If air travel is in your babymoon plans, don't book your flight until you've caught up on the latest travel trends for the year. Kayak.com, one of the largest travel-related search engines in the world, has just released its travel trends for 2014. The company identifies these trends by analyzing the millions of user searches on travel websites that include Expedia, Orbitz, and Travelocity.
Ticket prices are a hot topic for travel searches and Kayak has crunched the numbers so its travel experts can help people book the cheapest airfare possible, no easy feat considering they were working with more than 100 million searches every month of the year.
Here's what the insiders are saying about travel in 2014:
Falling Prices
- 13% drop in airfare prices originating in Lima, Peru
- 10% drop in airplane tickets from Anchorage, Alaska
- 8% drop from Los Cabos, Mexico
- 7% drop from Istanbul, Turkey
- In India, prices dropped in Hyderabad, Mumbai, and New Delhi
Hot Spots
- Search queries for Istanbul destinations increased 25% in 2013.
Best Day of the Week to Buy a Ticket
- Doesn't really matter. Some companies offer mid-week sales but others offer unpublished sales every day of the week.
Best Days to Travel
- If travel is domestic, leave on Friday and return on Monday for lowest prices.
- Return from Europe on a Tuesday to save money.
- For international travel elsewhere, expect the best departure prices on Tuesday and Wednesday and the best return flight rates on Monday.
Most Expensive Travel Days
- Plan to pay about 15% above average if you must fly on Saturday or Sunday.
Least Expensive Air-Travel Months
Expect to pay:
- 18% below average to travel in January
- 15% below average to travel in February
- 10% below average for April travel
- 13% less in August than in June and July
Best Domestic Prices
- Book domestic flights three to seven weeks before departure for best prices. After that, prices rise steeply every day as departure gets closer.
Best International Travel Prices
Schedule as far in advance as possible for best airfare prices abroad. Kayak recommends these timelines while acknowledging there are no straightforward rules and prices vary within regions:
- Africa: Three to five weeks in advance
- Asia: Nine or ten months in advance (makes babymoon travel a little tough to plan)
- Caribbean: Inexpensive tickets as soon as 14 days before departure make the islands an entirely doable last-minute destination
- Central America: Book six weeks in advance
- Europe: Eight to 10 weeks in advance
- South America: Six months in advance (tricky for babymooners)
Before booking foreign travel, do check with your obstetrician for safe travel precautions and check with the US Embassy in your destination for travel advisories, immunization requirements, and required identification documentation.
Source: Johanson, Mark. "How To Find Cheap Flights In 2014: Everything You Need To Know To Save." International Business Times. IBT Media Inc. Feb 14, 2014. Web. May 5, 2014.