Saturday Is The Worst Day To Book A Cheap Flight, Per New Study
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Saturday may the perfect day to sleep in or mow the lawn. But it’s the worst day of the week to book a cheap flight, according to a new study from Upgraded Points, which analyzed Google Flights data for 10 of the busiest domestic routes over four weeks.
“Long held to be a myth, it turns out that there actually is a best day to book a flight if you want to save money,” says Keri Stooksbury, editor-in-chief of Upgraded Points.
It’s a virtual toss-up between Monday, when the average ticket cost $213.44, and Tuesday, when the price drops by pennies to $213.31.
Waiting until the end of the week to lock in flights comes at a 13% premium, according to the study. Travelers looking to snag the cheapest ticket should avoid Saturday, when an average ticket cost $241.61. The second-most expensive day to book a flight is Friday, when the average ticket cost $238.47.
The Best Day of the Week to Book a Flight by Airline
Upgraded Points
There were some big differences across the eight largest U.S. airlines. For United customers, the cheapest day to buy air tickets is Sunday. The average fare available on Sunday is $281.66, a savings of roughly $19 compared to the peak Thursday price of $299.47.
Prices at Delta drop incrementally from Sunday to a low of $181.05 on Thursday, then pop by almost $36 to $216.67 on Friday, suggesting that Thursday is a strategic booking opportunity for cost-conscious travelers.
Love JetBlue Airways? Ticket prices rise nearly $60 between the least expensive day (Sunday) and the most expensive (Friday). The king of price surging is Hawaiian Airlines, which blows the rest of the pack out of the water with a range of $100 between the cheapest day (Tuesday) and the priciest (Saturday).
Other airlines show much smaller day-to-day fluctuations. At American Airlines, Thursday emerges as the most expensive day to book, with tickets averaging $285.60—just $13.75 more than the Friday bargain price of $271.85. Frontier Airlines and Spirit Airlines also have relatively tight price ranges, with the gap between their cheapest and most expensive days of the week being just shy of $30.
