To wait or not to wait - regarding a particular Airplane price [closed]

Today (Friday) I was about to book a round trip ticket Mumbai(BOM) - Beijing(PEK) - Mumbai(BOM) via Hong Kong by Cathay Pacific airlines leaving Mumbai on 18th Oct (Saturday) and coming back from Beijing on 27th Oct (Monday). Below is the screenshot from the official website of the said airline showing the price to be INR 57,028 (USD 927.66).

enter image description here

But just out of curiosity i checked what the prices are for an earlier date and I selected the dates to be such that they are the same day as my intended days and with same number of total days i.e leaving Mumbai on 4th Oct (Saturday) and coming back on 13 Oct (Monday). I was thinking that surely this would be at least the same price if not higher and to my surprise the price was significantly lower, it was INR 44,314 (USD 720.85) as seen in the screenshot below.

enter image description here

I had always heard that in general the prices go up as the dates approach your travel date. Off-course there could be fluctuations in the price but you wouldn't expect to see the kind of drop seen above considering that 4th October is tomorrow.

So can I extrapolate this data and assume that on 17th Oct (Friday) the probability that the price for my intended ticket would be around INR 44,314 is higher than the probability that it would be around INR 57,028.

I understand that it would be risky and maybe silly to make such an assumption considering that there are many variables involved in the equation which determines airline price but what would you do? Seeing this data would you wait till the end or just book it right now?

I don't travel international much so maybe its not that unusual to see this kind of drop in prices.

FYI: both the screenshots were taken at 08:55 GMT on Friday, October 3, 2014

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To wait or not to wait - regarding a particular Airplane price [closed] - Pensive female designer in checkered jacket waiting for flight near departure board looking away in modern airport in evening

Is it worth waiting for last-minute flights?

Because as you get closer to the departure date, every day matters. This means that, in general, booking your plane ticket ten days in advance is cheaper than five days in advance, which is cheaper than two days in advance. The least last-minute, the better.

Do plane ticket prices go up the closer to departure date?

Specifically, plane tickets usually don't get cheaper closer to the departure date. Instead, flights tend to be the most inexpensive when you book between four months and three weeks before your departure date. According to the CheapAir.com 2019 Annual Airfare Study, you can expect rates to go up after that period.

Is it better to wait for flights?

So, as a general rule of thumb, you'll want to book plane tickets well in advance, as prices spike sharply in the days preceding the flight, taking advantage of any last-minute travelers who have no choice but to pay up.

Do flight prices go up the more you look at them?

Surprisingly, there is very little evidence that online travel sites are raising prices the more that you search for a specific trip. In fact, they tend to show lower prices to logged-in users.

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