Cheapest day to fly (and return): 15,000 real fares

At a glance

• Departing on a Tuesday or Wednesday costs about €10 less than departing on a Thursday: a typical €43.70 and €43.98 versus €53.68, roughly 18% cheaper.
• Coming back on a Sunday or Monday costs about €9 more than coming back midweek: €52.83 and €53.30 versus €43.98.
• The classic Thursday or Friday → Sunday or Monday long weekend is the most expensive pattern: up to €58.78.
• The cheapest pair we found is Thursday → Tuesday: €39.98.
• By length, 1–2 nights or 5 nights cost less than 3–4 nights; 7 nights or more pushes the typical price up to €78.33.

The numbers come from 15,202 distinct return trips on Ryanair, Wizz Air, easyJet, Vueling, Volotea and Transavia, read by FlyDown on the airlines' own websites between 9 and 30 September 2026. Prices are per person, flight only, outbound plus return.

Which day to depart

The table shows the median price (the one in the middle: half the trips cost less, half cost more) and the threshold for the cheapest quarter: one trip in four cost this much or less.

Tuesday is the cheapest day to set off, with Wednesday practically level. Thursday and Friday are clearly the most expensive: they're the days people leave to stretch a weekend. Saturday, Sunday and Monday sit in between, just above Tuesday.

Which day to come back

On the way back the picture is even sharper: Sunday and Monday cost about €9 more than every other day, and the other five are almost identical. Saturday also has the lowest cheapest-quarter threshold, so flying home on Saturday is often a good swap for Sunday.

The cheapest and the priciest combinations

Looking at outbound and return together (only pairs with at least 300 trips, so a handful of cases can't skew the result):

• Thursday → Tuesday: €39.98, the cheapest. Leaving on a Thursday costs more, but returning on a Tuesday more than makes up for it.
• Tuesday → Saturday: €43.58.
• Tuesday → Thursday: €43.98.
• Wednesday → Monday: €43.98.

And the most expensive:

• Thursday → Sunday: €58.78.
• Thursday → Monday: €58.73.
• Friday → Monday: €55.03.

In short, the long weekend almost everyone wants is also the one that costs the most. Moving just one of the two flights out of that pattern already makes a difference.

How many nights to stay

It may look odd that 3 or 4 nights cost more than 5, but it fits everything above: 3–4 nights is exactly the shape of a long weekend (Thursday–Sunday, Friday–Monday). Five nights, on the other hand, almost always has you leaving or coming back midweek.

From 7 nights up, the typical price jumps to €78.33. There are two reasons: it's harder to find two low fares that far apart, and longer trips more often run into peak dates such as holidays.

How to use this

• If you can only move one day, move the return: avoiding Sunday and Monday is worth about as much as avoiding Thursday and Friday on the way out.
• For a long weekend, try Saturday → Tuesday or Wednesday instead of Thursday → Sunday.
• For a week away, consider 5 or 6 nights instead of 7: the gap is often big.
• The day you fly matters more than the day you book. For how far ahead to buy, read our guide on when to book low-cost flights.
• If you're flexible on the destination, check where you can fly cheaply from your airport on the days that suit you.

If you can't choose your days, the most useful thing is to set a budget and let FlyDown alert you when a flight on your dates drops below it.

Where these numbers come from

These are the prices FlyDown found for its users: 15,202 distinct return trips of 1 to 14 nights, departing between September 2026 and February 2027, across many routes, mostly from European cities.

• They're not the market average. They're mostly trips that came in under the budgets users set, which is why the typical price is around €45. They show which days are cheaper under equal conditions, not what a flight costs on average.
• They cover autumn and winter 2026–27. Long weekends and public holidays push Thursday and Friday departures up; in other periods the gaps may change.
• We'll update the data as new fares come in, including for spring and summer.

FlyDown is not affiliated with the airlines mentioned: trademarks belong to their respective owners.