September 5, 2022: -There are many ways to save money on flights, but booking airfare on a special day of the week isn’t one of them, according to data from Google Flights.

Booking mid-week and especially Tuesdays around midnight is often the best time to purchase flights. But in the past five years, U.S. airfares purchased on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, or Thursdays have been only 1.9% cheaper on average than airfares purchased during the weekend, according to Google Flights.

“If your trip is just a couple of weeks away, don’t wait for Tuesday. Book your flight in case the price goes up,” wrote James Byers, Google Flights’ group product manager, in a blog post published yesterday.

While the day of the week travelers book may not matter much, the day they fly does, according to Google Flights’ research, which examined five years of historical flight data from August 1, 2017, to 2022.

“On average, flights that depart on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday have been 12% less than the weekend departures,” wrote Byers. “If you exclude international destinations, the potential savings increase to 20%.”

Another common strategy is booking early also works, according to the data. For U.S. domestic flights, airfares have been lowest between three and eight weeks before the departure date, with prices “bottoming out” 44 days out, according to the research.

Non-stop flights cost, on average, about 20% more than connecting flights, according to Google Flights, but flights with stops also increase the risk of interruptions.

An Instagram poll by the travel insurance company World Nomads indicated more than 1 in 3 respondents spent up to $250 on flights, meals, or hotels because of flight delays or cancellations this summer. At the same time, 12% reported spending between $500 to $1,000.