Prepping for Black Friday is no joke! Our Flight Hacking tips and airline sales insights will make sure you know a good deal when you see one.

Black Friday 2025

Black Friday UK & Europe airline flight sales 2026 - what to expect

United States

 Black Friday USA airline sales 2026 - what to expect

Canada

<div>We refresh this article every year with new predictions, so you can have a better idea of what to expect by the time the next Black Friday sale comes around!&nbsp;</div>
<div><hr></div>
Airlines are always rolling out sales left, right, and centre &mdash; but are any of them actually worth it?
In this guide, we&rsquo;re breaking down the best Black Friday sales we&rsquo;ve seen from top airlines in the past, giving you a sneak peek at what to expect in 2025.
This time, we&rsquo;re focusing on Canada-based sales, but you can find our reviews of <a href="https://members.jacksflightclub.com/travel-hub/black-friday-flight-deals-usa-what-to-expect-in-2024?utm_source=JFC-Posts&amp;utm_medium=share&amp;utm_campaign=%5BJFC%5D-post-sharing&amp;utm_content=post">US Black Friday sales here</a>, or <a href="https://jacksflightclub.com/travel-hub/black-friday-uk-ireland-airline-flight-sales-what-to-expect">sales in the UK &amp; Ireland here</a>.
Canadian airline prices might be a bit higher than other markets, but there are still fantastic deals to be found. We&rsquo;re talking round-trip flights to Europe for under $400 RT, non-stop to Japan in the $600s RT, and five-star seats to Phuket for $894 RT &mdash; and that&rsquo;s just scratching the surface.
We also only share legit good-value flights that actually save you money. Airlines love to slap the word &ldquo;sale&rdquo; on&nbsp;meh fares, but we&rsquo;re here to cut through the noise and find you the real bargains. Don't forget to <a href="https://jacksflightclub.com/us">sign up for Jack&rsquo;s Flight Club</a>, and wait for the best Black Friday Flight emails to start rolling in!
Now let&rsquo;s cut the chitchat and hop to it :-)

Black Friday Canada airline flight sales 2026 - what to expect

Airline Sales

When you&rsquo;re planning to buy a ticket for a flight, should you wait for a sale? The answer isn&rsquo;t as obvious as it seems... mostly because airlines can have a creative definition of &ldquo;sale&rdquo;.
We&rsquo;ve been monitoring flight prices for over eight years, and we&rsquo;ve picked up on some useful insight and patterns in that time. Some airlines have sales seemingly at random, while others have them at the same time each year like clockwork.
Sometimes, a sale is a sale in name only. That &ldquo;featured price&rdquo; could simply be the highest price the airline thinks it can get you to pay. So, it&rsquo;s important to know what a good price is for your ticket before you buy, even during a sale.
We&rsquo;re going to break down when most airlines have sales, so you&rsquo;re prepared next time you plan to book a holiday.

