Plane fares are a pretty complicated thing, since they change not only daily but hourly and based on who is looking at them. Simply put, there’s no one fare and no single way to guarantee that you’re going to get a good one. There are some days of the week however that are significantly better or worse for booking flights, and you might as well have that working in your favor.

Weekends are actually the best time to purchase domestic flights, with the best to worst order going from Sunday, Saturday, Tuesday, and then Wednesday. On Fridays ticket prices tend to be quite high no matter when the travel day is, often they are 11 percent more than they would be if you booked on a Sunday for example.

In general, booking two months in advance is known to give the best flight deals, which can save about ten percent when compared to the average flight fare. The actual number is 57 days which seems to be the winning number.

Booking more than 100 days in advance however can increase the air cost by hundreds of dollars, so you don’t want to book too far in advance even if you have your travel dates already set.

However when it comes to international travel this can change a bit. For traveling internationally you can save money booking as far as a year in advance for your trip. International ticket prices tend to rise steadily as travel dates get closer, so waiting too long is going to cost you.

Overall 2016 is supposed to be a good year for buying plane tickets, in that the fares are lower than normal.

Another way to get an even better flight deal no matter when you are flying is to buy package deals with the hotel and car rental, which can end up saving you 20 percent on flights when you package it that way.

Always be sure and compare different airlines as well, since they will all have totally different prices at any given time and all at the same time. Setting airfare alerts while you’re looking can put you in the best position to snag a great deal when it pops up without letting it pass you by.

Also keep in mind that flying at unpopular times will always save you money on the actual flights, such as taking red eyes or flights that have a connection.

Overall there is no guaranteed way to book the cheapest travel and sometimes it comes down to pure luck, but these are some helpful tips that might be able to save you some cash here and there which is sure to add up over time.

When you don’t overpay for your plane tickets you’ll feel less guilty about buying all those drinks at the airport before takeoff.