Are there better days days to travel from US to Europe and back?
 

We usually fly over on a Saturday and return on a Saturday, just because it seems to fit work schedule, plus returning on a Saturday gives us Sunday to recover. But, I guess there's nothing keeping us from leaving mid week. Are there generally better/worse days to travel to/from Europe in terms of price, promptness, # of passengers, etc?

Price can be better. A lot of the sales are for flights Mon-Thurs.

Sunday, Monday and Tuesday normally have lower fares and fewer passengers in countries using the Occidental weekend. If you were flying from the Middle East, the days would be different.

Hi A,

I think that you will save about $40 pp if you go M-Th.

((I))

I have never heard that Monday was a "cheap" day to travel since many business people travel on Mondays and Fridays. I would think Tue-Thu might offer the best prices.

As far as crowds, we've found that Thursday's are good. Prices are usually $25 - $40 lower for travelling on Thursday's also.

I like returning on a Sunday morning if I'm departing from a large city - no commute traffic to contend with. I would rathar struggle with "recovery" than miss a Saturday in Europe.

Stu Dudley

Hi,
The best way to determine prices (IMO) on certain days of the week is to go to airline websites and others (travelocity, orbitz, etc.). Put different days of the week in using the same itinerary and see if theres a pattern regarding prices. I do this for our trips. Also, to make it even more complicated, in my experiences at least, is that the prices can change from day to day.

Paul

Cheaptickets.com will let you see fares for 30 days at a time if you use the flexible dates option.

I like to leave on a Monday evening and when possible return on a Tuesday or Thursday. The flights seem less packed-to-the-gills.

BC

Monday can be cheap depending on the distance, Dukey. There is a big difference between 7 hour flights and 13 hour flights in that department.

Thanks for the responses everyone. $40+/- wouldn't cause me to change my flight. And, doesn't sound like there's a day when there are lots of open seats (seems the airlines know how to fill each and every seat these days, I remember years ago when we'd sometimes get a whole row to ourselves). Stu, you're so right, but I don't think you have to be at work on Mondays anymore :)

thanks again. annieladd