What days of the week are the cheapest to fly?  I know that Mondays
and Fridays are usual travel days for business people.  What days are
the best to find deals on?

Greetings Pugilist!  Traditionally, the cheapest days to fly have been
cited as Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday and, according to my research
for you, that seems to be still be the case.

The web site at http://www.dailyvanguard.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2002/11/01/3dc1fccc2316e
states in an article the cheapest days for certain air fares from
Portland, Oregon.  Authored by Jason Damron and posted on November 01,
2002, for the Portland State University Vanguard, Damron states in the
text:

Portland to Los Angeles 
Portland to Orlando 
Cheapest days to fly: Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday

Portland to Phoenix 
Portland to Las Vegas 
Cheapest days to fly: Weekdays and Sundays

Portland to Alaska 
Cheapest days to fly: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday

Of course, this only pertains to flights out of Portland but Tuesday
and Wednesday are present in all three listings.


An article at Priceline.com located at
http://news.com.com/2100-1017-275970.html?legacy=cnet offers link
which takes the reader to the page
http://www.priceline.com/default.asp?session_key=D10011AC230011AC20021228221150d18b41675391.
 On that page, on the upper right, is a link to "Best Days To Fly." 
Clicking that link will take the viewer to a calendar page at
http://www.priceline.com/promo/bestdayscalendar.asp?


Maupintour.com at http://www.priceline.com/promo/bestdayscalendar.asp?
seems to confirm Tuesday and Wednesday in a tip offered on that
website:

"Q: What are the cheapest days to fly and where can I get the best
deals on airfare?"

"A: Traditionally, the best domestic flight bargains call for some
advance planning. Most low fare tickets must be purchased at least 14
days before travel. Often you'll get the cheapest fare by traveling on
Tuesday or Wednesday and staying over at least one Saturday night. "


http://www.mainewindjammercruises.com/gethere.cfm offers these 2 tips
among others:

"1. Be flexible, if possible, with flight times. Early morning flights
and non-direct flights (those including layovers or connections) are
often less expensive.
2. Fly on Tues, Wed, or Sat if possible, as these days are typically
the cheapest days to fly.
3. Include a Saturday-night stay if possible. Usually, the lowest fare
is available only if you include a Saturday-night stay in your
itinerary."


TownNews.com at http://townnews.atevo.com/reservations/ahc/low_fare_tips/0,3842,0,00.html
offers the same advice:

"Fly on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Saturday if possible, as these days are
typically the cheapest days to fly."


Many other travel sites repeated the Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday
overnight stay advice.  However, you should check the prices on
departure time from the airport you are using.  One of those specified
days might be cheaper than the others depending on what is your
departure time.  The cheapest days to travel are usually the days that
most people are *not* traveling and that may depend on if your area or
the one to which you are traveling are hot tourist spots with lots of
travel no matter the day.


Should you need clarification before rating my answer on any of the
information I have provided, please request it.  I wish you safe
travel and no hassle at the airports.  :)


SEARCH PHRASES:

cheapest days to fly
cheapest time to fly

Yeah, the cheapest days to fly can vary a bit, as seen in Journalist's
answer. I often do faresearches for friends, and I usually go for a
midweek date, Tuesday, Wednesday -- or Thursday, and put in
"afternoon" for times; business travellers like to go early morning,
it seems, or late evening. (Saturday seems to be one of the good days
to fly to New York, which is both a convention and a tourist town.)

When Aer Lingus, the Irish state-owned airline (www.flyaerlingus.com)
had a really great special from the US to Dublin ($99 each way + tax
added up to a ticket of about $270, $280), the cheap tickets were
available for those three days only: Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

But when I was doing a faresearch on Northwest Airlines (www.nwa.com
and www.orbitz.com) for a friend going to Las Vegas, her ticket price
went down by well over $100 when I shifted the date from Thursday to
Tuesday. So Thursday doesn't work as an offpeak day for Las Vegas.

The trick is, to know the busy days -- the days and times when
"everyone" wants to travel to your destination, and then just do the
opposite. Like a strategy for the stock market (except that, for the
travel industry, as it is structured now, it works!).

For example, Chicago is a convention town so it's busy on convention
days; I'm not familiar enough with American culture to know what those
days might be. But I do know from looking at hotel reservations in
downtown Chicago that Monday is not a good day to get a cheap rate!

While Monday is a peak day for coming to Chicago, it's an offpeak day
for Florida. Any website I've ever looked at for Florida gives the
following days:

   Offpeak
   To   Florida:    Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
   From Florida:    Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday

This particular definition comes from the website of ATA (American
Trans Air),
http://www.ata.com/whats_hot/netfares.html 

ATA also include in their off-peak definitions:

East-West Travel:                 Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday
Indianapolis to/from Las Vegas:   Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,Saturday
San Jose, Guadalajara, Cancun:    Monday-Thursday
Hawaii to/from Los Angeles, 
San Francisco:                    Monday-Thursday


If you're just going away for a short two- or three-day trip, and it
doesn't matter which days you go, you can get Last Minute Web Fares on
www.smarterliving.com, and these fares are * generally * available for
some destinations for:
         Departing Saturday
         Returning Monday, Tuesday and sometimes Wednesday. 

Orbitz also has last-minute fares, for this week or next week; and
again they're over the weekend.