I’ve written many times, often with frustration, about trying to find a cheap airline tickets. So this new study caught my attention.
It shows that the least expensive air tickets were purchased on Sunday for both domestic and international flights. Monday through Friday, tickets bought on Tuesday were the lowest.
The Airlines Reporting Corp. researched airline ticket purchased January 2013 through July 2014. Nearly 130 million tickets worth $94 billion purchased in the U.S. were included in the study.
It also found that the least expensive airfares were purchased eight weeks in advance for U.S. domestic routes and 24 weeks in advance for international destinations.
At these points, flyers paid 19 percent below the average fare of $496 for a domestic flight and 27 percent below the average fare of $1,368 for an international flight.
The study updates ARC research on ticket sales for 2011. That study found the least expensive domestic tickets were purchased six weeks prior to departure and were 5.8 percent below the average 2011 ticket price. The gap is now 19 percent.
International tickets weren’t part of the 2011 study.
"This latest study by ARC is significant because it reveals that not only have the lowest airfares shifted from six to eight weeks out for domestic travel, but the savings are markedly greater on a percentage basis," said Chuck Thackston, spokesman for ARC. "It was also interesting to see that the data showed the least expensive tickets were purchased on a Sunday as opposed to Tuesday, which is a common belief.
Thackston said airline ticket pricing is dynamic and ARC isn't advising consumers to purchase tickets only at these times because there’s no guarantee they’ll receive the lowest price.
These were just what the data pattern indicated during the study period, he said.
