Cheapest Day to Fly: When to Book Your Holiday Flights in 2026

Two flights on the same route can see massive price swings depending on the days you fly. The day you fly out and the day you fly home both change the price, and around Thanksgiving and Christmas, so does how far ahead you book.

We analyzed the prices in our RatePunk flight data to find the cheapest days to fly, in the U.S. and abroad, and the best time to book your holiday flights in 2026. The short answer is that Tuesday and Wednesday are usually the cheapest days to fly.

Tuesday and Wednesday Are the Cheapest Days to Fly

On flights within the U.S., midweek is the cheapest time to fly, whether you’re leaving or coming home:

• Flying out: Tuesday and Wednesday are the cheapest days, and Sunday costs the most, about 8% more than usual. Friday is the second most expensive day.
• Flying home: Tuesday and Wednesday are again the cheapest, and Sunday again costs about 8% more than usual.
• Whole trip: leaving on a Tuesday and coming home the following Wednesday typically costs about 6% less than usual, and a Friday-to-Sunday trip about 14% more.

Compared with a route’s usual price, flying out on a Sunday costs about 8% more and flying out on a Tuesday about 2% less. Flying home on a Sunday also costs about 8% more.

Tuesday Is Also the Cheapest Day to Fly Abroad

International trips follow a similar pattern, with smaller gaps. Unlike domestic trips, Sunday isn’t the most expensive day.

• Flying out: Tuesday and Wednesday are the cheapest days, and Friday and Saturday cost the most.
• Flying home: Tuesday is the cheapest day, and Saturday costs the most.
• Whole trip: a Tuesday-to-Tuesday trip typically costs about 5% less than usual, and a Thursday-to-Saturday trip about 5% more.

Booking on a Tuesday Won’t Get You a Lower Price

You may have heard that booking on a Tuesday gets you a lower price. It’s a myth. The day you fly makes a difference, but the day you search for the flight usually doesn’t.

We checked the same flights on different days of the week:

• Most of the time, the price stays the same.
• Lower prices show up a little more often on Wednesdays and Thursdays: about one in three searches on those days found a price slightly below that flight’s usual, against about one in seven on Sunday.

If you’re checking prices anyway, a midweek look is worth it, but there’s no need to wait for a particular day to book.

How to Find the Cheapest Day for Your Own Flight

Prices on your route can follow a different pattern, so it’s worth checking your own dates. Most flight search sites can show prices across a range of dates, and you can compare them in a few steps:

1. Set the number of passengers and the cabin before you compare dates, since both change the price.
2. Compare departure dates across the week, starting with Tuesday and Wednesday.
3. Compare return dates too, since the day you fly home changes the price as much as the day you leave.
4. Add up the rest of the trip, such as an extra hotel night or a day off work, before choosing the cheaper flight.
5. Check the final price, including bags and seats, before you pay.

Book Thanksgiving Flights in October and Christmas Flights by Mid-November

Booking at the right time matters as much as picking the right days. Google’s analysis of five years of flight price data points to these windows for flights from the U.S.:

• Thanksgiving: prices are usually lowest about 34 days before you fly, and three to eight weeks out is usually a good time to book. For most Thanksgiving trips, that means booking in October.
• Christmas: prices are usually lowest about 56 days before you fly, and five to nine weeks out is usually a good time to book. For most Christmas trips, that means booking between late October and mid-November.

The biggest increases come in the final weeks before departure.

For the Holidays, Avoid Flying Home the Weekend After

Thanksgiving and Christmas don’t follow the weekday pattern. The days right after each holiday cost far more than any weekday, while some of the days before cost about the same as usual.

Flying out on November 18 costs 11% less than usual, while flying home the weekend after Thanksgiving or Christmas costs 41% to 47% more than usual.

If you’re flying for the holidays:

• Thanksgiving, flying out: Wednesday, November 18 is the cheapest day to fly out before Thanksgiving, at about 11% less than usual. Monday, November 23 costs about the same as usual, and Wednesday, November 25 about 8% more.
• Thanksgiving Day: flying out on Thursday, November 26 costs only about 3% more than usual, less than the day before.
• Thanksgiving, flying home: Tuesday, December 1 costs about the same as usual. Saturday, November 28 costs about 42% more, and Sunday, November 29 about 47% more.
• Christmas, flying out: Thursday, December 24 is the cheapest day in the last week before Christmas, at about 8% more than usual. Saturday, December 19 costs about 27% more.
• Christmas, flying home: Saturday, December 26 and Sunday, December 27 cost about 41% and 44% more than usual. Thursday, December 31 costs about 8% more.
• International: Thanksgiving week costs about the same as any other week, but flying out the week before Christmas costs a third to three-quarters more than usual.

Choose the Dates That Make the Trip Worthwhile

If your dates can move, start with a Tuesday or Wednesday in both directions and skip Sunday. For Thanksgiving, book in October and come home on the Tuesday after the holiday if you can. For Christmas, book by mid-November and avoid flying home on December 26 or 27. For any trip, don’t leave booking to the final week, when the same flight usually costs much more.

Checking every date yourself takes time, and the cheapest days on your route won’t always follow the usual weekday pattern. We built RatePunk Flights to do that checking for you.

Cheapest Day to Fly FAQ

Do Flight Prices Go Down Closer to the Departure Date?

Usually not. Prices tend to rise as your travel date gets closer. In our data, a domestic flight booked in the final week before departure cost about 44% more than the same flight booked three to five weeks ahead. An international flight booked in the final week cost about 17% more than the same flight booked three to five weeks ahead.

Do Flight Prices Drop at Night or at 3 a.m.?

No. When we checked the same flights at different times of day, the price was usually the same at every hour. Searching in the middle of the night found a lower price less often than searching during the day.

What Is Travel Tuesday?

Travel Tuesday is the Tuesday after Thanksgiving weekend, when airlines, hotels, and travel sites run sales that often last only one day. In 2026, Travel Tuesday falls on December 1. December 1 is also one of the cheapest days of the holiday season to fly, at about 11% less than usual for a domestic round trip.

About the Prices

We looked at economy round-trip prices from U.S. airports in RatePunk searches between September 23 and October 8, 2026, and checked the weekday pattern against searches back to July 8. Each day is compared with the usual price for the same route, which is the middle price across all its dates. That way, the percentages apply to any route, short or long. Prices change often, so the ones you see may be different.

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About RatePunk

Reading fares and understanding what makes them move is our area of expertise, and the prices in this article come from our own flight data. We run RatePunk Flights, a paid membership that watches prices out of the airport you fly from. When a route drops well below what it normally costs, the deal shows up in your app and on your dashboard, so you can book it wherever you like, with the airline itself or a travel site you already use.