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Cheapest days to fly and buy tickets: Top money-saving tips
The cheapest days to fly are midweek, like Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Book 1-3 months ahead for deals, and read more money-saving tips in our guide.
September 18, 2024
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Every penny you save on your plane ticket is a penny you get to spend enjoying your destination. Figuring out the cheapest days to fly is part science and part art. Either way, it’s very rewarding to do.
Before we get into the nitty-gritty of how to find better deals on your flights, let’s point out something very important that makes all the difference when looking for the cheapest days for air travel.
Best days to fly vs. best days to book flights
When looking for cheaper flights, keep in mind that it’s not so much about the best days to book flights as it is about your departure date. Thursdays used to be the cheapest time to book flights to save money, but this is not the case anymore. Nowadays, deals come and go randomly and are hard to predict. They vary depending on flight availability, competition among airlines, and more.
You can still get a cheaper price if you are flexible with your travel dates.
What are the cheapest days to fly?
This slightly differs for domestic and international flights. Other facts come into play, as well. For example, it matters whether your flight is in peak or off-peak season or if you are flying around holidays. Here are some regularities in fare prices that you should take advantage of to save money.
Domestic flights
If you want to book domestic flights at lower prices than usual, try booking them on Tuesdays or Wednesdays. As a rule of thumb, you can find the best deal for your flight during these days of the week. The most popular days for travel are Fridays and Sundays, so you can expect higher prices.
If Tuesday or Wednesday are not an option for you, Saturday is another day of the week when you can expect a price drop. At least, the prices would not be as high as if you booked your flight for a Sunday.
International flights
You have better chances to make some significant savings when you book domestic flights than when you try to book a flight abroad. These long trips usually gave relatively steady prices. Wednesdays and Saturdays are the days of the week for which you will likely find better airfare prices.
This is especially true if you compare these prices with the ones for Friday flights. Friday is often the most expensive day of the week for flying. It’s the beginning of a weekend, so people use days off to shake off jet lag and rest over Saturday and Sunday.
How to find the best deals on flights
You’ll find the best details on flights by exploring different loyalty programs, using tools like Google Flights and Skyscanner, being flexible about your dates, and even destination airports. Here’s how these tips and tricks work in practice.
Sign up for loyalty programs
One of the ways to lock in significant savings on airfare is to make the most of the loyalty programs. You may not always get substantial discounts on ticket fares, but they can throw in some extra perks like free WiFi onboard, priority boarding, reserving better seats, additional luggage, etc.
Set alerts on Google Flights
This is an excellent option for those without set dates for their next flight. This is an excellent option if you know your destination and don’t mind waiting for the perfect airfare ticket. Here’s what you need to do:
- Go to Google Flights
- Search for the flight. Enter the departure and destination city, as well as the travel dates. You can be flexible with your dates if you like.
- Enable price tracking. After your flight search, you’ll see the option to Track prices. Enable it for your desired route and dates.
You’ll get an email with a price alert whenever there’s a significant price change for your desired destination or dates.
Work around the holidays
Book well in advance or consider flying on the exact date of the major holidays. Setting a price alert for these dates is a smart idea, but try to book your tickets at least one to three months in advance. Searching for the cheapest day of the week to fly won’t help during the high-peak holiday season.
Be flexible with your dates
The more flexible you are with choosing the day to fly, the more likely you are to save on your ticket. Tools like Skyscanner and Kiwi can help you find deals if you have time to look for them in advance and you are not set on specific dates. Southwest Airlines, for example, offers its own Low Fare Calendar you can use to save on your trip.
Third-party flight search browsers are great for finding good deals, but booking directly with the airline is always safer and better. That way, you can avoid additional fees and complications with seat reservations, cancellation policy, and more.
Check flights to smaller airports
Flexibility with your trip doesn’t only apply to dates. If you are willing to travel to nearby airports and not only the major ones, you can save money. For example, Frankfurt has a huge international airport with many connecting flights to destinations all over Europe and the world.
Frankfurt–Hahn Airport is just a reasonably short train ride away from it. It is a smaller airport and doesn’t serve as many destinations, but flying there can save you quite a bit on your fare if you have a chance.
Use incognito browsing
Airlines and travel websites can use cookies to determine if you have been browsing flights on their websites. If you express interest in a flight, they might increase the price for your chosen flight. Incognito mode ensures that your online behavior can’t be tracked easily, so you can check the cheapest day to fly as much as you want.
Use the Google Flights trick
If you are super-flexible with your dates and destinations, here is a cool trick for those who just want to go on an adventure and fly without caring about the days of the week or even the destination.
- Go to Flights and choose your departure airport.
- Click Search without adding any of the other data.
- You will see a map of places you can fly to at amazing prices.
Conclusion
Even though flight prices are generally high, you can still find affordable deals. Try flying on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, or Saturdays, and book your ticket weeks leading up to the flight. However, aiming for certain days to fly will not always work. Flexibility and using tips and tricks such as setting alerts, using Google Flights, booking directly with airlines, and browsing incognito can help you save money on your travels.
You’ll need a secure way to stay connected wherever you decide to go. If you are saving money on your ticket, it’s only logical to use the most budget-friendly data plan option and avoid paying for roaming fees. The answer to this is a travel eSIM. You can get one that covers your destination, an entire region, or even an eSIM that works worldwide!
FAQs
Typically, Southwest releases its sales and promotions early in the week. That is why you should check out their website on Tuesday morning. Hopefully, you can get a good price for your ticket.
Usually, it’s best to book with Delta on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. As other airlines launch their sales and promotions early within a week, Delta does its best to match competitors’ prices. Their airfare pricing policies are not strict, so sometimes their prices drop due to real-time demand.
If you’re looking for the cheapest day to fly, book a flight on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Saturday. Although this is not a strict rule, you can expect a mid-week flight price to be lower than a weekend ticket price due to less demand.
Many airlines launch their sales and promotions on Tuesday early morning, so you can save money on your airfare cost. However, this is not the rule, and you can’t actually say for sure which is the cheapest day to book a flight. It’s better to set price alerts than to rely on getting a good airfare deal on a Tuesday.
It is quite the opposite. Airfare tickets get pricier as the days of your trip approach. You can expect the airfare to be the most expensive within two weeks before your trip, up until the day of your flight.
