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What day of the week is flight travel lightest?

Looking to fly ORD to SNN in early June. I Will fly standby, so I want to shoot for whatever day of the week traditionally has the fewest number of passengers. Since I will have various reservations pre-made, I want the best chance of not loosing them.

Posted by
8253 posts

Generally Tuesday through Thursday yields the lowest ticket prices, which I can only assume relates to volume (you want to fill the plane). For overseas flights though the dynamics change, seem to have been on very full flights most of the time, and early June is getting into peak season.

I have not flown Standby, but it would seem there is significant risk, unless you have a healthy buffer of days and flights before you absolutely need to be there. I don't get the idea of flying standby for a normal passenger, if you are an airline employee, or other with benefits, then that changes the calculus more.

You can certainly start doing trial bookings in the weeks before for flights, and see what is filling up, or not. Does it cost to be putr on a standby list? Cost to remove yourself? My thought is if you see a flight that is just not filling, that is the one you want. But like placing any wager, do not bet more in non-refundable reservations than you are willing and able to lose.

Posted by
799 posts

If you’re flying standby I’m assuming you’re flying on some kind of airline employee benefit because that’s about the only way standby exists now and whoever your sponsor is with the airline should be the person answering this question. they can see a lot more than anyone on here is going to be able to see to help you