Airline sales explained: who has the best sales and when

Article Good Flight Deal

Being able to recognise what is, or isn&rsquo;t, a good flight fare (even if it&rsquo;s an advertised 'sale' price!) can be tricky&mdash;especially if it&rsquo;s somewhere you don't travel to regularly.
Fare pricing can depend on loads of different factors:&nbsp;
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Distance</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Competition on the route from other airlines&nbsp;</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Airport taxes from a particular country or city</li>
</ul>
And, fares often fluctuate without any warning! This makes it difficult to know a good fare from a typical one, unless you're actively tracking each route for months, which can take a lot of time and effort.&nbsp;
This is made even harder with the trend of budget airlines branching out on long-haul routes, where low base fares can skew your idea of a good deal (before you remember you have to pay through the nose for meals and luggage). Unfortunately, it&rsquo;s not just checked bags these days&nbsp;&mdash; sometimes, even cabin bags are considered an &lsquo;extra&rsquo;.
So, how can you tell whether a deal is truly a good flight fare?
Luckily, that's what we do as Flight Finders, and we&rsquo;re here to share our knowledge.&nbsp;
Here we&rsquo;re listing what is a good flight fare for flights from the UK, Europe and the USA with a range of different airlines. To make things simple, we&rsquo;ve categorised these airlines into three buckets&mdash;read on for the specifics of each.
Note: The prices we&rsquo;re listing below aren&rsquo;t the cheapest we&rsquo;ve ever seen, and you may see prices go lower than this if it&rsquo;s a particularly good sale, or one of the error fares we spot lands in your inbox. But if you book a fare within these price ranges, we think you&rsquo;ll have bagged yourself a good deal.
While the initial price is listed in GBP for the UK, Ireland &amp; EU fares, the exchange rate and expected price is close enough to stand in for EUR estimates as well :-)
<img src="https://cdn.jacksflightclub.com/id/966ddb7782c2dee0a98f6f913d3027065d88d52d" width="599" height="362" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">
<h4>Airline Categories:</h4>
Full-service Airlines: These include Singapore Airlines, Turkish Airlines, EVA Airways, Qatar Airlines, Qantas, Emirates, Fiji Airways, etc.&nbsp;
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">They all include a checked bag, meals, and a great in-flight service.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">It&rsquo;s worth noting that you can still expect to pay considerably more to fly with a 5-star airline <a href="https://jacksflightclub.com/flight-quick-guides-page#skytrax">according to SkyTrax</a>&rsquo;s ratings.</li>
</ul>
Chinese Airlines: These include China Eastern, China Southern, Air China, Hainan Airlines, Shenzhen, etc.&nbsp;
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">This kind of airline includes some of your full-service perks, but lacks in some other areas, which often makes them cheaper than their counterparts.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">For example, they include a checked bag (on most routes), and meals, but won&rsquo;t offer the same in-flight service as a 5-star airline, and you&rsquo;ll often have a lengthy stop-over on your way to your final destination.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">If you&rsquo;re not sure what to expect with this kind of airline, it&rsquo;s worth reading through recent reviews (like&nbsp;<a href="https://members.jacksflightclub.com/travel-hub/jfc-honest-airline-reviews-saudia-airlines-and-more#China%20Southern">our review of flying with China Southern</a>) to get a better idea.</li>
</ul>
Middle-ground Airlines: These include Lufthansa, TUI (long-haul only), British Airways, SWISS, Austrian, Scandinavian Airlines, Aer Lingus, Virgin Atlantic, Delta, United, American Airlines.&nbsp;
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">They all include a cabin bag, but on most routes, will charge extra for a checked bag.</li>
</ul>
