Do ticket prices go down at night?
You may have heard that there is a cheap window of time during the week to book your airline tickets. According to CheapAir.com, that's a myth. The day and time of the week have no impact on ticket prices.
According to Skyscanner's research, the best time to book on any given day is around 5 a.m. So, it's true that the early bird gets the worm. Or, the flight deal, that is. In addition, whether you want to save on domestic or international flights, you should also fire up your laptop on Sunday.
What is the cheapest day of the week to fly? Midweek. Flights that take off and land on weekends, or Mondays and Fridays generally cost more. So aim for Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
In general, same-day flights are cheaper than booking in advance, but it isn't always the case. Sometimes, booking a flight six months in advance might seem like a good idea.
Tuesday Around Midnight is the Cheapest Time to Book
And midnight later in the week actually gets more expensive. So put the "always book at midnight" myth to bed.
Is it cheaper to book a flight at the last minute? We've said this before, but it's worth repeating at the outset—no, it's really not cheaper to book a flight at the last minute. Yes, last minute travelers used to score the occasional fare so low it might have induced shock, but that's no longer the case.
Answer: Prices drop for flights around 60 days away from departure. This is a loose rule with a window of 45-90 days out, but I usually find my best prices about two months away from traveling. Prices also drop based on sales by the airlines and other promotions for specific destinations.
We've explained why Tuesday is the best day to shop for airline tickets in the past – because so many airlines release weekly sales early on Tuesday, which then prompts competing airlines to match prices – so Tuesday is a good day to find a lot of deals.
Surprisingly, there is very little evidence that online travel sites are raising prices the more that you search for a specific trip. In fact, they tend to show lower prices to logged-in users.
No, your search history doesn't affect flight prices.
"We run thousands of searches every day, day after day. If prices were rising based on those previous searches, we'd see it."