Cheapest Day of the Week to Fly, What 2,395 Fares Show
Monday is the cheapest day of the week to fly in December 2026, with a middle fare of £117 across 2,395 same-day returns from 15 UK airports, against £144 on a Friday.
See the day trip to Milan Bergamo
Monday. That's the cheapest day of the week to fly, at least in December 2026. Across 2,395 return fares from 15 UK airports, the middle fare on a Monday was £117. On a Friday it was £144.
We know this because pricing flights is what we do. Every one of our extreme day trips is priced from live fares, so we pulled every same-day return we had for 1 to 23 December and lined them up by day of the week.
So is Tuesday the cheapest day to fly?
Not in our numbers. You'll see Tuesday quoted everywhere as the cheapest day, and it's not bad, but it came fourth. Here's the full ranking, using the middle fare for each day so a few very cheap or very silly fares don't skew it.
- Monday, £117
- Thursday, £125.50
- Tuesday, £133
- Wednesday, £135
- Saturday, £137
- Sunday, £140
- Friday, £144
Friday being the dearest won't surprise anyone. It's the day everyone wants. What surprised me more was how close Saturday was to the midweek days, only £4.00 more than a Wednesday.
Which day has the most bargains?
The middle fare is one thing. But if you're hunting for a really cheap flight, it's more useful to count the fares under £40.
- Wednesday, 22 fares under £40
- Monday, 19
- Tuesday, 15
- Thursday, 12
- Sunday, 8
- Saturday, 6
- Friday, 3
So the very cheapest flights sit midweek, Monday to Wednesday. Friday had just three fares under £40 in the whole of December.
Want to see where your money actually goes? BudgetBro tracks it in any currency, free.
Which dates in December are cheapest?
Two dates stood out, Monday 14 and Wednesday 16 December, both with a middle fare of £104. Monday 7 December was £113 and Tuesday 15 December £114.
At the other end, Wednesday 23 December was the dearest at £168, followed by Saturday 19 December at £157. No surprise, that's everyone heading home for Christmas. More of a surprise was Tuesday 1 December at £154.
What were the cheapest flights we found?
These were the cheapest same-day returns on the board, all checked on 31 October.
- £28.00 Stansted to Milan Bergamo, Wednesday 2 December. See the day
- £28.00 Manchester to Cork, Tuesday 1 December.
- £28.00 Luton to Knock, Thursday 10 December.
- £29.00 Stansted to Shannon, Saturday 12 December.
- £31.00 Birmingham to Dublin, Monday 7 December. See the day
- £33.00 Luton to Malaga, Monday 14 December. See the day
Notice the pattern. Ireland is cheap from almost everywhere, and the sun is surprisingly cheap on a Monday.
Does this work for a holiday too?
Mostly, yes. Our fares are same-day returns, out in the morning and home at night, so they're not exactly what you'd pay for a week away. But the reason Monday is cheap is the same either way. Fewer people want to fly then, so airlines price it lower.
The rule of thumb we'd take from this is simple. If you can fly on a Monday, do. If not, go midweek. And avoid Fridays and the last weekend before Christmas if you can.
How did we work this out?
On 31 October we pulled every same-day return fare we had for 1 to 23 December, from 15 UK airports. That's all six London airports bar City, plus Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Newcastle, Liverpool, Leeds Bradford, East Midlands and Belfast International.
We only counted fares priced for that exact date, not estimates. That left 2,395 of them, between 273 and 391 for each day of the week, so every day had plenty to go on.
Then we took the middle fare for each day, the one with as many fares above it as below. An average would get dragged around by a handful of very expensive routes, so the middle is fairer.
It's one month, so don't treat it as a law of nature. Week by week it isn't perfect either. Monday 21 December was £138.50 as Christmas got close, dearer than Friday 11 December at £125.50. But across the month as a whole, Monday came out cheapest and Friday dearest.
How to use this to save money
- Be flexible on the day before you're flexible on the place. Shifting from a Friday to a Monday saved £27 on the middle fare in December.
- Look at Ireland. Dublin, Cork, Shannon and Knock dominated the cheap list.
- Book a day off rather than a weekend. The cheapest dates in December were a Monday and a Wednesday.
- Check the fare on the day, not last week's. Prices move daily, and these are from 31 October.
If you want the whole month laid out by price, our cheapest day trips in December list has it.
Founders see every date priced six months ahead, so you can spot the cheap Mondays before anyone else. It's £19.00 a year. Become a founder
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