Ryanair flights: When are they cheapest?

When Ryanair flights are cheapest is something that researchers and travel enthusiasts have been investigating for some time. According to this, you won’t get the real bargains either as an early booker or as a last-minute traveller. Here we tell you when the best time to book is.

Favourable flights with Ryanair: How to get real ticket bargains

• Early bookers get a special discount with Ryanair, and last-minute tickets are also cheap. But the cheapest tickets are in the time in between, Professor Claudio Piga has found out. According to this, prices go up and down, making a “U”. First expensive, then cheap and at the end expensive again.

• The price fluctuations are enormous: the difference between the most expensive and cheapest price for one and the same flight and seat is between 50 and 75 per cent. The cheapest tickets are eight to ten weeks before departure.

• What’s behind it? Those who absolutely want to fly on a certain day book especially early. Ryanair likes to collect a little more from them, because they don’t look too closely at the price – the main thing is that the date is right. The prices a few days before departure are higher for another reason: the airline wants to convey to customers that they should book earlier and not last minute. Because otherwise Ryanair could plan badly.

• According to Professor Piga, prices would increase by about 3 per cent per seat sold at the bottom of the “U”. Ryanair itself, by the way, does not think much of the whole formula: tickets are sold on a first come, first served basis and the contingent of cheap tickets is limited.

Our tips for cheap Ryanair tickets

• Bargains for 10 euros: You can get particularly cheap tickets via Ryanair’s price search – for under 10 euros per flight. However, you often have to be flexible in terms of time.

• The cheapest months to travel are January, February and November. Flights are usually 10 to 15 per cent cheaper here. If you want to go away in the summer, you should travel in June – there are often cheap tickets there as well.
• If you want to travel at short notice, you can often find cheap remaining stock on the promotions page.