Low-cost Airlines: These include Condor, Norse Atlantic, Pegasus, Corendon, Ryanair, easyJet, Wizz Air, Norwegian, Spirit Airlines etc.&nbsp;
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">They don&rsquo;t include a cabin bag, checked bag, or in-flight meals &mdash; these will be charged as extras.</li>
</ul>
<img src="https://cdn.jacksflightclub.com/id/14b797d47692971b245f4c4276ac705e2dbc54fb" width="599" height="395" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">
<h3>From the UK &amp; Europe</h3>
Note: For most of these routes, you can expect to pay anywhere between &pound;50-&pound;100 extra to fly from a regional airport (such as Inverness, Newcastle, Stavanger or Aarhus) or to a regional airport (such as the South island in New Zealand, or Salvador in Brazil).
<h3>North America</h3>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Full-service: under &pound;550</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Middle-ground: under &pound;450</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Low-cost: under &pound;300</li>
</ul>
<h3>Central America</h3>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Middle-ground: under &pound;550</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Low-cost: under &pound;450</li>
</ul>
<h3>The Caribbean</h3>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Middle-ground (non-stop): under &pound;400&mdash;expect to pay around &pound;50-&pound;100 more to fly with British Airways</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Middle-ground (1 or 2 stops): under &pound;500</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Low-cost (non-stop): under &pound;350</li>
</ul>
<h3>South America</h3>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Middle-ground: under &pound;600</li>
</ul>
You can expect to pay around &pound;700-&pound;750 for spots that are harder to reach, and less likely to come into a deal range, like Argentina and Uruguay.
<h3>Australasia</h3>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Full-service: under &pound;750</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Chinese airlines: under &pound;650</li>
</ul>
Expect to pay an extra &pound;100-&pound;150 more on flights to New Zealand compared to Australia&mdash;Auckland tends to be the cheapest airport in NZ.
<h3>South Asia</h3>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Full-service: under &pound;500</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Middle-ground: under &pound;400</li>
</ul>
Expect to pay an extra &pound;50-&pound;100 more on flights to Sri Lanka, the Maldives, or Nepal.
<h3>Southeast Asia</h3>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Full-service: under &pound;550</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Chinese: under &pound;450</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Middle-ground: under &pound;525</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Low-cost: under &pound;400</li>
</ul>
<img src="https://cdn.jacksflightclub.com/id/3ab02e62d0ab17063b6b36f7aa377db7c637d007" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="599" height="339">
<h6 style="text-align: center;">Nepal</h6>
<h3>North Africa</h3>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Middle-ground: under &pound;225</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Low-cost: under &pound;150 (non-stop/1-stop)</li>
</ul>
<h3>West Africa</h3>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Full-service: under &pound;500</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Middle ground: under &pound;450</li>
</ul>
<h3>East Africa (excl. islands)</h3>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Full-service: under &pound;550</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Middle-ground: under &pound;450</li>
</ul>
<h3>African Islands (e.g. Mauritius, Seychelles)</h3>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Full-service: under &pound;550&nbsp;</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Middle-ground: under &pound;500</li>
</ul>
Expect to pay around &pound;150-&pound;200 extra to get to Madagascar.
