How far in advance must one buy air tickets to get good fares?

akt

If you will arrive in India on Feb 25, and need to fly between Delhi, Pune, Mumbai, and possibly Rajkot a month later, beginnign March 23 to be precise, would you:

(1) Scramble to buy the tickets now, in the hope of getting good fares, although it is a struggle to pay with your foreign credit card? Or

(2) Just wait 3 weeks until you are in India? Buying would be more convenient then, but there is a risk of missing out on good fares.

This is precisely the dilemma a close good friend is facing. How much risk is she taking if she decides to wait until she lands there?

jyotirmoy

Another option is Indian airline's spot fares. These fares are anounced 6 hours before the flight.

akt

If you have the option of booking any time, when is the best time on average to find the best fares?

I ask this question because the answer may be 14 days in some places and 90 days in others. Book too early and the best fares may not be announced yet; late and they are all sold out. :-)

Do you know the pattern with Indian domestic flights?

bellcrank

Basically the earlier you book, the cheaper the fare will be for airlines operating within India with an an online booking system. I exclude the likes of Jet and Sahara who still seem to be operating dollar/rupee fare systems (I seem to only be able to get a web address for Jet outside India which includes the characters "Cultures/en-US" which presumably identifies your booking location), but as a general rule the more a particular flight fills up the more expensive the fares get - that's until the last minute of course....

crvlvr

A month in advance should be sufficient to get most good deals.