Which Day Is Cheapest to Fly? Findings from Our Own Fare Checks

“Which day is cheapest to fly?” usually gets answered with folklore. We looked at our own data instead: Kolay Seyahat checks the lowest one-way fare on popular routes every hour, and every number below comes from those checks.

What we looked at

• 48 routes: 17 domestic routes in Türkiye (e.g. Istanbul–Ankara, Istanbul–Antalya) and 31 international routes (e.g. Istanbul–London, Istanbul–Dubai).
• 2,521 route-days: the lowest one-way fare (1 adult, economy, taxes included) for every flight date between 22 August and 14 October 2026.
• Method: fares differ hugely between routes, so we compared ratios rather than amounts. Each day’s fare was divided by that route’s median fare, then averaged by day of the week.

Domestic: Tuesday and Wednesday stand out

On domestic routes, Tuesday flights were on average 5% below the route median and Wednesday flights 4% below. The most expensive days were Friday (14% above) and Saturday (13% above). Monday (4% above) and Thursday (6% above) sat in between.

International: weekends are clearly more expensive

International routes look different: Saturday (18% above) and Sunday (17% above) were the most expensive days. Relatively cheaper days were Friday (6% above), Monday (7% above) and Tuesday (8% above). Abroad, the real saving comes from avoiding the weekend rather than from one magic weekday.

The date matters more than the weekday

The weekday moves the price by a few percent; the spread between dates on the same route is far larger. In our data the most expensive day of a route cost a median of 2.2 times its cheapest day on domestic routes and more than 5 times on international routes. If your dates are flexible, compare several days, not one.

Last-minute tickets cost more

Fares we saw 0–3 days before departure were on average 21% above the route median, while fares seen 15–30 days before departure were on average 23% below it. On almost every route, the highest fare of the period appeared less than two days before departure.

Can a non-stop flight be the cheapest?

On domestic routes the cheapest option of the day was a non-stop flight on 89% of days. Internationally that fell to 35%: most days the lowest fare came from a connecting flight. If you want to fly non-stop, use the stops filter on the results page to show direct flights only, and look at the price difference separately.

Practical tips

1. Check the fare calendar if your dates are flexible. Our route pages show the lowest fares for the coming days and a weekday summary for the route.
2. Domestic: try Tuesday–Wednesday. International: avoid the weekend. The difference is small but consistent.
3. Don’t leave it to the last minute. Fares two to four weeks out were clearly lower than in the final three days.
4. Weigh connecting flights against travel time. A cheap connection can add hours to the trip.

Limits

These findings cover roughly two months (late August to mid-October) and popular routes only; holidays, school breaks or New Year can look different. Fares are the last fare our checks saw and may have changed by the time you book. This is not a price guarantee. We will refresh the data and update this article periodically.

Search flights here.