When do flight prices increase?

We get asked this a lot. To answer this question, we need to look at why flight prices increase.

Were you looking for Kenya Airways Nairobi to Mumbai Flights and then they suddenly went up in price? Or perhaps you were looking for Jambojet Nairobi to Mombasa Flights and they went up in price while you were deciding on accommodation.

Airlines need to make sure they sell as many seats on the plane as possible. You may be happy to have an open seat next to you, but the airline is very unhappy when it has open seats. Open seats cost the airline money because they are moving the seat from A to B but not being paid for it.

The way an airline improves its chances of filling the plane is to work on a tiered pricing model. Let’s take economy class for example. Let’s say there are 200 seats in Economy class. They will offer the first 10 seats at a very very low price. Once those seats are sold they will offer the next 30 seats at a slightly more expensive price, but still pretty good value. Then once those seats are sold, the next 50 seats are sold at a normal price. As time goes by, the airline sells more seats and it’s only the more expensive seats that are left.

So to answer the question, when do flight prices increase? Flight ticket prices increase when the airline has sold all of the seats in the cheaper price bracket. It might surprise you to know that, the person sitting next to you could have paid less than half of what you paid.

How do you book cheap flights?

Book your flight tickets as soon as you can. The price of your flight tickets might have gone up during the time it has taken you to read this article. They can increase at any time. Often flight prices to tourist destinations increase at the end of the day when people go home and search for their flights. Ticket prices to business destinations may increase quicker during the day, and business travellers book their flights while they are at work.

The bottom line is, flight ticket prices can increase at any moment.

Looking for cheap flights? Use our flights’ finder to search and compare thousands of flights.