The best part of being retired in your silver years is not being tied down to any particular timing for your holidays because of jobs or just waiting for the right public holidays to connect to your weekend. The mantra for enjoying life after retirement is to holiday more, see the world and PAY LESS — simply because you can travel when the planes are less full. Not only do you save a lot of money for tickets, but you also enjoy a cabin that is less crowded. And you can travel full service airlines sometime even lower priced than budget airlines!

But when is the right time, you ask. To complicate things, the best time is different not only by season, country or destination — but also by day of the week. Even the best travel agent cannot keep all of that straight! Most booking sites will help you compare fares for the date or around the date of travel, but cannot help you look ahead to maximise your savings.

Fortunately, big data technology has arrived. A new company/app called HOPPER is available for download on your Android or Apple smartphone that answers this question. HOPPER claims that it crunches through a gazillion bits of historical and current data to not only tell you when you can maximise your saving but also offer advise when is the best time to buy the ticket.

• First download the Hopper app for your smartphone. Hopper does not have a Windows version.
• Enter your destination between two points. The color coded calendar for next 12 months should appear. Green dots represent the best time to travel.
• Remember to also check one-way fares. Many airlines have removed the one-way fares penalty because of competition from budget point-to-point fares.
• Pick the dates and check pricing for flights offered by Hopper. Also read the recommendation how Hopper predict fares will trend in the future and if you should book now or later.
• You should double check options for flights on those dates with your favorite booking sites. Mine is Expedia and Kayak. Since Hopper is not a traditional flight booking site, it may also offer fares that are not available elsewhere.

Hopper’s use of big data is a major innovation. The app can be a little buggy but I believe Hopper will improve. There have been complains about accuracy so best use this as a starting point and double check their recommendations. Remember that forecast and predictions only serves as a guide and fares change daily.

Visit http://www.hopper.com — BetterLiving65 is not paid by Hopper for this review and has no commercial relationship with Hopper.