Airfare drops dramatically each year on this one 'magic' date
Do you know the magic airfare day? No kidding. There is one specific day when flight prices fall dramatically. That day is... drumroll please... Aug. 22. If you're planning a hop across the pond, the cheapest days to fly across the Atlantic begin on Aug. 21. Why the big drop? The kiddos are back in school, so families are less likely to travel. This means airlines have to compete a little harder to fill those seats. How big is the difference? I jumped on to Priceline.com to run a few tests. I priced out trips for July 25-31 and the same trips for Aug. 22-28. Each trip leaves on a Tuesday and returns on a Monday. Here are the rough averages. Orlando to Los Angeles July fare: $275 August fare: $182 Washington, D.C. to Denver July fare: $354 August fare: $281 Tampa to Minneapolis July fare: $538 August fare: $203 Chicago to Las Vegas July fare: $361 August fare: $150 Wow. It's no joke. The smallest gap was from Washington, D.C. to Denver, and even that was a savings of $73 per ticket. If my wife and I wanted to hop a plane back to see our friends in Minneapolis, we could save a whopping $335 per ticket. That's like getting the hotel for free. No futon crashing for us! If you don't have kids and are planning a getaway, consider pushing it back to late August or after. Fall prices tend to stay competitive until the holiday season rolls around in late November. Book early for a post-summer getaway to save big on your next vacation. This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, one of the largest personal finance websites. We help millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. In 2016, Inc. 500 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the No. 1 fastest-growing private media company in the U.S.
