When two industry specialists in air travel distribution and intelligence join hands, we are sure to get insights that reveal how the digital world of travel works or atleast how we can make it work to our benefit. In a joint effort, Expedia Group and Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC) released its 2019 Travel Pricing Outlook Report.

It drew upon billions of data points from ARC’s extensive global flight data to shed light on the global air travel outlook, as well as the best days to book economy and premium class flights for 2019. And this time, the report also analysed Expedia Group’s accommodation data to uncover the best days for booking hotels, with the aim of helping travellers make better decisions for flight and accommodation bookings. Expedia Group and ARC found that making travel bookings at the right time is crucial to unlocking savings on travel.

The report’s data and analysis is based on ARC’s view of more than 295 million passenger air travel trips in 2018, and additional insights based on Expedia Group’s platform view of more flight and global lodging demand.

Key tips for Asia Pacific travellers

• Book flights at least three weeks ahead of travel
• Book flights on a Sunday (with exception to New Zealand where Tuesday is usually the least expensive day to book air travel)
• Book hotels on a Friday night (and avoid booking on Sundays)
• Time your departure flight for a Thursday or Friday (unless you are travelling from India or New Zealand on economy class)
• Extend short, weekday-only trips to include a Saturday night stay

Chuck Thackston, managing director of Data Science at ARC, said:  “This year’s report showed that for around three-quarters of trips, quantifiable savings can be accessed by travellers who extend their weekday trip to include a Saturday night stay.”

Book smart, save more

For most parts of the world, booking flights in economy or premium cabins at least three weeks ahead of your travel date is the “sweet spot” for maximising fare savings. The reports go on to state that travellers from the Asia Pacific region can maximise their savings when air travel is booked on a Sunday for departure on a Friday, while avoiding booking flights on Friday and departing on a Sunday in general.

To help Asia Pacific travellers get more value out of their flight and accommodation bookings, the 2019 Travel Pricing Outlook Report also shared the following tips to aid travellers in their decision-making process:

• Consider savings on the total cost of a trip when buying travel packages or bundles: For example, adding a flight to an existing hotel booking can result in hotel savings.
• Direct flights may not necessarily cost more than those with stops: Some direct flights cost less due to newly added routes, low-travel seasons or travel to predominantly business-travel over the weekend.
• Oil price fluctuations do not affect ATPs in the short term: Any effect of oil price fluctuations is more likely to appear over a longer time period, and travellers need not delay booking a trip based on the assumption that airfares will immediately rise.