My $12 bus ticket to Montreal taught me a lesson about booking windows

I kept missing the cheap fares by checking too early, but the sweet spot is actually 4-6 weeks out for that route. Anyone else found a perfect booking window for a specific trip?

3 comments

3 Comments

paul_stone291mo ago

Missing the best price because you checked at the wrong time is a classic modern problem. It happens with concert tickets, hotel rooms, even groceries on sale. There's always this hidden schedule you have to figure out, and it's never posted anywhere. You just have to learn it by messing up a few times first. It makes you wonder what else we're all paying too much for simply because we asked at the wrong moment.

elizabeth_lee1mo ago

Wait, you can get to Montreal for twelve dollars? That's the real shocker here, I didn't know any bus ticket could be that cheap. I'm always paying at least five times that much. I guess I need to watch those dates like a hawk.

logansingh7d ago

Actually, the whole idea of a perfect booking window is a myth for most people. My friend tracked prices for a Chicago to New York bus for months and the cheapest fare popped up randomly at 10 weeks out, not 4-6. These companies change their pricing algorithms all the time based on stuff like weather or local events, so a rule that worked last year might totally fail now. You can drive yourself crazy trying to time it and still lose.