 10 to 6 works before the date they were £90-120 rtn. 

Mark_d

For the cheapest prices, I would book now on Ryanair.

heatherw_01

Book as soon as possible for best prices, especially to places like Europe where flights are cheap and often budget airlines.

For international flights further afield, there are often sales, but they are only a few times a year.
Rarer for sales on budget airlines.

I have travelled all over the world for over 20 years and I always book Europe ASAP for best price.

jimi_man

Flights are released on most scheduled airlines around 330-350 days in advance. Buying on release is rarely wise as they tend to be very expensive then - airlines know that people are set on particular dates and charge accordingly. Six to eight months is often good. 

LoCo airlines may be different. They release them later - around nine months in advance I think. 

Durhamdragon

Many thanks! We are spread across UK so will probably go from at least 2 airports in London and possibly Manchester. From your comments I'm guessing we should book as soon as tickets are released, in October, with low-cost airlines, such as Ryanair? 

bagand96

The simplest advice is have an idea of how much you're willing to pay and book at a.price you're happy with. Then don't look again!

I don't think Ryanair are at their cheapest at the point they go on sale but other airlines may be. 

zagfles

Have a look at the Skyscanner tool The best time to book flights | Savings Generator | Skyscanner