Travel Deal Tuesday: Cheap Flights On Sale!

Travel Deal Tuesday

Who’s ready for Black Friday and Cyber Monday???

Certainly not me.

Do you think I’m going to wait in line at midnight this Friday in the freezing Southern California cold (56 degrees Fahrenheit maybe?) to save a measly 100 bucks on some consumer item I don’t even need? Nope. I have better things to do with my time, like spend it with family.

You also won’t find me sitting around on Monday looking for online shopping deals. Nah, I’ll pass. I have everything that I could possibly want and need. Plus I’m trying to be a conscious consumer and buy nothing new. Shopping isn’t really my thing anyway.

As a millennial, I preferentially spend my money on experiences and not things. And as someone who is relatively minimalist, I enjoy collecting memories and not materials.

Traveling gives us the opportunity for life-enriching experiences and unforgettable memories. Luckily, there’s a day dedicated to travel deals… Travel Deal Tuesday.

 

What IS Travel Deal Tuesday?

Basically, it’s the “Black Friday” for airfare deals. It’s the best time to buy plane tickets!

Travel Deal Tuesday is the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. So, if you’re looking to score a cheap flight, mark your calendar for next week November 27, 2018.

According to travel app Hopper, flights are forecasted to be 40% cheaper to many destinations on Travel Deal Tuesday. This includes many “bucket list” destinations like Paris, London, Barcelona, Hong Kong, Miami, Sydney, Rio de Janeiro, and Turks & Caicos.

The folks at Hopper state that airlines offer major discounts because travel demand tends to die down following Thanksgiving. Most travelers have already booked their holiday airfare, but haven’t started planning their winter getaways yet. In fact, airlines like Icelandair, Cathay Pacific, South African Airways, and Philippine Airlines have already confirmed with Hopper their plans to discount certain routes on Tuesday.

Hopper claims to predict prices with 95% accuracy up to one year in advance. The app offers suggestions on whether to buy a plane ticket now or wait (if they predict that the price will decrease in the future). You can then set up notifications to get alerted once the price has dropped.

How are they able to do this? Well, first of all, they collect 10 to 15 billion airfare price quotes every day (300 billion a month) and have built a huge historical archive of several trillion prices from over the past several years. Historical flight pricing data is analyzed by their team. They found that fare sale activity significantly spikes on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving.

Here’s a Snippet of Last Year’s Data

This year they are expecting even bigger discounts and sales on Travel Deal Tuesday!

 

How To Use Hopper

The Hopper app is very easy to use.

Once you download the app to your phone, you can immediately start searching for flights. Like most searches, you input your origin city/airport and destination city/airport along with the dates you intend to travel. Hopper will then search for the cheapest flights currently available. Then, the app will suggest to buy your ticket now (if it thinks that the price is as good as it gets) or wait (if it predicts a lower price in the future). If you wait, Hopper will notify you when the price drops.

Here’s an example.

Let’s just say I want to take my wife to Paris for Valentine’s Day (ooh la la!).

I choose San Francisco (SFO) as the origin airport. February looks pretty good with prices in the $360 – $380 range.

Then I select the date Feb 11 – Feb 18.

Hopper shows that the current lowest price is $375, which is fantastic!

Interestingly though, Hopper suggests that I should wait for a better price, but book before January 16. Hopper predicts that I could save as much as $19 per ticket by watchfully waiting.

I’m assuming that Hopper predicts that this flight will decrease on Travel Deal Tuesday. So I would take their suggestion and wait. After all, they claim to be 95% accurate!

 

Your Turn

Are you planning on taking advantage of the low flight prices of Travel Deal Tuesday? Where are you planning to go? Have you used Hopper before?