<h3>South Africa</h3>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Full-service: under &pound;550</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Middle-ground: under &pound;500 (expect to pay a little extra from regional airports)</li>
</ul>
<h3>Middle East &amp; Central Asia (excl. Turkey/Cyprus)</h3>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Full-service: under &pound;400&nbsp;</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Middle-ground: under &pound;350</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Low-cost: under &pound;250</li>
</ul>
<h3>Turkey &amp; Cyprus</h3>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Middle-ground: under &pound;200</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Low-cost: under &pound;150 (expect to pay a little more from regional airports)</li>
</ul>
<img src="https://cdn.jacksflightclub.com/id/483fcfa8c65c9211df759d6ed6243b6ffdb90f6e" width="600" height="336" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">
<h6 style="text-align: center;">Mauritius</h6>
<h3>From the USA</h3>
<h3>Europe</h3>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Full-service: under $650 USD</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Middle-ground: under $550 USD</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Low-cost: under $450 USD</li>
</ul>
<h3>Central America</h3>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Full-service: under $400 USD</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Middle-ground: under $350 USD</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Low-cost: under $300 USD</li>
</ul>
<h3>The Caribbean</h3>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Full-service: under $450 USD</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Middle-ground: under $400 USD</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Low-cost: under $350</li>
</ul>
<h3>South America</h3>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Middle-ground: under $600 USD</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Low-cost: Under $400 USD</li>
</ul>
<h3>Australasia</h3>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Full-service: under $1000 USD</li>
</ul>
<h3>Hawaii</h3>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Middle-ground: under $400</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Low-cost: under $350</li>
</ul>
Expect to pay around $100 less if you&rsquo;re flying from the West Coast
<h3>South Asia</h3>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Full-service: under $750 USD</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Middle-ground: under $650 USD&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
Expect to pay an extra $100-$200 for the Maldives &amp; Nepal.
<h3>Southeast Asia</h3>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Full-service: under $850 USD</li>
</ul>
<h3>Sub-Saharan Africa</h3>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Full-service: under $850 USD</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Middle-ground: under $700 USD</li>
</ul>
Expect to pay an extra $50-$150 for Mauritius &amp; the Seychelles.
<h3>North Africa &amp; Middle East</h3>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Full-service: under $700 USD</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Middle-ground: under $600 USD</li>
</ul>
<img src="https://cdn.jacksflightclub.com/id/2175b7c3fd77c0dbe3aadce7a982805eb892db7c" width="599" height="399" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">
Hopefully, this helps give you some idea when you&rsquo;re browsing for your next holiday! Or, let us do the hard work and get the cheapest trips <a href="http://jacksflightclub.com">straight in your inbox</a>.
You can visit our <a href="https://jacksflightclub.com/travel-hub/find-cheap-flights-to-anywhere/">ultimate guide to finding cheap flights to anywhere</a>, if you need some more pointers on how to find great deals.
. . .
Still have questions? Feel free to drop us a message on <a href="mailto:support@jacksflightclub.com%E2%80%9D">support@jacksflightclub.com</a>&nbsp;and we'll be happy to help.
Please note, while we do have links to other websites in our articles, none are affiliate links and we do not benefit from you clicking on them, we just think they are a good resource :)

