Cheapest Day to Fly (and to Book) in 2026: Day-by-Day Data, Not Myths

Key facts (checked 3 November 2026)

• Cheapest US pattern: depart Monday, return Tuesday or Wednesday. Google Flights puts the saving at about 14% over weekend flights (5 October 2026). Kayak's 2026 data names Monday out and Wednesday back.
• Most expensive day: Sunday, in Expedia, Google, Hopper and CheapAir data. For international trips, Kayak names Friday and Saturday.
• Expedia's exception: its 2026 report names Friday the cheapest day overall (8% below Sunday), but Tuesday for US domestic flights (14% below Sunday).
• Booking day: worth 1.4–3% in the 2026 datasets. Expedia and ARC's 2025 report found up to 8% (Sunday vs Friday), but Expedia's best booking day then flipped to Friday in 2026. Tuesday is not special.
• Common misreadings: "Saturday" and "Thursday for international" match Expedia's 2025 report, which its 2026 data replaced. Expedia 2026 is inconsistent on Friday: its press release gives the 8% Friday figure for all trips, while its Air Hacks report page calls Friday the cheapest day to fly internationally.
• Holidays: Kayak advises booking early for Thanksgiving and for Christmas through New Year, and flags the Wednesday before and the Sunday after Thanksgiving.

What each dataset says about the cheapest day to fly

Every recent dataset agrees that weekends cost more. They split on which weekday is cheapest because they measure different things. The table lists each one with its date, its sample and what it found, newest first. We read every source on 3 November 2026.

Kayak's most useful finding is about the return leg. Kayak says outbound fares are only "slightly cheaper" early in the week, "but the real win is returning midweek". If you can move only one leg, move the flight home off Friday or Sunday.

Expedia's own answer changed within a year. Its 2025 report with ARC named Saturday for domestic trips and Thursday for international ones; its 2026 report names Tuesday for domestic trips and Friday overall (international on its Air Hacks report page). Much of the "Saturday" and "Thursday" advice still online matches the 2025 report. A single "cheapest day" from one year's data is a weak basis for planning.

Why the datasets disagree

The datasets disagree mainly because each one measures something different.

• What was counted. Expedia counts tickets people actually bought on Expedia.com. Kayak counts prices shown in searches on kayak.com. Google counts fares observed on Google Flights. A booking dataset shows what travelers paid for the trips they chose; a search dataset shows what was on offer.
• Which trips were mixed together. Expedia's Friday headline is not limited to domestic flights. The same release says: "US domestic: Tuesday is the cheapest and Sunday the most expensive (14% saving)". Google's 2026 post gives about 14% against weekend flights and up to 20% for domestic trips, but the 20% is measured against a Sunday–Sunday trip, not the whole weekend.
• Departure day or return day. Kayak ranks the outbound and the return separately. Google's 2026 advice is a pair of days. Expedia and CheapAir give one day.
• Round trip or one-way. Kayak's international one-way fares are cheapest "by a slight margin on Mondays", while its international round trips are cheapest on Wednesday.
• Different years. Expedia's 2026 data ends in November 2025, Kayak's in March 2026, and Google's 2026 post averages five years. One year of bookings can move the answer: Expedia went from Saturday to Tuesday for domestic trips between its 2025 and 2026 reports.

Expedia's explanation for Friday is a change in business travel. Melanie Fish, head of Expedia Group Brands public relations, said in the 17 February 2026 release: "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." The same release lists Tuesday as the least busy day to fly and Friday as the busiest.

Is it cheaper to book flights on a Tuesday?

No. Google and CheapAir find a gap of 2% or less between the best and worst booking day, Kayak finds no best day, and none of them picks Tuesday every year. Expedia's reports show a larger gap, up to 8% in its 2025 report with ARC, but its best booking day changed from Sunday to Friday a year later. The day you fly moves the price by 8–20%.

Google's 2026 post puts it bluntly: "You can forget the myth about buying on a specific day of the week." The 2022 Google Flights analysis, which covered fares from August 2017 to August 2022, added: "don't wait for Tuesday to roll around — book your flight now in case the price goes up."

The myth has a real origin. According to Going's myth guide (updated 23 October 2024), airlines once posted new fares by hand, "often Tuesdays at 1pm". Fares are now repriced by software at any hour, so that weekly rhythm is gone.

If the fare looks right, book it. US rules give you a safety net: for bookings made at least a week before departure, airlines must let you hold the fare or cancel without penalty for at least 24 hours (14 CFR 259.5(b)(4)). Airlines apply this differently; American's 24-hour and Basic Economy rules are one example.

Is there a best time of day to book or to fly?

No dataset shows a cheaper hour to buy. Kayak's answer to "Do flight prices go down at night?" is "Sometimes": fare updates can happen at night, but they can happen "any time of day, any day of the week".

The time you fly matters more, but not in a fixed direction. Kayak says "very early morning or very late departures, such as red-eye flights, can be cheaper". Experian's Google Flights searches (published 24 June 2026) show both cases on single dates:

• On JFK to LAX on Tuesday 9 June 2026, a 7 a.m. Delta nonstop cost $279, while departures at 9 a.m., 11 a.m., 3 p.m. or 8:25 p.m. that day cost $204.
• On LAX to JFK on Wednesday 17 June 2026, a 9:15 p.m. Delta nonstop cost $559, while the cheapest fares were for departures before 9:30 a.m. ($329).

