Is Tuesday Still the Optimal Day to Purchase a Flight?

Hunting for airfare bargains can be quite challenging, especially these days when fares have skyrocketed. Fortunately, there are numerous strategies for finding a good deal: savvy tips on using Wikipedia and Google Flights to uncover affordable tickets, the best time frame for purchasing, and how to utilize Kayak’s hidden travel-planning feature. However, amidst this valuable information, some myths persist—one of the most common is that Tuesday is the prime day to score an airfare discount. It would certainly make things simpler if we could pinpoint a day guaranteed to yield the best flight prices, but is that actually the case? We consulted experts to get the facts.

Is there a specific day that offers the lowest airfare?

“I suspect this idea originated in the early days of the Internet when airlines began promoting web-exclusive deals, which typically appeared on Wednesdays,” explains Brett Snyder, who has experience with several airlines and founded Cranky Concierge, an air travel booking and emergency assistance service. “It might have been Tuesday night.”

Scott Keyes, the founder of Going (formerly Scott’s Cheap Flights), supports this idea in a blog entry, stating that when airlines began selling tickets online, they updated their fares manually at a specific time each week. Consequently, late Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning became the designated period for those updates.

“Traditionally, Tuesdays were considered the best day to secure flight deals,” states Laura Lindsay, a global travel trends expert for the booking platform Skyscanner. “This was generally accurate before the pandemic, as pricing trends and seasonality were more consistent. However, this is no longer a steadfast guideline.”

It’s hard to determine if this was ever a definitive rule. Drew Ogborn, a revenue management and commercial excellence analyst at ARC, recalls that his grandmother, who worked as a travel agent in the 1990s, thought Thursday was the magic day.

“You might hear that booking on weekends is cheaper, but that’s a misinterpretation of the statistics,” explains Snyder. He notes that the perceived lower costs on weekends stem from the fact that average spending on tickets purchased during the week is higher than on weekends. This difference is not about fare prices, but rather about the type of buyers and their spending habits. “Leisure travelers tend to book more on weekends, while corporate travel bookings happen during the week,” he adds, making weekends seem more affordable since businesses often pay more for tickets than individual travelers do.

A case in point emerged from an Expedia Travel Hacks report released in fall 2022, which claimed that travelers who booked flights on Sundays saved an average of 15 percent on international trips. This finding was based partly on data collected by the Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC), which manages transactions between airlines and both online and traditional travel agents whenever a flight is booked.

However, Ogborn from ARC highlights the intricacies of analyzing such data. “[The data] pertains to tickets that have been purchased, not just the search results,” he explains. “Simply looking on a given Sunday doesn’t guarantee that you’ll find a lower fare.”

Indeed, while total spending on tickets might be lower on Sundays or weekends, this doesn’t necessarily indicate that the fares available on those days are cheaper. It could simply mean that the more affordable options were the ones selected by travelers.

Even Google concurs that there’s no significant advantage to purchasing tickets on a specific day. James Byers, group product manager for Google Flights, wrote in a blog post in August 2022: “There’s little benefit to buying your tickets on a particular day of the week—sorry, Tuesday! If you book flights on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, or Thursdays instead of Saturdays or Sundays, prices have been, on average, only 1.9 percent lower over the past five years.”

Is there a specific day when flights are the cheapest?

Perhaps.

Data from ARC’s global airline sales database reveals that average round-trip fares for flights departing from the U.S. between January and August 2022 were 15 percent less expensive when trips commenced on a Wednesday compared to those starting on a Sunday or Monday.

However, there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to booking flights.

Skyscanner analyzed its own booking data from the past year, and Lindsay notes that they found Tuesday to be the cheapest day to fly. “Yet,” she points out, “this information doesn’t paint the complete picture. These booking and travel tips vary by destination, and travelers may see different results for the same location depending on the month.” For instance, “for flights from New York to Greece in June, Monday is the most affordable day, while for Milan, it’s Saturday. In June, the least expensive day to fly from Boston to Las Vegas is Tuesday, but in September, it shifts to Wednesday.”

Skyscanner’s Savings Generator is a handy tool to help users navigate this complex situation. Just input your departure location, destination, and travel dates, and it will provide a recommendation for the optimal booking time and the cheapest travel day based on its collected data.

Understanding how airfare is truly set

“Ticket prices are driven entirely by anticipated demand,” explains Snyder. “If flights are likely to be full or during high-demand periods, fares increase. Conversely, when demand is lower, airlines reduce prices to maintain occupancy on their flights.”

Lindsay from Skyscanner concurs, stating that the algorithms airlines employ are intricate and ever-changing. They consider various elements such as itinerary, cabin class, distance, and whether the airline is a budget or premium option. “These [algorithms] are frequently calculated and recalculated every minute, influencing the ticket price for travelers. Nonetheless, the most significant factor that ultimately determines the price paid is demand,” she explains.

What can you do about all this?

Most experts recommend that when you encounter a fare that aligns with your budget, travel dates, and preferences, you should go ahead and book it. For guidance on how to discover those fares, check out our expert tips in this Dinogo article on the best time to book a flight.