If you've ever planned a trip involving air travel, there's a good chance you agonized over the perfect time to buy your plane tickets so you could get the perfect lowest price possible. Well now you won't have to stress, just follow these simple rules.

An article on the Huffington Post says the average best time to buy domestic airline tickets is exactly 54 days before takeoff.

If you can't get your tickets at exactly 54 days before the trip, your next best chance is between 112 and 21 days - called the 'prime booking window' where tickets will usually be near the lowest price possible.

The data comes from CheapAir who analyzed close to 3 million airline trips in 2015, looking at ticket prices from 320 days before trips up to the day before.

The 54 day rule isn't set in stone though, as some other factors will play a role in your ticket prices.

For instance, if you are traveling to a popular vacation destination (say, Miami) at a popular time (say, spring break), then there's a good chance you won't get a great price 54 days in advance. In fact, the study says in these cases you should book your flight as far in advance as possible.

The same idea applies if you plan to travel internationally, book as far in advance as possible for the best price.

The CheapAir study found that tickets bought within 7 days of the trip tended to cost around $200 more than when booked in the 'prime booking window,' and tickets bought between 7 and 13 days ahead of time cost about $75 more.

So according to the research, you should avoid buying your airline tickets within two weeks of your flight, and booking at the last minute for the lowest price is the absolute worst idea when trying to find the lowest fare.

 

 

More From 96.1 The Eagle