Travel WikiBETA

Cheapest months to fly

Flights into a city are not the same price all year. Below is the shape of that year for the 21 cities we have measured — which months run cheap, typical or dear, relative to that city's own average.

These are relative patterns, not quotes. We never show a price here: travel prices move by the hour, and a number we printed this morning would be a promise we could not keep. Use the pattern to choose a month, then check live prices for your dates. Also see cheapest months for hotels.

CityJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecCheapest
AmsterdamThe Netherlands★★★Nov, Oct, Dec
BangkokThailand★★★Mar, Sep, Aug
BarcelonaSpain★★★Oct, Nov, Jan
BerlinGermany★★★Nov, Jan, Dec
DubaiUnited Arab Emirates★★★Oct, Nov, Jan
Hong KongHong Kong★★★Sep, Aug, Nov
IstanbulTurkey★★★Nov, Oct, Jan
KyotoJapan★★★Nov, Feb, Dec
LisbonPortugal★★★Nov, Dec, Apr
LondonUnited Kingdom★★★Oct, Dec, Nov
Los AngelesUnited States★★★Feb, Oct, Nov
New York CityUnited States★★★Nov, Feb, Dec
ParisFrance★★★Nov, Oct, Feb
PortoPortugal★★★Nov, May, Jan
PragueCzechia★★★Apr, Oct, Jan
ReykjavikIceland★★★Jan, Nov, Apr
RomeItaly★★★Oct, Nov, Dec
San FranciscoUnited States★★★Jan, Jul, Mar
SingaporeSingapore★★★Sep, Aug, Mar
TokyoJapan★★★Sep, Jun, Nov
ViennaAustria★★★Nov, Oct, Sep
cheaper than its averageabout averagedearerno prices found for that month

How this is measured

For each city we take its main airport and price twelve months of fares into it from three major hubs, then normalise each hub's year to its own median so no single expensive route dominates. A month is marked cheaper, average or dearer against that city's own year — never against another city's.

Where the numbers come from. One source, two uses: both the relative table and the live fares in the pop-up read the Travelpayouts price feed. The table stores only each month's relative level; the pop-up's fares are fetched when you ask and never saved.

Only cities we have actually priced appear here: 21 so far. We do not model, estimate or extrapolate a pattern for a city nobody has measured, because a price shape invented for an unmeasured city is a made-up number wearing a chart. A city needs at least 6 of its twelve months actually priced before it appears at all.

The table grows when readers ask for a city. Signed-in readers can have one priced on the spot — two a day — and the result is kept for everyone who comes after.