There is no single cheapest month to fly from the UK to Nigeria. The fare trackers we read on 28 October 2026 name different months for different UK airports, but they agree on the expensive ones. December is among the two dearest months on every Kayak page we read, with July or August next. Kayak names February most often as the cheapest month, then November, and Ethiopian Airlines says April and May are usually the cheapest time to book. If your dates are fixed, the useful question is how to price them.
Every figure here is a fare-tracker or airline observation, with the date read (28 October 2026) and the route sampled. None is a Travel Orbit price or offer, and fares change daily.
Which month do the fare trackers say is cheapest?
They do not agree.
| Source (read 28 October 2026) | Route | Cheapest month it names | Dearest months it names |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kayak | London (any airport) to Lagos | September, £637 return | December £1,107, July £845 |
| Kayak | London Heathrow to Lagos | February, £702 return | December £1,198, July £922 |
| Kayak | London Gatwick to Lagos | November, £571 return | December £1,193, August £814 |
| Kayak | Manchester to Lagos | February, £593 return | December £1,047, July £906 |
| Kayak | Birmingham to Lagos | February, £530 return | December £1,211, July £874 |
| Kayak | London (any airport) to Abuja | February, £570 return | December £998, July £764 |
| Kayak | Manchester to Abuja | November, £602 return | July £887, December £887 |
| Skyscanner | London to Lagos | February (we did not read a sterling figure) | Not stated on the page |
| Ethiopian Airlines | London to Lagos | "April and May" | Not stated |
| British Airways | London to Lagos | Not named | Says Lagos is popular from November to January |
| British Airways | London to Abuja | Not named | Says autumn and winter are the most popular times |
Four of Kayak's seven pages say February and two say November. Kayak describes its figures as the median of the prices it saw for each month over the last 12 months, with the top 0.1% removed. Its pages give no date for the data beyond "the last 12 months", so they describe the past year, not next year's fares.
Ethiopian Airlines' London to Lagos page says "The cheapest time to book a London to Lagos flight is usually in April and May". The wording says book, not travel, so we do not know which it means. British Airways' Lagos page answers its own "cheapest month" question by saying Lagos is popular between November and January, which is its dry season, so you could save by visiting another time of year. Its Abuja page says to book in spring or summer to save. Neither BA page gives a month or a price.
Why do the trackers disagree?
Several things differ between the pages.
- The airport pair. The Gatwick page says November and the Heathrow page says February. The two airports have different airlines on the route.
- What a median hides. Kayak does not say which itineraries sit behind each median. A month where cheap connections are plentiful can look cheapest without that fare being available on your dates.
- A single page can contradict itself. Kayak's London to Lagos page names September as the cheapest month, yet its "Good to know" section lists June as the low season. We show both and do not choose.
- The sample. Skyscanner's page says London to Lagos is "currently cheapest in February", which reads as a statement about the lowest fares it currently holds, not a year-long median.
What holds across all of it: December is the dear month, July and August come next, and the cheaper months fall between autumn and spring. Kayak says the gap between the cheapest and dearest months averages 70% on its Heathrow to Lagos page and 75% on its London to Abuja page.
What did Google Flights show for specific dates?
Averages only go so far, so we searched Google Flights for London to Lagos, one adult, return, with a stay of 14 nights (17 nights over Christmas). The table shows the lowest price Google Flights displayed and the non-stop fares in its results for the same dates. Google Flights says prices include required taxes and fees, and that bag fees may apply.
| Dates searched | Lowest price shown | Air Peace non-stop (Gatwick) | Virgin Atlantic non-stop (Heathrow) | British Airways non-stop (Heathrow) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 to 30 November 2026 | £432 | £870 | £1,136 | £1,098 |
| 18 December 2026 to 4 January 2027 | £1,594 | £2,083 | Not in the top results | £3,672 |
| 8 to 22 February 2027 | £417 | £817 | £874 | £899 |
| 8 to 22 March 2027 | £301 | £817 | £854 | £931 |
| 24 March to 7 April 2027 (Easter Sunday is 28 March) | £370 | £817 | £1,016 | £1,426 |
| 7 to 21 June 2027 | £499 | £820 | £947 | £891 |
| 24 July to 7 August 2027 | £732 | £820 | £1,061 | £1,654 |
Christmas is far dearer than any other window. Outside Christmas, the Air Peace fare barely moves between February and August, while the British Airways and Virgin Atlantic fares swing widely. The lowest price shown is much lower than the non-stop fares, which the section below explains.
For Abuja we checked three of the same windows. The lowest price shown was £1,402 for 18 December to 4 January, £461 for 8 to 22 February and £811 for 24 July to 7 August. A British Airways non-stop for 8 to 22 February was £747. Google Flights also suggested different dates for the December search, 20 December to 4 January, at £1,157, so moving your dates by a couple of days can matter.
These are single-day snapshots for one adult. They show the shape of the year, not what you will find.
How do December, summer and Easter work for Nigerian families?
If you are travelling for Christmas and New Year, the sources above agree you will be paying peak fares. Kayak lists December as the most expensive month on six of its seven pages and tied with July on the seventh, and the Christmas row in our table is the highest in every column where a fare is shown. Our Christmas guide covers the booking order for December.
Summer is the second peak. Kayak puts July or August among the two dearest months on every page, and our sample for 24 July to 7 August shows the British Airways fare at £1,654 against £891 in June. School holiday dates vary by council and school, so check your own term dates. We have not verified any school calendar here.