How do I know what is or isn’t a good flight fare?

OTA Article resized

As you might have noticed, many of the lowest fares we find are offered through an Online Travel Agency (OTA) aggregator such as Momondo or Skyscanner. 
If you've previously booked all of your flights directly with the airline, you might be wondering if it's both advisable and reliable to book your flight with smaller, lesser-known OTAs found on Skyscanner and Momondo. 
To address this, we've put together this set of FAQs to give you our take.
<h2>1. What are flight fare aggregators, and how do they work?</h2>
Momondo, Kayak and better-known websites like Skyscanner all function as flight fare aggregator engines. 
These tools collect and display the best fares for any particular flight route by comparing prices offered both by the airline and by the various Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) selling tickets for the same flight.
This is not dissimilar to what Google Flights does. The difference is that while Google Flights compares only fares offered directly from the airlines and other major booking sites (such as Expedia and eDreams), these aggregators compare fares from smaller booking sites as well.
These smaller sites are the ones that are more likely to sell flights at a discount to the price offered by the airline itself. They also sometimes include routes that Google Flights doesn't.
<img src="https://cdn.jacksflightclub.com/id/ce08872475107063e61d69c2daa88994b9092537" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">
<h2>2. Is it safe to book with these smaller Online Travel Agencies?</h2>
This question comes up a lot, and we remember how confused we were when these websites first began to pop up. Here's how we see it:
The biggest fear for some travelers is that an Online Travel Agency will take your payment and keep it, without ever issuing a ticket for your purchased flight. Based on our experience, this is an incredibly rare occurrence that only occurs as the result of an error. 
The OTAs listed on Skyscanner or Momondo are vetted for legitimacy to some degree before being listed on these aggregators, and do not do this on purpose. That's not to say that they are all ethical, pro-consumer companies, but they do not try to scam people in this way.
Online Travel Agencies are lawfully required to issue a ticket for the price at which you made the purchase in order to process your payment. Many OTAs in the United Kingdom are also<a href="https://www.caa.co.uk/atol-protection/"> ATOL protected</a>, which means you have an extra layer of consumer protection against any wrongdoing. EU countries have similar protection schemes.
If you want to be extra certain, simply google: "Booking site name + ATOL" to make sure they are ATOL Protected. You should see a verification similar to this:
<img src="https://cdn.jacksflightclub.com/id/b8b77033f2f4d52ee8c92be6689b7bfc67670c36">
Or you'll be able to find this in the company's Ts &amp; Cs:
<img src="https://cdn.jacksflightclub.com/id/1d881fd56d6cea92d65aa5fc9b3840f5001feaea">
In the US, though, there is no agency that booking agencies can register under like the ABTA (for rail, cruise and coach holidays) or ATOL to protect consumers in case a company goes insolvent. But check out our guide on what happens<a href="https://members.jacksflightclub.com/travel-hub/what-happens-when-flights-from-the-united-states-are-canceled"> when flights to or from the United States are cancelled</a> if you are in search of some guidance on what else you can do to protect your booking.
<img src="https://cdn.jacksflightclub.com/id/3e95fc6bb418eac711142fec72c534da3aa27a77" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">
<h2>3. Are there other OTA tricks I should be looking out for?</h2>
Indeed, some of these sites are known to try and squeeze a few extra fees out of you in other ways. Here are the most common tricks to look out for:
<h4>Avoid booking over the phone </h4>
Most of these booking sites offer a phone number if you'd like to avoid booking online. When possible, I advise using the online portal instead. Phone agents, who often earn a commission, will sometimes see that you're trying to book a cheap fare and will try to find another way to increase the price you pay. Calling over the phone also opens you up to the next two items as well.
<h4>&lsquo;Fare no longer available&rsquo; trick </h4>
Every now and then, an Online Travel Agency will call you within a few minutes of your booking to tell you that the price you booked at is &ldquo;no longer available&rdquo; and you must accept a refund or agree to pay a higher fare. If that does occur, don't panic! Simply decline their new fare, accept the refund, and go on to book with another agency offering the next best fare.
<h4>&lsquo;Extra bag fees&rsquo; trick </h4>
Keep an eye on the bag rules throughout the booking process. While rare, we have heard of agencies claiming that you have to pay extra to add a checked bag, even on routes where bags were definitely included in the fare. Again, this generally only happens over the phone.
<h4>Extra service fees </h4>
Make sure you double-check all the passenger details you enter when booking tickets via an Online Travel Agency. Many of them will find ways to charge extra, often high, service fees for tiny changes.
