Expedia’s 2026 data point to a simple, useful shift in business-travel pricing: the cheapest tickets are increasingly a function of timing within the week, not just how far ahead you book. Search late in the workweek and favor midweek departures, and you’ll often find lower fares across many routes and market segments.
Why this works
– Airlines reprice seats constantly to match demand. Business travel is concentrated at the beginning and end of the workweek, so Tuesday–Thursday flights typically have lighter demand. Carriers often drop prices for those midweek seats to fill cabins.
– Many airlines run a pricing refresh toward the end of the workweek. Shopping on Friday often catches those updates just as leisure-booking pressure eases, producing lower published fares than searches earlier in the weekend.
Numbers that matter
– Weekday patterns are consistent: Tuesday departures frequently show noticeably cheaper fares than Sunday, sometimes by double-digit percentages. Switching a flight from Sunday to Friday or Tuesday can cut costs by several percent—on some routes, Friday booking compared with weekend searches is a few percentage points cheaper.
– Expedia flagged a few recurring low-demand dates in 2026: February 25, March 4 and November 18. Conversely, watch out for high-demand spikes on May 22, July 3 and August 29.
How to turn the trend into savings
– Make Friday your default day to start price checks and monitor fares. Set alerts for a range of departure and return dates rather than a single day.
– Prioritize midweek departures (Tue–Thu) to reduce fares and avoid crowds.
– Keep date flexibility of at least a few days. Even shifting travel by a day or two can yield meaningful savings.
– Compare nearby airports and alternate routing—different origin/destination pairs and connections are priced separately and can be significantly cheaper.
– If your plans aren’t fixed, consider refundable or changeable tickets so you can lock a lower fare without losing flexibility.
Timing advice
– There’s no single “perfect” purchase moment. For many domestic economy trips, monitoring prices in the weeks to one month before departure—then buying when a clear dip appears—often works well. For international travel, slightly earlier in that short window preserves choice while still catching repricing opportunities.
– Use fare alerts and flexible-date searches to spot recurring late-week dips; act when alerts show a meaningful drop.
What to expect
– Savings will vary by route, season and carrier. Routes with heavy business traffic tend to show the biggest differences; peak holidays and major events can erase the effect.
– This is a repeatable pattern, not a guarantee. Travelers who combine flexible dates, alternate airports and active alerts have the best odds of converting the pattern into real savings.
Quick checklist
– Start searches on Friday.
– Aim to fly Tue–Thu.
– Set fare alerts across a range of dates.
– Check nearby airports and off-peak connections.
– Consider refundable/changeable fares if you need flexibility.
– Avoid busy travel dates if you can (notably May 22, July 3, Aug 29 in 2026). Small tweaks in booking day and departure day — plus a little flexibility — often unlock the biggest savings in today’s algorithm-driven market.