Tuesday Is No Longer the Cheapest Day to Buy Plane Tickets
It seems to be common knowledge among travelers that the cheapest day to buy plane tickets during the week is Tuesday. But what if we told you that this piece of common knowledge was actually wrong?
According to airfare forecasting company Hopper, the so-called “Tuesday effect” only happens at midnight. And even then, it only applies to 1.6 percent of domestic U.S. flights. Doesn’t sound like much of an “effect” to us at all! Chances are, if you wait until the next coming Tuesday to buy your tickets, you could be actually missing some great deals rather than snatching them up. But the good news is that Hopper, which uses an archive of flight prices to predict when plane tickets will be the cheapest, told Bloomberg it’s found a new gold mine: Thursday is now the best day to find a good deal on a flight.
On average, domestic flights dropped about $12 to $15, and international flights dropped about $20 on a Thursday, according to thousands of routes that Hopper analyzed. But if you’re specifically looking at only international flights, Monday might actually be your best bet, since you can save $30 on average per ticket.
Why was Tuesday the cheapest day to buy plane tickets before?
As we all know, the digital age of technology has changed just about everything for us these days: how we communicate with loved ones, how we preserve our precious memories in photos, and even how we plan our next spontaneous restaurant outing. Turns out, the digital age has also changed quite a bit when it comes to booking a flight — including the best day to do it.
“In the past, there used to be more human intervention where managers could create flash sales, often on Tuesdays and Wednesdays,” said Patrick Surry, chief data scientist at Hopper, in an interview with Bloomberg. “These decisions are largely automated now.”
Keep this in mind when you book those last-minute holiday flight tickets!
The next time you get on a long flight, here’s what you should wear to stay comfy:
h/t Southern Living
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