- Booking experts advise customers to think about when they fly, not when they book
- If you return mid-week, you can save on both domestic and international airfare
- Platforms such as Hopper and Google Flights can predict when it is best to book
The old saying is that to get the best price on a flight you should book on Tuesday, but experts suggest this is no longer true.
According to travel booking app Hopper, customers looking for the best price should instead pay attention to when to leave and return.
The platform examined six months of historical airfares. It found that international travelers can save about 8 percent, or $76 per ticket, if they depart on Wednesday or Thursday instead of on peak travel days like Friday and Saturday.
By returning midweek on Sunday, Monday or Tuesday, travelers can save more than 14 percent off peak fares, which amounts to a savings of approximately $178 per ticket.
Hopper found that international travelers can save about 8 percent, or $76 per ticket, if they depart on Wednesday or Thursday
Booking a round-trip domestic flight on Tuesday saved travelers 15 percent on peak fares, or about $52 per ticket, Hopper found
Domestic travelers can save 15 percent or about $40 by departing on a cheaper day of the week: Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday.
Booking a round-trip domestic flight on Tuesday saved travelers 15 percent off peak fares, or about $52 per ticket, Hopper found.
Hayley Berg, Hopper’s chief economist, told Bloomberg that in the modern age of airline tickets, there can be numerous times in a week when the cheapest tickets are available.
For example, Hopper looked at the popular round-trip route from New York’s JFK to Boston Logan and found that the cheapest price was often available at different times and on different days – on average, 8 different days prior to the flight’s departure.
Another myth she debunked was the idea that booking services and airlines monitor potential customers’ browsing activities and use cookies to increase prices when they return later.
Buyers can now view the price history of certain flights via various booking platforms. Pictured is a TSA checkpoint in Denver, Colorado
She suggested that if someone notices a price increase after checking for flights for the second time, it is most likely because cheaper seats reserved by the airline sold out.
Today, several booking platforms have built features that allow buyers to view the price history of certain flights.
Hopper offers one price prediction toolwhich indicates how low prices for a given flight are likely to be, and how long before the flight starts to rise.
Google Flights can display the historical prices of certain flights on certain dates and inform buyers whether current prices are high, low, or typical.