New data from Expedia has revealed the best days of the week for booking cheaper flights and the best days to choose to fly if consumers are able to be flexible with their travel dates. Monthly guidance and times to avoid have also been shared.
Friday has been named by the booking giant as the best day to search for and score a bargain flight. The end of the working week generally sees cheaper tickets available due to a drop off in bookings for business trips, which are usually reserved earlier in the week, Expedia notes.
Fly on a Tuesday for the least crowded airports, our new data shows. 🛫
— Expedia (@Expedia) February 18, 2026
Key dates from the 2026 Air Hacks report:
➡️ Busiest Day: Friday
➡️ Least Busy Day: Tuesday
➡️ Busiest Month: July
➡️ Least Busy Month: February
➡️ Busiest Dates: Avoid July 3, Aug 29, May 22, Nov 25.
🔗…
“Business travelers head home earlier in the week these days, so new opportunities are opening up for leisure travelers to save by choosing smarter travel days, like Friday for the best prices or Tuesday for fewer crowds,” said Melanie Fish, head of public relations for Expedia Group Brands.
Traditional wisdom used to hold that Monday and Tuesday were the best days on which to find good value air tickets, but this is a hangover from “the early days of airline pricing,” when carriers would upload flight availability on certain days of the week, according to Julian Kheel, founder and CEO of Points Path, speaking to Southern Living.
However, Expedia is clear that Friday is the best day for booking, while Tuesday remains the cheapest day to travel. Expedia points out that average savings of 14% can be made on domestic flights on Tuesdays, while Fridays offer 8% savings on average. But travellers should bear in mind that the dates on which specific holidays fall can affect this rule of thumb due to high demand.
In detail, the Expedia analysis highlights 25 February, 4 March, and 18 November as quieter travel days that could yield significant savings, while 22 May, 3 July, and 29 August are the busiest travel days of the year. But Kheel warns that “waiting for a specific day could easily mean missing out.”
And getting down to times of day, CNBC reports what many travellers will already have observed: early birds who choose to fly in the morning are usually rewarded with cheaper deals. What’s more, early morning flights where the aircraft has been waiting at the departure point overnight suffer less from scheduling and delay issues, benefitting from a better on-time arrival rate than afternoon or evening flights.
When it comes to months of the year, demand for flights is usually lowest in February, while July is the busiest month, Expedia added. September and October are also often considered to be good months in which to make bookings, though they may come too late, since travellers are recommended to book Thanksgiving travel at least 60 days ahead, and Christmas trips should be in the pipeline around 70 days in advance.
But Scott Keyes, founder of deal finder service Going, told CNBC that even that window might be too short, advising those who cannot avoid peak season to start looking for flights three to seven months in advance for domestic trips and four to 10 months ahead for international. For normal periods, “When you’re talking about international travel, two to eight months in advance,” he advised.
In a climate of ongoing economic uncertainty and with January airfares up over two percent on average year-on-year according to NerdWallet, travellers are likely to welcome any insider info that helps their budget go further.