<h2>4. Are there ways to save on airline baggage fees when booking with an Online Travel Agency?</h2>
<img src="https://cdn.jacksflightclub.com/id/4c176c96077bfeb5fc5b2f2e40416251bf4f88d7" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">
In 2022, airlines will now charge you anywhere between 0 and 140 pounds or euros return, or as much as $180 RT from the US, to add a checked bag to your itinerary. The actual amount varies wildly by route &amp; airline.
Online Travel Agencies will often get incentives to sell bag-inclusive tickets and are able to sell you a checked bag at a cheaper fare than the airline. Some OTAs choose to do this, while others choose to keep the price the same or even mark it up in order to earn a higher margin on your ticket.
For this reason, it's important that you always compare the bag fee charged by the OTA you are booking with against the fee charged by the airline itself (or even other OTAs).
If an Online Travel Agency is offering the cheapest fare but is pricing up checked bags, you can always just buy the ticket from the OTA and add a checked bag directly with the airline after the ticket has been issued.
Note: It's also not uncommon for some OTAs to sell economy-standard ticket class fares, which include early seat selection, meals, checked bags, and other perks, for only slightly more than the airline itself sells economy-basic tickets, and the savings can be quite significant. We often see this with Virgin Atlantic, for example.
<h2>5. How are smaller Online Travel Agencies able to offer cheaper fares than the airlines themselves?</h2>
Firstly, many airlines - primarily major international carriers - offer incentives and discounts to third-party agencies to market their tickets. This allows OTAs to pass some of those savings on to you in order to secure your business.
That said, not all airlines will do this, and there are other ways Online Travel Agencies can generate revenue, some of which are less consumer-friendly:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Fees - Expect hefty service fees for making any future changes to your booking. That includes name changes, date changes, cancellations, etc.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Reselling reserved tickets - OTAs are able to reserve a number of seats months in advance. Many will often hold a certain number of seats on popular routes at a low price, knowing that they'll be able to sell them at a higher rate later in the year.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Poor customer support - They tend to outsource customer support to third party companies in order to save on costs.</li>
</ul>
<img src="https://cdn.jacksflightclub.com/id/4268bb876f66e76a4f0ab97669ad7346adb91e97" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">
<h2>6. What about all the bad reviews Online Travel Agencies have?</h2>
It's true that most OTAs, even well-known ones like Expedia, have plenty of negative reviews online. As a rule, customers will generally go further out of the way to report a negative experience than leave a positive review when everything goes as expected, resulting in a high rate of negative reviews.
While it can be a sign of poor customer service, it doesn't mean you won't get the ticket you purchased. As you've read above, some OTAs can be clever about trying to make as much as possible from each customer, but they won't (usually) take your money and run. You can find our reviews of the most popular OTAs <a href="https://members.jacksflightclub.com/travel-hub/reviewing-the-most-popular-online-travel-agencies">here</a>.
<h2>7. When should I book directly with the airline vs. booking with an agency on Momondo?</h2>
This just depends on your situation. We reckon it&rsquo;s worth booking with an agency and saving the extra cash if your travel dates are set in stone, but here are some general guidelines for like-minded travelers:
<h3>Book with an Online Travel Agency if:</h3>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Savings exceed at least &pound;/&euro;20-&pound;/&euro;30 or $50-$60 for a long-haul fare.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">You are 100% certain you will be taking the trip on these dates.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Book directly with airline if:</h3>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">You're the type of traveler who is more likely to extend your trip later on or change travel dates.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">The flight is with a budget or charter airline, such as Spirit, easyJet, Wizzair or TUI, none of which offer discounted fares to OTAs.</li>
</ul>
For more information on Momondo, Skyscanner and Online Travel Agencies, take a look at our <a href="https://members.jacksflightclub.com/travel-hub/reviewing-the-most-popular-online-travel-agencies">reviews of the most popular OTAs</a>, or visit our<a href="https://members.jacksflightclub.com/travel-hub/find-cheap-flights-to-anywhere/"> ultimate guide</a> to finding cheap flights to anywhere.
. . .
Still have questions? Feel free to drop us a message on
support@jacksflightclub.com and we'll be happy to help.
Please note, while we do have links to other websites in our articles, none are affiliate links and we do not benefit from you clicking on them, we just think they are a good resource :-)

