Best Time To Book Flight For Cheaper Tickets

Best Time To Book Flight For Cheaper Tickets

No matter how often you fly, saving money on airfare is always a welcome relief. While there are plenty of travel hacks that can help reduce the cost, some — such as the idea of saving a bundle on airfare by booking it on Tuesday — are slightly misunderstood.

The truth is, booking on a Tuesday for cheaper flights is not accurate. However, it is true that timing impacts the cost of a flight. CNBC Select spoke with Scott Keyes, founder and chief flight expert at flight deal subscription service Going (formerly Scott’s Cheap Flights) to understand the origin of the Tuesday misconception and the best approach to booking flights at a cheaper price.  

Why it doesn’t matter what day of the week you book

If you’re holding off on booking a flight because it’s not Tuesday yet, you may want to reconsider this approach.  

Booking on a specific date worked back when airlines used to load their fares weekly at a predetermined time, and customers could book a ticket soon after on a first-come, first-served basis, resulting in affordable fares.  

However, airlines no longer operate this way.  

Instead, Keyes advises people to view fares like the volatility of the stock market. Each year, the stock market has a date where it performs the best but that doesn’t mean it will always do well on that exact date.  

The same thing applies to cheap flights. While you may find that airfares look slightly different on a given day, it does not have any predictive power for when they’ll drop in the future.  

How can you score cheap airfare? 

Follow the 21-day rule for last-minute travel 

If you’re not in a position to book a flight months in advance and still hope to score the cheapest option available, make sure to book sooner rather than later. Keyes suggests booking your ticket at least 21 days before departure (if possible), since airlines have policies that will substantially raise the price of airfare for trips taking place after that deadline.

What is the most affordable day of the week to travel? 

You may not get cheaper airfare by booking on a specific day, but when you plan on flying can affect the price of the ticket. Generally, Mondays and Fridays are more expensive than Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Keyes says this is mainly because business travelers tend to avoid traveling in the middle of the week.  

Early morning flights are also less popular since people usually prefer waking up later for their flight. Keyes says the other benefit of early flights is that they have what’s known as a completion factor — a flight’s on-time arrival — which tends to be about 25 percentage points higher than afternoon or evening flights. This is because the aircraft for the first flight of the day has been parked in the airport overnight, whereas other planes are coming in from other locations later in the day. 

When to use airline miles for travel 

Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

Information about the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card has been collected independently by Select and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of the card prior to publication.

  • Rewards

    5 Miles per dollar on hotel and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel, 2X miles per dollar on every other purchase

  • Welcome bonus

    Earn 75,000 bonus miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening

  • Annual fee

  • Intro APR

    N/A for purchases and balance transfers

  • Regular APR

  • Balance transfer fee

    0% at the regular transfer APR

  • Foreign transaction fee

  • Credit needed

If you’re interested in earning points with your travel purchases (and are fine with paying an annual fee of $550), you can use the Chase Sapphire Reserve® to earn 5X points on flights and 10X points on hotels and car rentals when you purchase through Chase Ultimate Rewards® (immediately after the first $300 is spent on travel purchases annually).

Chase Sapphire Reserve®

  • Rewards

    Earn 5X total points on flights and 10X total points on hotels and car rentals when you purchase travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards® immediately after the first $300 is spent on travel purchases annually. Earn 3X points on other travel and dining & 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases plus, 10X points on Lyft rides through March 2025

  • Welcome bonus

    Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That’s $900 toward travel when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards®

  • Annual fee

  • Intro APR

  • Regular APR

  • Balance transfer fee

  • Foreign transaction fee

  • Credit needed

Bottom line 

Editorial Note: Opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the Select editorial staff’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any third party.