Conventional travel management wisdom has long been that the further out you book, the cheaper the airfare. Data released Friday by Travel Leaders Corporate not only bears that out, but suggests advance purchase savings opportunities have grown more pronounced.
According to Travel Leaders fourth-quarter corporate booking data, domestic air tickets booked seven-to-13 days prior to travel cost 9 percent less than those purchased within six days of travel. Bookings made 14-to-20 days ahead of departure cost 24 percent less than those purchased within six days.
Travel Leaders Corporate president David Holyoke noted that the savings opportunity from further-out bookings has grown. "Looking back historically, in 2012 and 2013, the largest cost savings opportunity for a domestic airline ticket was seen in the 7-to-13-day advance purchasing window," according to a prepared statement. "We didn't see the largest percentage of cost savings jump to the 14-to-20-day advance purchasing window until the first quarter of 2014, where that trend has since continued."
While advance purchase policies are a common fixture of managed travel programs, closer-in booking volumes rose slightly last year, according to Travel Leaders. Bookings made within six days of travel rose 2 percent in 2014 from 2013. Meanwhile, bookings in the seven-to-13-day advance window rose 1 percent, while 14-to-20-day advance bookings fell 1 percent from 2013 levels.
Travel Leaders data found the overall cost of business travel, inclusive of air, car and hotel expenses, climbed in 2014 to a five-year high. The average international trip cost in 2014 increased nearly 3 percent year over year to $2,525 and the average domestic trip cost rose 3.5 percent to $990.