When are flights cheapest and why?

It is in airlines’ best interest to make sure people can afford to fly with them, so they want to offer good prices. But they also need to find the right balance between (a) making sure they fill up a flight and (b) earning enough money to justify all the costs that go into operating the journey.

For this reason, ticket prices will go up and down all the time, depending on many different factors that are specific to that particular flight. Those things can include:

Whether the route is typically used by business or leisure travelers. If it’s a route that’s used a lot by business travelers, airlines might start by selling tickets at lower prices to tempt leisure travelers (so they can fill up the plane). They may then raise prices as the flight date nears, because business travelers usually book at the last minute (and on their corporate credit card).

How booked up the flight is. If it isn’t selling well, the airline might be tempted to sell off more seats at lower prices, so they can fill up the plane. They’ll save the high fares for last-minute buyers, as those people probably really need to be on that flight, no matter the price — and those high fares help the airline cover the costs of the journey.

Real-time bookings and cancellations. These days, airlines use complex computer software and algorithms to adjust their prices, so they can respond to supply and demand in real time. For example, if some bookings get canceled close to the flight date, the software might automatically offer those seats at a very low price to make sure they get filled. That’s why you’ll see prices constantly dipping and climbing as you search for the perfect fare.

Of course, this depends on a ton of different and ever-changing factors, like how well that particular flight or route is selling. But here at Skyscanner, we love a bit of flight data analysis, so we crunched some numbers, looked at flight price history, and found a few patterns, which should help you find the best possible price for your trip.

If you’re flexible on when you fly, use Skyscanner’s ‘whole month’ search tool to find the cheapest day to travel to your chosen destination.

Our analysis shows that flight prices go through a weekly cycle. Typically, the lowest prices are made available earlier in the week, and the highest prices are offered later in the week. This is why the answer to the question, “When do flight prices go down?” is sometimes… a Tuesday!

Midweek. Flights that take off and land on weekends, or Mondays and Fridays generally cost more. So aim for Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.  

According to our data and flight price history, Tuesday is the day to book. It seems most airlines launch their discounts on Monday nights, so you can pick up the best prices on Tuesday mornings. Typically, you’ll save somewhere between 15 and 25 percent.  

If you’ve already got a destination in mind, our Cheapest Month tool will show you the absolute cheapest month of the year to visit when searching for ‘flexible dates’. After you’ve selected the cheapest month, you’ll then be able to see the cheapest day to fly in your chosen month.

Got your eye on a dream destination? Don’t waste your time repeatedly checking for a price drop — let Skyscanner do the work. Set up a Price Alert for the route you want to watch, and we’ll notify you as soon as the price moves.

See, because we’re always tracking flight prices in real time with our own software, we can let you know in real-time as soon as a price goes up or down. This can help you find when flights are cheapest for any trip you have on your radar.