Black Friday flights: how to tell a real deal (and why you often don't need to wait for it)

In short

• Black Friday 2026 is Friday 27 November, Cyber Monday is Monday 30. Sales often open a few days earlier.
• In the last thirty days, with no Black Friday in sight, 41% of the routes we follow had at least one fare 30% or more below their usual price. When it happens, the median discount is 40%.
• On the 165 routes to and from the UK and Ireland it was even more common: 49% had such a fare, with a median discount of 41%.
• Those fares don't last: between the first and last time we saw them, the median is about two days.
• Black Friday sales almost always cover low-season dates and few seats per flight. Christmas and summer rarely.
• The test that never fails: is the price below the usual for that route? The crossed-out price is irrelevant; the average of recent days is what counts.

The numbers come from 1,124 routes that FlyDown read at least thirty times in the last thirty days, directly from the airlines: return, per person. "Usual" is the median fare of that route, with that airline, over the last thirty days. The UK and Ireland figure covers routes with at least one end in either country, most of them flights into London, Dublin and the big UK cities.

What is really inside a Black Friday sale

The adverts never change: "up to 50% off", "fares from €9.99", "48 hours only". Behind them there are almost always four conditions, in the small print:

• The valid dates: usually the months when planes fly half empty, such as January, February and early March. The dates you want are often not there.
• Few seats per flight: the "from €9.99" exists, but on a handful of seats on a handful of flights. The rest of the plane stays at the normal fare.
• The seat price only: the discount applies to the base fare. Hold bags, seat selection and a large cabin bag cost what they always cost, and on a short trip they can be worth more than the discount.
• Membership: some deals are only for members of the airline's club or scheme, which you pay for.

None of this is a con: it is how airlines fill their hardest weeks. But it means a Black Friday deal is worth it if your trip already falls on those dates, not that late November is a magic moment to buy any flight.

Low fares turn up all year: our data

FlyDown reads airline fares several times a day, on thousands of routes, and keeps the history. We looked at the last thirty days, from early September to early October, far from any Black Friday:

What it means in practice: on four routes in ten, an ordinary month already contains a "Black Friday discount". It is not announced, there is no countdown, and it does not last. Whoever spots it in time gets it; whoever waits for 27 November often pays more for the same trip.

How to spot a real discount, in three checks

• Compare with the usual price, not the crossed-out one. The "was" price in a sale is often the highest fare bracket. What counts is what that route cost, in those weeks, over the last few days. On FlyDown every flight shows its usual price and the Flappy Score, which weighs price, times and convenience together.
• Price the whole trip. Out and back, with the luggage you really need. A €19.99-per-leg deal plus two hold bags can cost more than a normal flight with just a backpack.
• Check the times. Leaving at 6am and landing back at midnight at a far-off airport has a cost: a night taxi or an extra hotel night can wipe out the discount in a moment.

If you still want to use Black Friday

• Make your list first. The cheapest seats in a sale usually go first: arriving with your dates, cities and maximum price already decided makes the difference.
• Look at the right months: January, February and early March are where discounts are most frequent and deepest. If your trip is February half term, check that the sale really includes those dates before you wait for it.
• Keep an eye on Cyber Monday. Airlines often relaunch on the Monday, sometimes on different routes.
• Don't buy out of fear of missing out. As the numbers show, on four routes in ten a fare well below the usual appears at least once a month, with no sale at all.

A Black Friday that lasts all year: get an alert

The simplest way to catch Black Friday fares is not to have to check. Tell FlyDown where you fly from, how much you want to spend and which dates; it reads Ryanair, Wizz Air, easyJet, Vueling, Volotea, Transavia, Sky Express, Air Transat and Neos every few hours, day and night, and writes to you as soon as a flight drops below your price, with the history that tells you whether it is a real deal or the usual fare.