Is it true cheaper tickets available on airline websites at 12:01am?
I've heard that purchasing tickets on discount airline websites are at their absolute cheapest on Wednesday morning (just after midnight in the time zone of the airlines HQ). Is there any truth to that? Thanks.
There probably is a little truth to the statement but don't know if it is exactly midnight or Wednesday. A couple of years ago I list a ticket on farewatch or one of the other fare watching sites. A couple times a week I would receive an email alert about a cheap fare that was time stamped early AM -- days of the week varied. By the time I opened the email around 7AM the fare was always gone. So I think the time part is true but don't know about the day. I never could catch the really cheap fare.
I don't know about Wednesdays but I think it's cheaper to buy a ticket at "weird" times because there are less people online at that time. I tested this once.I checked an airfare at about 7 AM and at 9 or 10AM again and yes it was more expensive at 9AM.
It's an urban myth. Airline fares are victim to a black art known as "yield management" where, if bookings are low, prices go down, if they're high, they go up. There is no necessary day things are cheaper to buy, although there are typically cheaper days to travel, such as midweek.
I'm not sure if it's true but I have heard that Frequent Flyer seats that have been booked but not confirmed are released at 12:01 a.m. so there is a greater chance of getting one at that time.
But, 12:01 WHERE? At the airport's hub time-zone? Or in my time-zone? I'm often at my computer at odd times so I will check out this theory.
I've checked flights to Europe on a couple of websites recently: travelocity, orbitz, sidestep, etc. There is sometimes a wide difference in price between airlines. I look closely at the connecting airports, since the budget flights almost always make at least one connection between SFO and European cities. I've had good experiences connecting at Washington's Dulles (IAD), Chicago (ORD), or Amsterdam. Of course, direct non-stop is always preferable, but flights to London seem to be the only flights of this sort that I can find from SFO.
One feature that I have used only once is a layover of several days at a connecting airport. There is a fee for this, but I found it reasonable to pay $100 for an extra few days in Amsterdam.
Up until 2 years ago I found that the cheapest tickets would be released when it was 12:01am at the airlines' hub. The last 2 years though it seems like anything goes! Sometimes all day Tuesday tickets are the same as all day and night Wednesday. This year I've noticed that fares only go up. I've also noticed that fares go way up the closer to the actual travel date--by thousands! Last Thursday the connections I wanted went up by $1,000 in 3 hours. Fortunately that one disappeared....maybe it was an error.
