The single biggest trick to finding cheaper flights is called the Saturday Night Rule. It’s very easy to understand, simply have a Saturday night stay as part of your trip and you stand a much better chance of getting a low fare.
What is it?
The Saturday Night Rule is how Airlines determine whether you are travelling for Business, or leisure. If it’s for Business, they will often charge more. Why? Because they can. They know Business travellers have less flexibility in their travel arrangements and will often pay more to stay with a particular Airline alliance for their Frequent Flier benefits, or because in some cases their company policy dictates which Airline they must fly because they have a direct relationship with them. Business travellers are more likely to fly trips Monday to Friday too.
Here’s a hypothetical trip to NYC later this year. Same airline, same flight, same cabin, same week, except one set of dates includes a Saturday night.
Without Saturday night
With Saturday night
The difference between the two images should speak volumes. £842 difference between the two, just by adding Saturday night in. That’s a saving of over 50%!
The key lesson here is that research is king. Whether it’s travel on points or normal cash tickets, changing some of the variables on your ticket can have huge results.
