What Is the Best Day to Book a Flight?

The Short Answer

According to Expedia's Air Hacks report, Friday is now the cheapest day to book flights. Domestic fares booked on Friday are about 14% cheaper than Sunday, and international fares are about 8% cheaper. But here's the honest truth: the day of the week you book matters far less than how far in advance you book and whether you're flexible on travel dates.

The Old Tuesday Advice Is Dead

For over a decade, "book on Tuesday" was the go-to flight advice. It made sense at the time. Airlines used to release fare sales on Monday evenings, competitors would match by Tuesday morning, and there was a brief window of lower prices midweek.

That's not how airlines work anymore. Modern fare pricing is managed by sophisticated algorithms that adjust prices multiple times per day based on demand, seat inventory, competitor pricing, and even your search history. There's no weekly cycle of sales being released and matched. Prices move constantly.

The Tuesday myth persists because it's simple and memorable. But data from multiple sources, including Google Flights, Hopper, and Expedia, all confirm that Tuesday no longer holds any special advantage for booking.

What the Current Data Actually Shows

Expedia's report analyzed millions of bookings and found some patterns in daily pricing. Here's the breakdown:

Best Days to Book Domestic Flights

• Cheapest: Friday and Saturday
• Mid-range: Monday through Thursday
• Most expensive: Sunday

Best Days to Book International Flights

• Cheapest: Friday
• Mid-range: Monday through Thursday, Saturday
• Most expensive: Sunday

The likely explanation is simple: fewer people shop for flights on Fridays because they're busy with end-of-week activities. Less shopping means less demand pressure, which keeps prices slightly lower. Sunday is when people sit down to plan trips, driving demand and prices up.

But before you rearrange your schedule to only book on Fridays, keep this in perspective. The difference between the cheapest and most expensive booking days is modest, typically $20 to $40 on a domestic ticket. Compare that to the $130+ you can save by booking in the right advance-purchase window.

Best Day to Book vs. Best Day to Fly

This is the distinction most people miss. When you book and when you fly are two completely different levers, and the day you fly has a much bigger impact on price.

Cheapest Days to Fly

• Tuesday: Consistently the cheapest day to actually travel. Business travelers avoid it, and leisure demand is low.
• Wednesday: Nearly as cheap as Tuesday for the same reasons.
• Saturday: Often cheaper than you'd expect because business travelers don't fly on weekends and many leisure travelers depart Friday or Sunday.

Most Expensive Days to Fly

• Sunday: The most expensive day to fly. Everyone's heading home or starting trips.
• Friday: Late afternoon and evening flights are pricey due to weekend getaway demand and business travelers heading home.
• Monday: Morning flights are expensive because business travelers flood the routes.

Flying on a Tuesday or Wednesday instead of Sunday saves an average of $60 to $100 per ticket, according to Google Flights data. That dwarfs any savings from booking on a specific day of the week.

What Actually Moves the Needle on Price

If you want to save real money, stop obsessing over which day to hit "purchase" and focus on these factors instead:

Advance Purchase Window

This is the single biggest factor. Domestic flights are cheapest when booked 15 to 45 days before departure. International flights hit their price floor 30 to 60 days out. Booking too early or too late costs you significantly more.

Flexibility on Dates

Being able to shift your departure by even one or two days can save $50 to $200. Use Google Flights' calendar view or fare calendar to see daily price variations. A Wednesday departure might be half the price of a Friday departure on the same route.

Flexibility on Airports

If you're near multiple airports, check them all. Flying out of a secondary airport, like Burbank instead of LAX, or Newark instead of JFK, often saves $50 to $150.

Route Competition

Routes with multiple airlines competing tend to have lower fares. A route served by four carriers will generally be cheaper than one served by two. You can't always control this, but it's worth knowing when choosing between nearby airports.

The Smart Strategy

Instead of trying to time the perfect booking day, do this:

• Set up price alerts on Google Flights or Hopper for your route 3 to 6 months before your trip.
• Know what "cheap" looks like for your route. Google Flights tells you whether a fare is low, typical, or high.
• Book when the price is right, regardless of what day it happens to be. A great fare on a Wednesday is better than a mediocre fare on a Friday.
• Use the 24-hour rule. The US DOT requires free cancellation within 24 hours for flights booked at least 7 days out. Book the good price, keep watching, and rebook if it drops.
• Choose cheap travel days. Flying Tuesday or Wednesday saves more than any booking-day trick ever will.

Does the Time of Day You Book Matter?

No. There's no evidence that booking at 2 AM or 6 AM gets you better prices than booking at noon. Airline pricing algorithms don't run on a clock. They respond to demand signals in real time.

Some people swear by clearing their cookies or using incognito mode to avoid "price tracking." Major airlines and booking platforms have repeatedly denied tracking individual users to raise prices. Testing by consumer advocates has found no consistent evidence of this practice. It's one of those myths that sounds plausible but doesn't hold up.

The Bottom Line

If you want a simple rule, Friday is marginally better than Sunday for booking. But the real savings come from booking in the right window (1 to 3 months for domestic, 2 to 8 for international), flying on cheaper days (Tuesday and Wednesday), and using price alerts to catch deals whenever they appear. The day you click "buy" is the least important variable in the equation.