I can’t source it, but a while ago i read that 3 weeks was the best time to get the lowest price.

I’d say somewhere before boarding.

People keep saying 3 weeks which is odd to me. When I book a flight that close, I feel like I tend to end up paying more and/or having a very undesirable flight time or number of stops. Several months out is what I try to do for the cheapest flight at the most desirable time/number of stops.

I don’t think it’s going to be possible to give an absolute timeframe here as the answer is probably that it depends.

I lean toward booking early as that generally seems to be a better idea than the alternative.

International flights from NZ, 3 to 6 months. Local flights about 3 or 4 weeks.

I book a lot of flights at my employers expense, and the general guideline is to TRY to book two to three weeks in advance. I don’t check the price myself, so I can’t verify if it holds true, but the thinking is that it’s on average cheaper - After the “we can’t be bothered planning this flightuntil we know it’s going to be profitable”-phase, but before the plane is almost full so they can start squeezing the passenger wallets.

Can’t say timing-wise, but I did notice once that the prices were higher when browsing on my phone than on a desktop PC.

depends on many variables so there can never be a simple rule. Airlines want their planes full of paying customers is the real rule. They change prices based on how full each plane is. Sometimes a nearby city can be orth heading to for a much better deal.