Is it safe to book with online travel agencies (OTAs) on Momondo & Skyscanner?

Searching for flights can be both exhausting and frustrating, but there&rsquo;s a certain satisfaction in finally booking a flight - especially when you bag a great deal. That&rsquo;s why our mission at <a href="https://www.jacksflightclub.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jack&rsquo;s Flight Club</a> is to share the cheapest flights out there with our members, if you aren&rsquo;t already on board, you can sign up to receive our free deal alerts. But today we&rsquo;re going to answer the question that makes our mission possible - why do flights fluctuate in price so much?
How airlines set their ticket prices is a source of many urban legends. We&rsquo;ve heard all of the best ones, including tips about the best day of the week to buy a ticket, how to grab last-minute discounts offered by the airlines, and that airlines and flight search websites (such as Skyscanner and Kayak) use cookies to sneakily increase fares for their passengers if they see you&rsquo;ve already searched for that route before. All of these tips have a nugget of truth buried deep down, but none will secure you that ultra-low fare alone - the story is much more complicated
How do airlines choose how to price tickets?
The industry insiders refer to ticket pricing as yield management and it&rsquo;s big business! That&rsquo;s why they hate when people manage to grab a coveted error fare.
It seems unfair that travellers are paying such a wide range of airfares for the same route and ticket, but this yield management is precisely how the airlines make money and stay in business, well that and charging you for luggage and legroom! It works because consumers have different priorities and expectations when looking for flights.&nbsp;&nbsp;
Basically, a yield management system allocates a certain number of seats per flight at a discounted or bargain rate, while others are flagged for mileage upgrades, and some are earmarked as business travel seats. Finally, a certain number of seats are kept for last-minute travellers. That is precisely why you might have paid less than the person sitting beside you on the flight. The airline makes assumptions about what you are willing to pay for your ticket.
The airline&rsquo;s per-passenger cost is the lowest when the flight is full, so carriers have the incentive to sell as many seats as possible. This is a race against time for an airline and, of course, no company wants to discount its product more than it has to. As a result, the airlines face two somewhat contradictory goals: to maximize revenue by flying full planes and selling as many full-fare seats as possible.
Pricing levels, in general, are decided using historical data, so that&rsquo;s why it&rsquo;s rare to find cheap flights around Christmas to all those amazing locations with Christmas markets as they know the demand is high. Very occasionally, if demand is lower than expected, you will find that coveted last-minute low price.&nbsp;
Do Airlines and OTAs track your searches?
Airlines and other flight search websites do use cookies, but time after time, they have claimed they don't manipulate fares based on search history, saying it would be unethical. This has been tested too by independent watchdogs who found cookies make no difference. It&rsquo;s likely this rumour started because a few unlucky people happened to look at the flight just before and after someone else booked, triggering the airline to release the next pool of higher-priced seats as we mentioned above. If you&rsquo;re still paranoid, you can always clear your cookies before searching or use your browser&rsquo;s incognito mode to search.&nbsp;
Best and worst days to book flights
There&rsquo;s a myth floating around that the best day to book flights is the first Tuesday of the month at 12pm 6 weeks prior to your trip.
First, Tuesday&rsquo;s aren&rsquo;t actually the best days to find the cheapest deals. While &ldquo;Travel Tuesday&rdquo; used to be the case, experts say it no longer is.
This myth started when airlines used to load fares at the beginning of the week. But now airlines are much more sophisticated in the way that they price tickets, changing the price 24 hours a day, seven days a week &ndash; meaning it&rsquo;s close to impossible to know when an unannounced sale might pop up.
Some research has shown prices can be higher or lower on a given day of the week &ndash; yet there is no clear consensus on which day that is.&nbsp;
Skyscanner&rsquo;s analysis shows that fares early in the week can be cheaper than those on the weekends, but this covers from early Monday right up till Wednesday night, rather than just Tuesday at 12pm, so don&rsquo;t consider this a blanket rule as you may not find this true in every booking.
Some research has also shown that Thursdays are the worst day to book, probably because everyone is fed up with work and desperate for the weekend, so many are manically searching for last-minute deals. Sunday nights come a close second for commuter routes as airlines know they will get that disorganised business traveller booking for the start of the week.
&nbsp;How far in advance will you manage to grab the best deal?
Remember those days when you fancied a weekend away to Europe and could get Ryanair flights for 99p right up till the week before? We do, that&rsquo;s how most of the JFC team managed to see so much of Europe!
Those days are no longer here unfortunately, a plane ticket to Europe for under &pound;30 is rare, and last minute deals are even rarer.
Prices are much more likely to increase over the last few weeks before the flight&rsquo;s departure. The airlines prefer to wait for the last-minute business traveller who&rsquo;s more likely to pay full fare rather than to sell the seat prematurely to a price-conscious customer.&nbsp;
The airlines start looking at flight pricing about 6-10 months before the departure date, meaning that it generally does not pay to book more than 10 months in advance. Generally, the airline will use a higher than average price before then, based on data from previous years. Between two months and about two to three weeks before the flight date, the fare quotes remain mostly flat, with a slight upward trend.&nbsp;
So, if you see a price that you are happy with, then book it! If you&rsquo;re not sure what a good deal looks like, check out <a href="https://jacksflightclub.com/travel-hub/find-cheap-flights-to-anywhere" target="_blank" rel="noopener">our article on what we consider deal worthy fares</a>. So many people ask us if they should wait, and, while occasionally prices do drop a little further, sometimes just for peace of mind, it&rsquo;s best just to get it locked down so you can start planning instead of stressing. Oh and of course join our club if you&rsquo;re not already so we do all the work for you :-)
Still have questions? Feel free to drop us a message on <a href="mailto:support@jacksflightclub.com%E2%80%9D">support@jacksflightclub.com</a>&nbsp;and we'll be happy to help.

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