Easter 2027 falls early. GOV.UK lists Good Friday as 26 March 2027 and Easter Monday as 29 March 2027 for England and Wales. In our sample the British Airways non-stop for 24 March to 7 April was £1,426, against £931 for 8 to 22 March, and Virgin Atlantic was £1,016 against £854. Air Peace stayed at £817. Test the weeks either side of the bank holidays.
How far ahead should you book, and which day?
- Kayak's London to Lagos page says to book around 3 weeks before departure, which it says saves about 9% against booking last minute, and separately says its data suggests 19 weeks before departure for the absolute cheapest price. The page does not reconcile the two figures.
- Ethiopian Airlines says April and May are the cheapest time to book, without saying which dates it means.
- Google Flights showed fares up to August 2027 on 28 October 2026 but returned "Requested flight date is too far in the future" for mid-September 2027, so next summer's fares can already be checked.
On days of the week, Kayak's London to Lagos page says to look for outbound departures on Mondays and avoid Tuesdays, which it calls usually the priciest day. For the flight back it says Thursday is cheapest and Sunday dearest. That is one tracker's finding for one route, so test the days either side of yours.
Is the lowest fare always the one you want?
Not always. In our Google Flights samples the lowest prices were one-stop itineraries, and in the four samples where we looked at the itinerary behind the lowest price (November, December, February and Easter) it was a connection on Royal Air Maroc through Casablanca. In November, December and Easter, that connection had a layover of more than 25 hours. In February the lowest fare had a layover of 1 hour 50 minutes. The non-stop fares shown for the same dates were higher.
Line up the same things on each quote:
- the London airport (Heathrow or Gatwick);
- the total time from first departure to final arrival, not only the time in the air;
- the baggage allowance on every flight on the ticket;
- whether the whole journey is on one ticket.
Our guide to flights to Nigeria from the UK regions covers connecting from Manchester, Birmingham and beyond, and our flight times guide gives the airlines' own times.
How do you check your own dates?
- Compare Heathrow and Gatwick for Lagos, and Abuja if it is closer to where you are going.
- Use a flexible search. Google Flights has "Date grid" and "Price graph" tools, though the price graph would not load for us on 28 October 2026.
- Move your dates a few days either side and try different days of the week.
- Note the total journey time and baggage allowance for each option, not only the price. Our Lagos flights page lists the airlines and baggage rules we read from the airlines themselves.
- Ask for a quote with your dates and compare it with what you found.
What should you check before you book a flight to Lagos or Abuja?
Read the FCDO's current Nigeria travel advice for every place you will visit. It advises against all travel to some parts of Nigeria and against all but essential travel to others, and it says your travel insurance could be invalidated if you travel against its advice. Its advice was last updated on 21 October 2026 with new information about Ebola. Read both pages again on the day you book and before you fly: gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/nigeria and travelhealthpro.org.uk/countries/nigeria.
For visas, passport validity and yellow fever, see our guide to flights to Nigeria from the UK regions, and read GOV.UK's Nigeria entry requirements before you pay.
How can Travel Orbit help?
Book with a team that confirms the fare rules with you before you pay. Send us your home airport, your dates, how flexible you are, the number of travellers, how many bags you plan to take and whether you are going to Lagos or Abuja. We will come back with the options that fit.
Use the enquiry form or email [email protected], or read our Nigeria destination page.
Where to next
- Flights to Lagos and Abuja from the UK
- Cheapest time to fly from London to Harare
- Ghana
- Kenya
- South Africa
Sources
We read these pages on 28 October 2026. Fares and tracker statements change daily.
- Kayak, London to Lagos: https://www.kayak.co.uk/flight-routes/London-LON/Lagos-LOS
- Kayak, London Heathrow to Lagos: https://www.kayak.co.uk/flight-routes/London-Heathrow-LHR/Lagos-LOS
- Kayak, London Gatwick to Lagos: https://www.kayak.co.uk/flight-routes/London-Gatwick-LGW/Lagos-LOS
- Kayak, Manchester to Lagos: https://www.kayak.co.uk/flight-routes/Manchester-MAN/Lagos-LOS
- Kayak, Birmingham to Lagos: https://www.kayak.co.uk/flight-routes/Birmingham-BHX/Lagos-LOS
- Kayak, London to Abuja: https://www.kayak.co.uk/flight-routes/London-LON/Abuja-ABV
- Kayak, Manchester to Abuja: https://www.kayak.co.uk/flight-routes/Manchester-MAN/Abuja-ABV
- Skyscanner, London to Lagos: https://www.skyscanner.net/routes/lond/los/london-to-lagos.html
- Google Flights, London to Lagos and London to Abuja date searches: https://www.google.com/travel/flights
- British Airways, London to Lagos: https://hotline.britishairways.com/content/flights/nigeria/lagos
- British Airways, London to Abuja: https://hotline.britishairways.com/content/flights/nigeria/abuja
- Ethiopian Airlines, London to Lagos: https://www.ethiopianairlines.com/en-gb/flights-from-london-to-lagos
- GOV.UK, bank holidays: https://www.gov.uk/bank-holidays
- GOV.UK, Nigeria travel advice: https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/nigeria
- GOV.UK, Nigeria warnings and insurance: https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/nigeria/warnings-and-insurance
- GOV.UK, Nigeria health: https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/nigeria/health
- TravelHealthPro, Nigeria: https://travelhealthpro.org.uk/countries/nigeria