The best day to buy airline tickets with the Skyscanner flight booking platform can only be understood through proper market research. Since the airlines use a dynamic pricing algorithm that is responsible for constantly adjusting ticket prices based on their demand, available inventory as well as competition among the rival airlines, it’s hard to say that a particular day would guarantee the cheapest flights.
However, there have been various expert analyses and market research that show the possibility of getting affordable fares on certain days.
Here’s everything you need to know about the best day to buy airline tickets.
Midweek Departures.
Though there’s no guarantee for the lowest flight prices on certain days, the midweek departures are usually considered to be ideal for getting affordable fares. Typically, Tuesdays and Wednesdays are the two days in a week that are best regarded for cheap flights. This is because fewer people are opting for air travel during these days, thus, the decreased demand results in decreased prices.
Another reason for it is that business travelers often book their flights either for Monday or Thursday and often on Friday as well. Therefore, that leads to higher demand and potentially higher fares during these days.
So prefer midweek flights for an affordable travel fare.
Weekends are a big no!
As said earlier, the weekend is the time when a lot of people are opting for air travel in order to return to their homes/workplaces. So booking your flight at such a time of high demand would result in high prices. So either avoid traveling on weekends or book your flights for the weekend in advance.
Off-peak travel season.
While the day of the week you book your flight affects its pricing, the season you are traveling in also directly influences the airline’s ticket prices. For instance, off-peak travel season could guarantee you cheaper fares as compared to peak travel seasons. So, prefer traveling in off-peak times which are usually the shoulder seasons or the time that is outside of the major holidays. Since these times typically have less demand because fewer people are traveling, it leads to potentially better deals and cheaper fares.
Prebooking.
Prebboikg your flights is another fundamental tip to conder to get affordable travel fares. Booking in advance not only guarantees you cheaper flights but also keeps you from last-minute booking hassles. All in all, helping you to secure the best available deals along with better fares.
For international travel, a prebooking time frame of three months (or 90 days) must be considered and not less than that. However, for domestic flights, it can be reduced to a month (or 30 days) only.
Otherwise, if you opt for last-minute bookings, airlines may increase prices as the departure date draws closer because of the limited availability.
Additionally, prebooking could land you a variety of added benefits for your flight!
Flexibility in travel dates.
If you are being flexible with your travel dates, it could increase the chances of getting an affordable travel ticket because of the more options accessible to you. Otherwise, being rigid on traveling on particular dates would only result in limited options available with higher fares and less comparison.
In this regard, you can get the benefit of the exclusive search filter tools of various third-party flight search engines and aggregators and get the most affordable deals available instantly. Therefore, helping in your decision-making.
Sales and Promotions.
Many sales and promotions are also announced frequently by various airlines to attract customers, fill their seats as well as compete in the market. So you can also get the benefit of them when looking for the best day to buy an airline ticket
It’s crucial to understand that though midweek days i.e. Tuesday and Wednesday are best regarded for buying cheap airline tickets, the prices can be influenced significantly based on market conditions, seasonality as well as demand.