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Best day of the week to book airfare?

shellysh

By shellysh,
in Cruise Air

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cherylandtk

cherylandtk

Posted
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Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursdays usually have the fewest passengers and thus more discounted prices. but it also depends on where you are going. This is for days to fly, if you are looking at time to actually book the ticket to fly, it depends on the airline and when/how often they update their pricing. With computers, they often do it four times a day and whether the price goes up or down depends on supply and demand. Some of the best deals occur 30 days out during slow seasons, but you risk not finding seats at all on a popular route.

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Bequia

Bequia

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Airlines update fares three times a day (Monday through Friday) usually at 12:30 p.m., 5 p.m., and 8 p.m. EST. On weekends they update at 5 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday. When a major airline starts a fare war, it tries to take advantage of the 8 p.m. weekday or 3 p.m. Sunday update so that the competition is prevented from matching fares until the following update time -- 12:30 p.m. the next day. This gives the originator a 24-hour price and advertising advantage. It can pay to wait a day or so after a fare war starts to allow other airlines time to scramble, meet prices, open up seats, and try to come up with advantages that scoop the airline that initiated the price cuts.

Don't be fooled by airline ads that say they'll honor a lower fare if ticket prices go down. What they fail to mention is that you have to pay a $75 fee (sometimes waived if you accept the fare difference in airline vouchers). Unless your fare goes down dramatically, you may not come out ahead. If you use a travel agency ask them to void your ticket at no cost if the fare goes down before it submits its weekly Airline Reporting Commission (ARC) report and reissue the ticket at the lower fare.

 

Mini fare wars get less media attention because they come and go so quickly, but they can save you a lot of money. They occur when two carriers enter into competition in a specific market. Big Air lowers a fare to Huge Air's hub city. Huge Air strikes back. By communicating via computer, airlines slip through a legal loophole in regulations forbidding them to discuss fares among themselves. You can take advantage of these fares if you check the Bestfares.com news desk regularly and move fast when you find a "snooze, you lose" deal you can use. ;)

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greatam

greatam

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I know I read somewhere that certain days and times of the day are best to book your airfare. If anyone can help I would appreciate it.

 

Thanks.

Shelly

 

Shelly,

 

You mean you STILL have not booked your air to Rome yet? Better make some kind of decision or you are going to be paying some VERY high prices. According to all predictions, Europe will be overrun with tourists this year. Even higher tourist loads than pre 911 are predicted.

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Guest nhrich

Guest nhrich

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If you use a travel agency ask them to void your ticket at no cost if the fare goes down before it submits its weekly Airline Reporting Commission (ARC) report and reissue the ticket at the lower fare

Tickets can only be voided until 11:59 PM the business day following when the ticket was issued. Agents can no longer void anytime before the ARC report is submitted. :(

 

Rich, ACC

Carefree Vacations

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