Put away the myths and magic — there really is a way to figure out the cheapest day to fly in North America, according to FareCompare.com‘s Rick Seaney.
Seaney says it takes a “really big data base” which he put to work to analyze all of the different travel deals, flight restrictions and other factors to figure out the cheapest flying day. Turns out, it’s Hump Day — Wednesday, the middle of the week — which makes perfect sense to us.
Here’s why: No one else is flying on Wednesday. Have you ever been in an airport on a
Load 'em up on Hump Day -- the cheapest day to fly
Wednesday? TSA agents call you by your first name and the line at Starbucks is one person — and that person is works in the book store and is just flirting with the cute guy with ear gauges and a green apron. Of course, the reason no one flies on Wednesday is most people have jobs and on Wednesday are busy updating their Facebook page.
Seaney applies a little more logic than our home spun theories. The three cheapest days to fly are Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday, but Wednesday is the cheapest due to the number of seats (more) and the routes the planes must fly. At the end of Wednesday, the planes have to be in the prime locations, where more people will need them on Thursday and Friday — the busy/expensive days.
What’s all of this number crunching by FareCompare.com mean? You now need to take five day weekends instead of four — or perhaps you should try to stretch your vacation by sneaking out of work a little early on Wednesday and flying in the late afternoon.
Also, while many people would prefer to come back on Sunday, we might suggest flying back Saturday. It might save you a few dollars and it gives you a respite before heading back into work. After long getaways, we’ve found that extra time back home has been a welcome relief, coming in late Saturday, sleeping in our own bed and then lounging about on a lazy Sunday, letting the travel bug wind down gently.
