Cheaper weekday or weekend flight?
 

Contemplating 2-week family vacation next June once school is out (WAS to FCO and back by way of VCE). We could leave on Thursday (to Thursday) when school lets out. Or do Saturday (to Saturday), thinking husband’s work would prefer he take off in full weeks (he seems a little uncomfortable about taking off 2 wks anyway!). I guess we could even wait until during the next week to do Tues or Wed flights. Have you found that varying days makes much difference in flight cost (we will be buying 4 tickets!)? Or are there so many variables that the day chosen just doesn’t make a great difference? (I am currently trying to lay out the days ahead of time so I can have many choices on hotels since I think you don't buy flights until a few months prior to trip.) Thanks!

From my experience, it doesn't make a huge difference. When researching my most recent trip (to Barcelona) we did find that Saturday - Saturday tended to be a little more expensive. But in the scheme of things, it wasn't a huge difference. Really, the big price change I noted was March - April/May. We went in March and our tickets were several hundred less than they were in May (when tourist season really starts). Obviously, with kids, that's probably not realistic for you. So, I don't think there's going to be a huge price difference between Saturday and Thursday.

Just to give you some perspective, we went in March of this year and bought our tickets in September. We scoured Kayak.com obsessively to get a feel for pricing which will give you some perspective. Hope that helps. Good luck!

Normally, flights are around $30 more each way on the weekend but that's not always the case depending on the destination. We try to fly on a Tuesday or Thursday because prices are usually cheaper on those days and flights are normally less crowded.

On our last few trips to Italy, the day of the week we flew did not make that much of a difference in price. I searched using http://matrix.itasoftware.com starting 10 months before our last 2 trips (in June) and ended up buying the tickets in January each year.

IMO, it is better to arrive in Venice and depart from Rome, as it is easier to get over jetlag in Venice because you walk around and are in the fresh air, as there are no cars/buses/scooters. Also, the timing of the flights back to the US are generally better out of FCO.

I've found a $20 to $110 difference in prices using Saturday as departure and arrival. Generally, T, W and Thursday are the cheapest days to travel, with Friday-Monday more expensive.

I'd agree with lor41886, use a consolidator like Kayak.com and you can even use the +/- 3 days function to see alternatives.

Lastly, remember, the Thursday flight will arrive on Friday so adjust your hotel days accordingly. If you're looking at Sat-Sat for flights, its only 6 nights (Sunday-Friday) hotel.

Yes, I've found about $20 each way difference for booking weekends versus Tu-Thursday, but this is empirical, just go to the airline's website and see. I have not seen Saturdays as more expensive than Friday or Sunday, in fact, sometimes it is cheaper than Sunday (for a return from Europe) on the flights I check.

Whether certain time of the week offers better fare or not depends on the market (route/time of the year) and the market condition (which changes throughout the year.) Rather than trying to find a rule mentioned by someone else whose basis of info comes from the different market at different travel time, look up actual June fares and play with the dates. Sign up to receive fare alerts at Kayak.com, for example, on several different itineraries using different departure and return dates and routes. I routinely set up more than twenty alerts to get the feel of how the market is moving almost a year ahead.

June is a peak departure season for those starting from the US due to the same reason you have selected your travel - school schedule. Unfortunately so are many others like you doing the same thing in the US and the airlines are not about to let go with opportunities to extract the maximum revenue possible.

Whether one should "buy flights until a few months prior to trip" depends again on the market condition. You see certain prices if you book right now. Will it go up or down? Really no one knows for sure. You have to think about all the relevant factors in your case: how solid is your trip plan. Should you take a risk to see if a better fare comes around knowing that you might end up with higher fares, good flights sold out, etc.

And finally, if you are interested in managing the airfare alone, your approach, choosing day of the week based on cost, might make sense. However, if you are interested in managing the overall cost and what you get out of it, you need to compare different itineraries as packages. Many people thought they were smart by booking a cheap round trip fare to one airport, but later found out they had to spend more than the airfare savings to connect the airport to the destinations to make the itinerary work. They would have actually come out with lower over all cost, less hectic schedule, and more places to visit, by paying more for the airfare portion to strategic airports on a specific day of the week.

One observation about VCE - I flew into Venice recently midweek, the flight was full, but booking about 8 weeks ahead I a good choice of seats. My return flight was on the weekend and the seat selection was very limited. I realized later this may have been because of the cruise lines docking in Venice on the weekends and passengers departing from Marco Polo.