random question for AT'ers...

what is the best day to fly?
more specifically, when is the best day to fly from the east coast of north america to the west coast.

this is mainly a price thing because folks have told me flights and hotels cost more during the week than on the weekends. I have a pretty flexible schedule so I could theoretically fly any day of the week, so I'm trying to make sure I get the cheapest fare possible

any insight would be appreciated :)

pretty sure it's the opposite...much cheaper on weekdays than weekends. midweek is probably the cheapest.

yeah what Highrock said.....weekday is cheaper than weekends.

yup - ask shatner for a deal

when booking flights to mexico, wednesday and thursday had the best fares

Wednesday morning at like 3-6 am there are cheap ticket prices

from west coast to east coast, just go weekdays morning like 5am or something, you'll get a good deal. That far I know (I know you're going from east to west) :p

Just use expedia.com to make life easier for you.

I dont know what you guys are talking about but from what ive seen flights are cheaper based on how full the plane is.

Thats why it only costs me 150 to go to vegas but 3-400 to go to the east coast from ontario.

Makes more sense that weekends would be cheaper dependant on where your going. Best thing to do is experiment with expedia.ca.

They seem to have the cheapest flights from what ive seen, just play with the dates a bit

I agree that experimenting with times is the best way to go about it, it doesn't take long either.

When my mom and aunt were out west visiting me a couple weeks back, they chose to fly home on Tuesday instead of wednesday because the flight was $70 cheaper. They knew this because they experimented with different options :P

tues/wed is cheapest

just go onto west jet/ or air canada's site.
Check out the prices over a 5 day range.
You'll notice that
1) really early/and red-eye flights are cheaper
2) tuesday/wednesday/thursday *tend* to be cheapest. Sat/Sun tend to be the most expensive.
3) There is a seasonal/long weekend effect.
4) Prices for the same flight will change over time depending on when you try to book (during the day) and how far in advance you do it. Sometimes if a plane isn't filling the price will drop closer to the date but more often than not it just gets stupid expensive.

You really have to compare airlines overtime too. Westjet might be cheapest for tuesday and air canada might be cheapest for wednesday for example.

*has done a lot of flying*

Note that if you are flying to Vancouver then you are pretty fubarred for rates anyway. Multiple transfers usually = more expensive but not always.

actually saturday is cheap (and my favorite day to get a deal without flying midweek)

its friday/sunday that's most expensive actually

also don't trust expedia 100%. You'll find that sometimes the rates they post are not possible to get from the airline.

they guarantee the rates now if you order from them. So even if they are cheaper then whats listed you have a guarantee to go in with

You also take the chance of showing up for your flight to Vegas only to find that, despite the fact you're carrying a reservation confirmation AND a paid invoice, you don't actually have a seat on the damned plane.

(Okay, that was actually travelocity - but it ensured that I only make reservations directly through the airline or a certified travel agent now.)

as i work on an airport allthou not in the us i would bet thuesdays and wensdays are the best prices because midweek is low peak especially in the early morning ;)

Also 11pm on the 31st of December tends to be cheap:P

Tuesdays and Thursdays are generally the off-peak day for most airlines. Monday, Friday, and Saturday are the worst days to fly, unless a particular airline is running a special.

fly a broom. dirt cheap

kayak.com

if you have a plane and pay for fuel i could fly you!

thanks for the advice :)

Folks are accurate so far.

The only thing I have to add is at kayak.com, register an account so you can do a flexible search. Then it will search in a window for you and you can see the days cheapest flights are available.

did you e-mail shatner yet?

I've always found the best prices on Tuesdays, early in the am

weekdays mon-thurs
7am or earlier

i have been told that tuesdays are the cheapest days to buy tickets

last i checked, you just had to book a month in advance to get a cheap price.

If you book too early you can often end up with high prices. I've always found around 2-3 weeks to be ideal. Of course you have to toss fuel price changes in to the equation.

I refuse

bonus

I have noticed a trend recently where booking 'late' (but not too late, like 1-7 days) gets you the best prices. If you book somewhere like Orbitz? (based on commercials) apparently they will match lower prices that other customers book later. That is something to be cognizant of though. Of course doing a test on any given week of prices 1,2,3,4,5,etc weeks out in advance may not give you sufficient data to determine a trend in advance notice due to events like holidays.

Just take the greyhound!

Usually mid-week tues, wed, thurs and then with the return the same but with the trip extending beyond a weekend.

obviously, on flyday

:D

/walks away in shame