These are one-day examples, not averages. Expedia's 2026 report adds where demand sits: over half of domestic and international flyers book morning flights, about 30% afternoon, over 15% evening and around 5% night flights. Those figures are booking shares, not prices; they show which departures are in most demand, so check the less popular times on your route.

What is the cheapest day to fly internationally?

For international trips, Wednesday has the most support: Kayak's 2026 data names Wednesday for both the outbound and the return. Hopper's January 2025 release says "Most transatlantic and transpacific long haul international destinations are cheapest if travelers can depart on a Tuesday or Wednesday instead of on Friday or over the weekend", and gives the same advice for the Caribbean and Mexico.

You may read that Friday is the cheapest day to fly internationally. That comes from Expedia's 2026 Air Hacks report page ("about 8% cheaper than Sunday"), but Expedia's own press release gives the same 8% Friday figure for all trips combined and no separate international day, so treat it with caution. Expedia's previous report, with ARC in January 2025, named Thursday for international trips (up to 15% below Sunday).

In Google's 2017–2022 data, the weekday effect was smaller with international trips included: Monday-to-Wednesday departures were 12% cheaper than weekend ones overall and 20% cheaper with international destinations left out. Google's 2024 post found the same pattern (13% and 20%). Avoid Friday and Saturday departures if you can; Kayak lists them as the most expensive for international trips.

How far ahead to book is a separate question with its own conflicting studies, covered in our guide to when to book flights.

Is a midweek flight worth it? A worked example

On a typical domestic ticket, the day of the week is worth tens of dollars. Hopper puts the average midweek saving at "$42 per ticket, or about 14%" for domestic flights; CheapAir's 2024 study found $102 between Wednesday and Sunday.

Compare that with fees. On Delta, the first checked bag on a domestic flight costs $45 each way for Main and Comfort fares without a Delta card or status (Delta's fee page, checked 3 November 2026; see our guide to Delta's bag fees), so $90 for a round trip. At Hopper's average, a traveler who flies midweek but checks a bag pays more than one who flies Sunday with a carry-on only. Check the full price, with bags and seat fees, before you move your dates. Routing can also matter more than the weekday: Google's 2026 post says nonstop tickets are "20% more expensive on average" than connections.

A cheap midweek fare keeps the same protection as any other ticket. If the airline cancels it or changes it significantly, you are still owed a cash refund under US rules if you choose not to fly or accept rebooking.

How to find the cheapest day for your own route

Averages describe whole markets, not your trip. To check your own dates:

1. Search your route with flexible dates. Google Flights has a calendar view and a date grid that show "how much you can save if you're flexible on your departure and return dates". Kayak has a flexible date search.
2. Compare a Monday or Tuesday departure with a Friday or Sunday one, and a Wednesday return with a Sunday return.
3. Add the bag and seat fees you will actually pay, then compare totals; what a budget-airline trip really costs shows how much bag fees add.
4. If your dates are still open, set a price alert on Google Flights or Kayak instead of waiting for a particular weekday.
5. Book on the airline's own site or a booking site you know. Never book through a number found in an ad; see how fake airline helplines work.

What other answers get wrong

These claims appear in pages and AI answers we read on 3 November 2026. Each one is checked against the study it cites.

How we checked

On 3 November 2026 we read the seven sources in the first table, Google's 2022 and 2024 posts, Going's myth guide and the pages in the corrections table, and took every number from the source itself. Expedia's site blocks automated reading, so we read its 17 February 2026 release in the Wayback Machine copy from 9 June 2026.

We did not record our own fare grid for this edition. If we add one, it will show the routes, dates and method, labelled as a one-off snapshot, not a study.

We update this page early each year, when Expedia and Kayak publish new data (February and March in 2026), and again in the autumn, when Google publishes its holiday analysis.

Common questions

What is the cheapest day to fly domestically?

Early in the week. Kayak (2026) names a Monday departure with a Wednesday return and Google (2026) a Monday departure with a Tuesday or Wednesday return; Expedia (2026) names Tuesday; CheapAir (2024) names Wednesday. All of them find Sunday the most expensive or among the most expensive days.

What is the most expensive day to fly?

Sunday, in most datasets. Expedia (2026), Hopper (2025) and CheapAir (2024) all name Sunday. Google's 2026 post gives the largest domestic gap for leaving and returning on a Sunday. For international trips, Kayak names Friday and Saturday.

Are one-way flights cheaper on certain days?

Yes, slightly. Kayak's 2026 data says domestic one-way flights are cheaper midweek, and international one-way flights are cheapest "by a slight margin on Mondays". Kayak gives no dollar figures for one-way trips.

Is Tuesday the cheapest day to fly or just the least busy?

It depends on the dataset. Tuesday is the least busy day in Expedia's 2026 data and Expedia's cheapest US domestic departure day (14% below Sunday), but Kayak and Google name Monday as the cheapest day to depart and CheapAir names Wednesday. Tuesday is not the cheapest day to book; in the 2026 datasets no booking day saves more than about 3%.

Do flight prices go down on certain days of the week?

Not on a schedule. Airlines change fares continuously with demand, and Kayak says prices can change "multiple times throughout the day". The pattern you can use is the day you fly, not the day you search.