I heard that Airline Fares fluxuate during the course of the day as well as week...?

Question

So when is the best time and day of the week to get a good price on a flight?

Answer 1

there's no best time/day to check a good price..

you just have to check it everyday..

fares are based on the availability of the seats..

Answer 2

They do fluctuate, that's why in tiny print you always see something like "price is not guaranteed until booking is completed" or something like that.  It's a limited stock (amount of seats) being sold from various sources (Expedia, airline itself, travel agents) around the world, and whoever grabs the cheap seats first, well, wins.

The best strategy is to know what the cheapest published fare is on a route, how far advance you need to purchase, and get alerts if the fare drops.  http://www.farecompare.com will do all of that for you.  It shows you which month, then which day(s) are cheapest to travel on.  You click the price on the calendar day you want, it checks to see if available.  That way you don't go crazy tracking down all the rules and who's got how many seats left, etc.  

Generally speaking, after 12 years of searching multiple airfares daily, I sometimes find cheaper prices open back up midweek in the early morning hours.  Conventional wisdom is that airlines dump unpaid reservations at midnight, and it takes several hours for the inventory to show available again in most booking sites.  I've booked several tickets this way -- thought I waited too long, checked 5-6am on Tues, Wed, Thursdays and seats had opened back up at the cheapest fare.

I also like http://www.bookingbuddy.com and http://matrix.itasoftware.com/cvg/dispat... to track down the absolute cheapest flights.

Answer 3

There is no answer to this question as airfares DO fluctuate so frequently.  There are people who will tell you that Wednesday at midnight is the best time to buy tickets b/c the airlines systems "roll over" at that time, and there are others who will say don't buy on the weekends, but honestly, there is no time of day or day of week where you will always get the best fare.  You just have to keep an eye on it, familiarize yourself with the average price and if it drops below that, buy it immediately.  Don't assume it will stay at that price for any set period of time.  There is a website called www.farecast.com that claims to tell you if its a good time to buy or if you should wait but I don't have much faith in them, personally.   Good luck