Today — August 23rd — is known as “Cheap Flight Day” in the air travel biz because it’s the day when high summer prices drop and airlines offer high-flyin’ deals.
But, unlike other branded holidays such as Amazon’s Prime Day or National Rotisserie Chicken Day (invented by Boston Market), Cheap Flight Day wasn’t randomly dreamt up by someone in a corporate marketing department…
Cheap Flight Day was created by the market, not a marketer
August 23rd consistently kicks off the cheapest flight deals of the year.
So why is today the best day to start booking? The summer vacation booking season has just ended, and holiday travel-booking has not yet started.
Many airlines will offer discounted tickets for the next few weeks: Aggregators like CheapOair and Matt’s Flights are promoting the “holiday,” and many airlines will likely offer incentives and giveaways to boost sales.
Matt’s Flights emailed The Hustle a few examples of Cheap Flight Day discounts:
- Boston to Madrid: $230
- New York to Paris: $374
- Los Angeles to Copenhagen: $371
- San Francisco to Hong Kong: $359
It’s not just the month that’s predictable…
Certain days and times offer considerably better deals
According to data from British travel company Skyscanner, booking domestic flights in August is 4% cheaper than average, while booking in June is 4% more expensive.
For international flights, the differences are even more dramatic: Booking in September is 6% cheaper than average, while booking in June is 10% more expensive.
Saturday is the cheapest day to book domestic flights while Sunday is the cheapest day to book international flights.
The best time of day to book? 6 am.
