This New Kayak Tool Will Tell You the Best Time to Travel
Memorial Day weekend set a new record since the start of the pandemic, with 2.74 million people traveling this Friday , according to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). With high demand for travel, low supply of seats and, of course, inflation , flights this summer will be more expensive than usual . However, there is a new way to save money when buying airline tickets: Kayak has released a travel tool called Best Time to Travel .
The tool allows you to compare prices against crowds, weather, and seasonality in order to choose the best time to travel and when to book your next trip. If you think this is similar to Hopper or Google flights, let’s see how they differ.
How is the Kayak Best Time to Travel app different from Hopper or Google Flights?
You probably know how Google Flights works: you set your airports and dates and get a bunch of flight options, but it doesn’t give you recommendations on when and why it’s best to travel to a particular destination. And Hopper is similar to Kayak in that it tells you the best time to buy tickets and when to fly to get the best deal, but it doesn’t account for the same variables as the new Kayak tool.
Best Time to Travel considers average airfare, popularity, average temperature, and average rainfall as factors when creating a recommendation for you, which neither Hopper nor Google Flights does. Once it prints your results, it explains why it came to that conclusion, for example:
You’ll be able to see a breakdown of the average, minimum, and maximum airfares for each month of the year for your destination, to help you choose the best time to travel. You can then go to the calendar view to see which days are the cheapest. Once you figure it out, the tool will recommend the best time to book flights to get the lowest fare.
Is the best time to travel better than Google Flights or Hopper?
It’s certainly a different tool than Google Flights, but it makes Hopper redundant. Best Time to Travel doesn’t give you actual current fares for flights like Google Flights does – it just gives you forecasts. So it’s not a replacement for Google Flights; rather, it’s a travel tool that complements Google Flights and should be in your arsenal.
How can I use the Kayak Best Time to Travel App?
To use the Kayak Best Time to Travel app, follow these steps :
- Enter your destination and find out the best month to travel: enter your home airport, final destination and travel duration. In turn, Kayak will find you the best month to visit based on price, number of people, weather and more.
- Narrow your travel dates: Once you’ve determined the best month to visit, use Kayak’s calendar view to determine the cheapest days to fly.
- Calculate your booking period to maximize your savings: By choosing the month and dates of your trip, the Kayak tool narrows down the best day to book both your flight and hotel before prices go up.
Keep in mind that Best Time to Travel results may not be the most convenient (you may have stopovers and red-eye flights with airlines that won’t earn you loyalty points). However, figuring out when to travel and when to book is the most important information you can get with this tool. And you don’t have to book through Kayak; once you know when to fly and book tickets, use whichever search engine or airline you prefer to actually book tickets.