Is National Cheap Flight Day Really the Best Day to Buy Plane Tickets?

Monday, August 23, is a day that gets a great deal of buzz in the aviation world each year.

It’s National Cheap Flight Day, a day when a bunch of travel experts consider to be the singular day when customers are supposed to get the most inexpensive airline tickets.

Hogwash, says travel website Scott’s Cheap Flights.

National Cheap Flight Day was created in 2015 and was meant to designate the day when airfare supposedly drops from its summer high prices. However, that data is fundamentally flawed according to Scott Keyes, co-founder and Chief Flight Expert of Scott’s Cheap Flights.

Keyes says scoring affordable flight deals is a year-round opportunity for travelers and that they should not wait until August 23.

“Cheap flights can pop up anytime,” said Keyes. “They’re unpredictable. If you waited until August 23 to book, you might miss out on some amazing deals. One of the best deals we sent in 2018—Los Angeles to Bali in business class for $670 (normally $4,500)—was sent August 16. One of the best deals of 2020 ($63 to Chile) was sent in November and one of the best deals of 2021 ($202 to Japan) was sent in April.”

Keyes said the key to finding cheap flights is to book well in advance (1 to 3 months for domestic flights, 2 to 8 months for international flights) and get alerted when low fares pop up so you can book them before they’re gone. In the cheap flights world, the better the fare, the shorter it tends to last.

“So while the bad news is that there’s no single cheapest day of the year to start booking flights, there’s also good news: right now, we’re living in the Golden Age of Cheap Flights,” he said. “It’s never been cheaper to fly overseas as it is today.”