Forget trying to hold out for those last-minute fares that seem so appealing, there’s now a definitive answer about the best day to book your travel. I’m not talking about Tuesday night or Saturday morning, I’m talking a specific day in relation to when you’ll be departing.

According to an article on The Huffington Post, the best time to book a plane ticket is 54 days from your date of travel. This comes from a study from CheapAir.com based on their analysis of prices over the course of 2013. They monitored 4,191,533 trips and found that the sweet spot is somewhere between 104 days and 29 days from your departure date. If you book any time between that period, you’re likely to be within $10 of the lowest price. Too far in advance and you’re paying a premium. Too close to departure and you’re REALLY paying a premium. As you can imagine, the price rises higher and higher the closer you get to take-off.

So does that mean you should always calculate 54 before you want to fly in order to book the lowest price? I wish it were that easy, but the short answer is, book roughly two months out and you should feel pretty good about the price you get.

With all that money you’ll now be saving, you can go buy yourself a burger at the airport — unless of course you enter and win my giveaway to The Counter and get your burger paid for! [Contest ends Friday night]

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