Kayak's New Feature Reveals the Optimal Times to Travel

Regardless of whether you have a Kayak subscription or use its booking system, the website—and its free planning tools—are accessible to everyone, including this one. Here’s how to leverage this new feature to cut costs on your upcoming trip.

Key Information to Have Before You Begin

The landing page for the Best Time to Travel feature is straightforward and user-friendly, but be prepared with a few details: your departure city, your destination, and whether you’re planning a 4-, 7-, or 14-day getaway. After filling in these initial fields, you’ll enter a simple three-step process. For illustration, let’s use a trip from New York City to London for seven days.

Step 1: Discover the Best Month to Travel

Depending on your chosen destination and trip duration, the tool will initially suggest the optimal month for your travel. This recommendation takes into account dynamic pricing, seasonal trends, and crowd levels.

Beneath your results, you’ll see statistics on average airfare (and hotel) prices, along with weather information. Scroll down to view a chart that displays projected flight costs over the year (up to nine months ahead).

For my trip from NYC to London, Kayak currently suggests traveling in October, highlighting lower airfare and statistically favorable weather conditions.

Additional statistics on the page indicate that September and October are usually the most affordable months to travel, alongside details on average daily hotel rates in London and a note to steer clear of August due to tourist crowds. A chart illustrates projected flight prices from now until January 2024.

Step 2: Finalize Your Travel Dates

If you’re ready to follow Kayak’s guidance on your travel window, the next step is to choose specific dates. After entering the suggested month into the search bar from Step 1, you'll discover the exact dates when flights are most affordable. Below this new information, you can scroll through a price bar to view the cheapest flights on alternate dates throughout the month. Keep in mind that you can adjust the suggested month if you’re not fully satisfied with Kayak’s recommendation. Additionally, low-cost airlines will also be included in your search results.

In our example, Kayak recommends traveling from NYC to London between October 19 and 25, as these dates offer the lowest fares.

I can adjust the dates by moving the price predictor slider back and forth.

Step 3: Determine the Best Time to Book

Overview

Kayak’s new Best Time to Travel feature is a valuable tool for beginners and serves as a fantastic starting point for trip planning. For those who know where they want to go but are unsure when, the information is clearly presented and can assist in identifying an optimal timeframe for securing good deals and favorable weather. Since the tool includes data from low-cost carriers, it’s important to remain flexible with flight options to access the best prices.

In my situation, I explored the data for my NYC to London trip after clicking “Find your Flight” and found that while I’d prefer an inexpensive flight to London, I’m not willing to endure a layover in Iceland and land at Stansted airport. I then delved into the details, comparing nonstop flights to those with stops, selecting an airline, timing, and more before establishing my specific Price Alert. I realized that someone like me, who prefers legacy carriers and wants to earn miles while enjoying free checked bags with status, would be better served using a different tool than Best Time to Travel.

Another tool I appreciate is Kayak’s Kayak Direct, which was introduced in 2011 as a hackathon project by the Kayak product team. Kayak Direct is an excellent resource for determining where to travel. It displays destinations accessible via nonstop flights from your preferred airport (whether large or small) and features a scrollable world map showing the lowest current fares to various locations. Kayak Direct is perfect for those with flexible travel plans.

However, my top choice for determining where and when to travel is still Google Flights. You can enter your departure and arrival cities to discover the lowest one-way, round-trip, and multi-city fares typically available up to 330 days in advance. An interactive calendar lets you explore date ranges and compare fares by airport code, city, or nearby locations. Additionally, you can assess broader travel options and calculate costs using Google Flights’ interactive map. Unlike Kayak’s Best Time to Travel feature, Google Flights provides real-time fares and does not forecast future prices or suggest when to buy.

Key Insight

By leveraging the Best Time to Travel tool, you can discover ways to fly to your chosen destination affordably and navigate recent airfare spikes. While it doesn’t replace our preferred travel combination of Wikipedia + Google Flights or Kayak Direct, it’s a user-friendly option for those just starting out.