Are there certain days of the week or weeks in a month (barring major holidays) that are generally cheapest for flights?
I'm trying to figure out when would be best to travel, as I'm planning to travel towards the end of November, again in December, and again in March, if possible. I want to use vacation all three of these times since I have some built in vacation days each of these months already, but don't know what dates I should block in order to get the best deals on airfare.
If it matters, I'll most likely be flying within the United States in November and December, and then hopefully somewhere in southeast Asia in March.
So the question: What are the cheapest days within a week or weeks within a month to fly?
Best Answer
Obviously you want to avoid holidays of basically any form - Thanksgiving style holidays are the worst, but even long weekends, school holidays, etc will increase demand, and thus prices. Beyond that, there's not a lot at the time-of-month level that affects prices.
However day of week is a different story. In general, airlines will have cheaper fares on some days of the week, although which days depends a lot of whether it's a business route or a tourist route. In general you can expect Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday to be the cheapest days, normally followed by Saturday. Friday, Sunday and Monday are normally the most expensive.
Most of the travel sites will allow you to select a "My dates are flexible" or similar box, which will show you to cheapest dates for up to a week around the date you've selected, which is normally the easiest way to find the best dates to travel on if your schedule is flexible.
Pictures about "Are there certain days of the week or weeks in a month (barring major holidays) that are generally cheapest for flights?"
What days of the week are the cheapest to fly?
Generally, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday are the cheapest days to fly, while Fridays and Sundays are pricier, according to travel deal site FareCompare. Leisure travelers tend to fly on the weekends, either starting their vacations on Friday or taking a long weekend Friday to Sunday.What is the best day of the week to travel by plane?
The basic rule about choosing the best day of the week to fly is Tuesday or Wednesday. They not only tend to be the cheapest days to fly but less busy as well. Since there are fewer people who would like to fly mid-week, Tuesday and Wednesday are also the best days to fly standby.What is the cheapest month to fly?
If you can be flexible with which month you fly in, January is the cheapest of the year for domestic flights (it's 10% cheaper than June). Surprisingly, August is cheapest for international flights these days (20% cheaper than December).What is the cheapest day of the year to fly?
Business travelers head out for work on Mondays and return on Thursday or Friday. That means airlines are eager to sell more tickets on those other, off-peak days \u2013 resulting in lower prices and the cheapest day of the week to fly.Best Day of the Week to Book Flights? Is it true you get cheapest airline tickets on Tuesday?
More answers regarding are there certain days of the week or weeks in a month (barring major holidays) that are generally cheapest for flights?
Answer 2
Fun fact - I've seen on a regular basis that various routes are cheaper on Friday the 13th. Yes, enough people are superstitious that it can affect airline prices. For this reason a friend emigrated from NZ to Aus on a Friday 13th, and even got married on a Friday 13th :)
Generally, however, weekends are more expensive than weekdays - as people try to reduce how much leave they're taking when going on holiday, and of course flights are used for weekend breaks. As such, Friday evening and Sunday evening tend to be expensive.
Often Saturday morning flights (very early) are a lot cheaper.
Your best bet is to look up holidays for the destination (and source) of your flight, and try to avoid travelling on those days. Also check dates for school holidays as those tend to bump up prices as well while families go on holiday together.
Then go to a price comparison website like Kayak and when you search for prices, check the 'Flexible days' - often it'll help you out by showing you that if you fly a day earlier you'll save cash.
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Images: Bich Tran, Olya Kobruseva, Bich Tran, Fauzan Fitria