The Best Days to Book a Flight and When to Fly – NerdWallet

Believing that there is only an optimal day a week to save on flights, and that day is Tuesday, it is a legend. And like all good legends, there is something really … but it’s not the whole story.

The reality is that flight prices constantly change every time of the day, adjusting to the demand in real time. The airlines are not refused the same day every week, as a grocery store, so you will not find offers waiting until Tuesdays to book. However, you may find some modest savings if you are willing to fly On Saturdays or half of the week, when there is less demand than usual.

This is what the data shows in the best days to reserve a flight and when to fly.

You can find offers any day of the week since flight prices fluctuate with demand. That said, the data provided to Nerdwallet by Expedia indicate that, if it has flexibility on when to reserve, Sundays are generally the best.

National travelers can save 6%, while international travelers can save 17% compared to the reserve on a Monday or Friday, according to the Air -Expedia Trips Hacks Report.

Airlines can offer sales, increase the amount of seats on a route or even lower prices to coincide with a competitor, so there is no real pattern at what day of the week the best offers has.

On Saturday, it averages cheaper flights in general in almost all metrics.

Hopper – A travel reservation application – Flight reserve data collected from October 2023 until April 1, 2024 for May 2024 that show average air tickets, broken down for the day of the week. In fact, Saturdays are cheaper.

According to the Air Travel Hacks Hacks report, national flights on Saturday averaged approximately 17% less than Sunday flights.

Sundays and Mondays are the most expensive days to leave for national trips. If you cannot fly on the cheapest days, flying on Tuesdays or Fridays could also be a good option. The average air passage is approximately 12% lower than maximum Sunday prices these days.

Meanwhile, international flyers would also be prudent to leave on Wednesdays or Saturdays, usually the cheapest days to leave for an international trip. That said, there is no big difference in the price during the days of the week for most international routes.

Hopper estimates that leaving Wednesday for Europe will only save you about 10% compared to the most expensive day (Friday).

Holidays are a completely different beast, regardless of whether it is July 4 or Labor Day. In general, there are more people flying in the days around a vacation, so there are fewer aircraft seats and higher prices.

To get the best offer, reserve as soon as possible. Because many airlines have flexible cancellation policies, it is worth ensuring a decent rate in advance and re -reserve if the price of the flight falls in later months. According to the 2023 ideas by Google Flights, the The best time to book a vacation flight from mid -December It is 71 days before the exit.

In many cases, the best day to fly will be further from the holidays. If the holidays fall on a Monday, flying the previous Tuesday will probably be cheaper than flying the previous Friday. You can also look at the holidays itself. For example, flying Christmas day or Thanksgiving is usually much more affordable than flying the days before or later.

These are our recommendations on when to fly around some of the main holidays based on the recent data of the Transport Security Administration Control (TSA):

To see the rates and rates of American Express Platinum Card®see This page. To see the rates and rates of the American Express® Gold Cardsee This page.

Although no day of the week has cheaper flights, there is a period of time during which you must book before prices upload.

Reserve national flights from one to three months in advance to avoid any price increase in the weeks prior to the departure date. In fact, national flights reserved one or three months in average anticipation of 25% less than last minute agreements, according to Expedia. Last minute flight offers are not very common and runs the risk of not getting a seat because their desired flight could be exhausted.

If you are flying internationally, you will want to look at two to eight months.

It is no longer necessary to look at flight prices before the ideal reserve window. Google flights, for example, are sometimes shown in search results when they expect prices to be the lowest based on historical data for their route.

Let a computer program do the job for you. Instead of verifying flight prices every day, establish a price alert in the travel search engine of your choice, either Google flightsHopper, Skyscanner or Kayak. They will send an email when they see the price fall.

First, you will have to make sure that the original flight you reserved does not have change or cancellation changes. For most airlines, that applies to most main tickets and premium class on national flights and some short -distance international flights. In general, you cannot change or cancel basic economy tickets for free.

If you can cancel or change without rates, establish a price alert. When the price falls, you can cancel your flight and reserve again (on the same airline or a different one) to get the cheapest price. Keep in mind that you can only get a voucher or travel credit if you cancel, so you should only use the option if you are quite sure you will fly again with the original airline within a year.

The golden rule of cheap travel remains: Be flexible. Use Google flights to see if there are cheaper places to go to the target field when looking. Verify nearby airports if you are configured in a destination and use calendar views to find lower prices on different dates. Maybe he adopts a long scale as an opportunity to see another city on his trip.

After all, the best day to reserve a flight and the best day to fly is when it is cheaper, and that could vary depending on when where it goes.