When it comes to flights, we’ve all heard that booking early is the best way to save, but it turns out, that could be a costly mistake. With some airlines, delaying that ticket purchase can actually get you a better deal, while with others, the price keeps climbing the closer you get to departure. And a new study from Upgraded Points reveals which airlines have the least expensive last-minute tickets.
- The travel site analyzed more than 21-thousand flights across 10 of the busiest U.S. routes, checking fares daily for two weeks.
- They compared last-minute ticket prices to find out where waiting actually pays off.
- All the “last-minute” fares in the study are for tickets booked exactly one week before departure and were compared to averages from previous airline cost studies to see how prices shift for last-minute bookings.
- Overall, the last-minutes flights they reviewed actually cost 8.3% less on average than those booked in advance.
- Spirit Airlines has the cheapest last-minute one-way tickets, but Alaska Airlines has the biggest discounts on them, at 22.6% less than the average booking price.
Airlines with the Least Expensive Last-Minute One-Way Tickets
- Spirit Airlines: $151.53 (average last-minute one-way ticket cost)
- Frontier Airlines: $160.89
- Hawaiian Airlines: $190.19
- Southwest Airlines: $212.43
- Alaska Airlines: $229.73
Airlines with the Most Expensive Last-Minute One-Way Tickets
- JetBlue: $310.15 (average last-minute one-way ticket cost)
- American Airlines: $288.26
- United Airlines: $274.33
- Delta Air Lines: $236.36
Source: Upgraded Points