The British newspaper The Telegraph took a look at a widely-held belief—that airfares drop for Friday the 13th flights because people fear flying on an unlucky day—and found that it actually appears to be true.
The newspaper collected and compared sample fares for the fateful date, and for the Fridays before and after, and found a general pattern of price drops on the 13th. Airfares fluctuate constantly, based on 'yield management' software intended to fill seats at the highest price, within a range, that the public will pay. When there are fewer buyers, airlines lower prices to tempt people into the seats.
Prices collected, on flights from and within Britain, showed discounts ranging from 4 to 41 percent, with an average around 22%. In a parallel check, the study found that room rates at hotels don't match the dip...after all, you have to stay somewhere while waiting for Friday the 13th to be over!
For more details and charts from The Telegraph, click HERE
Illustration: W.J.Pilsak / Wikimedia
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