Here’s When US Airlines Have Sales

Airfare prices can be pretty arcane. Their constant fluctuations feel impossible to predict, especially when there’s seemingly no method to the madness. But nothing’s worse than paying $300 for a flight, only to find out the price dropped to $180 the very next day, so learning to read those tea leaves is a useful skill for any frequent flyer.

I know what you’re thinking: Sales are a good place to start, right? When do US airlines have sales? Unfortunately, the answer is “rarely and sporadically,” but you can still catch some sweet, sweet discounts if you know the right time to look. That’s where this handy guide comes in.

(Of course, the best way to find cheap flights is to sign up for a service that combs through airfare data every single day, sending the best deals straight to your inbox. Like Jack’s Flight Club, for instance. But hey, I digress.)

Domestic Airlines

American

American Airlines deals tend to pop up on a route-by-route basis. Like the other legacy carriers, they don’t really go for sitewide events these days, although you can catch the occasional flash sale on their deals page. 

Here’s a little inside baseball to help you search: Airlines launch those spur-of-the-moment price drops in response to data collected and analyzed by pricing algorithms, and since the algos typically update late on Monday, you’ll want to check for sales on Tuesday and Wednesday.

There is one time when you can always predict discounts, however, and that’s the Black Friday weekend. American tends to offer pretty solid (if unremarkable) sales on Cyber Week, so if you only check in once per year, make it the weekend after Thanksgiving.

United

Similarly, most United Airlines deals come from price drops on specific routes rather than big sales. You can check their current promotions on their website — once again, Tuesdays are your best bet. But you’re probably better off setting up a few Google Flights trackers for places you want to visit, then just waiting for prices to fall.

Worst of all, United can’t even be bothered to offer Black Friday sales nowadays. They seem to have gone all in on their credit card program, so unless you’re a Chase rewards member, you’re getting bupkis.

Delta

We do see pretty regular summer promotions on Delta flights, which is something, although the best fares usually come from surprise flash sales throughout the year. Much like United, they’ve been bitten by the credit card rewards bug, so signing up for their SkyMiles program is the best way to get consistent discounts.

They used to put out solid Black Friday sales as well, but the less said about their recent offerings, the better. I mean, discounts on resort vacation packages? That’s almost insulting.

JetBlue

Holy cow, we’ve got actual sales! JetBlue is one of the more consistently budget-friendly US airlines, offering a handful of sitewide promotions every year. They generally run a summer one, a fall one, and a birthday sale around the anniversary of their founding in February. The discounts are usually pretty good, too — sometimes over 50% off ticket prices.

Sadly, we’ve yet to see a JetBlue sale join the yearly Black Friday brouhaha, but we keep holding out hope for next time around. Come on in, JetBlue! The water’s fine!

Alaska

Alaska Airlines is a personal favorite of mine, and not just because I live on the West Coast. Their fares offer great value for the cost, and their recent merger with Hawaiian Airlines has given them a great network all over the Pacific. Most relevantly, they run way more sales than the legacy carriers, generally with great discounts. Keep an eye on their deals page during early spring, fall, and around three-day weekends like Memorial Day and Labor Day.

Residents of Alaska (the state) can also take advantage of a yearly Permanent Fund Dividend sale offered by Alaska (the airline). That one usually drops in October, when the PFD checks start landing in accounts.

What’s that? Does Alaska Airlines have Black Friday deals? You didn’t even have to ask — of course they do, although the 2025 edition was weirdly inferior to a “Book, Go, Glow” sale they put out about a week before. They just wanted to be different, I guess.

Frontier

These guys are a budget airline, so they drop promotions practically every other month. Be warned, though — Frontier Airlines deals are always a bit of a risk. They’ve been known to raise their prices shortly before announcing a “sale” that discounts the tickets right back to the original rate. Before you book anything, we recommend hopping over to Google Flights and checking the price history to make sure you’re not being fooled. If you’re looking for a specific route, it’s also a good idea to track the fares on GF for a few weeks before the start of a sale.

If you find yourself flying regularly with Frontier, it could be worth signing up for their Discount Den membership. For an annual fee, you get exclusive markdowns and a few other perks. It’s not really worthwhile for most people, but you’ll come out ahead if you book at least a couple Frontier flights each year.

And we’ll grant them this: Frontier goes all out for Cyber Week. We’re talking Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Travel Tuesday… the works. They’re surprisingly decent discounts, too!

Breeze

Breeze Airways is a relatively new player on the budget scene, but we like what we’ve seen so far. They started out by focusing on non-stop flights to cities not served by major airlines, and recently they’ve also begun taking over routes previously run by Spirit (RIP).

Like other low-cost airlines, Breeze goes overboard on sales. You can catch flash deals on their website fairly regularly, and be sure to check every May for their anniversary event.

Here’s another unique little wrinkle: Every Tuesday between 10 AM and 1 PM, you can walk into an airport with a Breeze counter and buy a ticket without paying the online booking surcharge. That generally comes out to around $30-$50 off the fare, but some passengers have reported saving hundreds on certain routes.

International Airlines

COPA

Headquartered in Panama, COPA is one of the most reliable options for flights from the US to Latin America. They tend to have sweet Black Friday deals (although 2025’s edition was a real disappointment) and offer semi-regular flash sales to their American hubs, mainly Fort Lauderdale and Atlanta. While they don’t run anniversary promotions, you might see seasonal sales in early fall or just after the holidays.

Avianca

Avianca is Latin America’s main low-cost carrier, and in true budget fashion, they drop sales about once a month. There’s a catch, however — you have to be a member of their free Lifemiles frequent flyer program to get the discounts.

If you’re good at math and fly to LatAm often, consider taking advantage of Avianca’s occasional promotional prices for the miles themselves. You can sometimes save a good amount by picking up cheap miles and immediately spending them on a ticket. Make sure you actually add up the total cost, though, because airlines love tricking you with these kinds of offers.

Cathay Pacific

Based in Hong Kong, Cathay Pacific is still building out its North American network, so they only serve a handful of the biggest cities for now. But we’re including them because they’re one of the few airlines to still offer an actual, honest-to-God sitewide sale every summer. Check their deal page around Black Friday and the Lunar New Year too; they usually have some pretty solid discounts running. Way to go, Cathay Pacific!

ANA

ANA is another carrier with relatively limited coverage, offering direct flights to Tokyo from a few major US cities. They’re also not the cheapest way to get to Japan (shout-out ZIPAIR!), but they do run some excellent sales. Their once-monthly Hello Blue sales are legendary among international travelers, and while the frequency of the discounts has decreased over the last couple years, the magnitude certainly hasn’t.

British Airways

Good ol’ BA, every bit as reliable as 3 PM tea time and English World Cup heartbreak (sorry lads, it’s not coming home). No matter where in Europe you’d like to go, British Airways will get you there relatively inexpensively — if you don’t mind a layover at Heathrow and the occasional lost bag. It’s a big airport, okay? They’re trying their best!

BA generally runs three sales a year in the US: a New Year’s event in January, a beginning of summer sale in June, and an end of summer sale in August or early September. They also tend to have top-notch deals for Cyber Week, so be sure to stop by their site after Turkey Day.

Awards

• Best Domestic Sales - Alaska
• Best International Sales - British Airways
• Best Budget Sales - Breeze
• Worst Sales - United
• Honorable Mentions - JetBlue, COPA, Cathay Pacific, ANA

That's everything you need to start snagging sales and impressing your friends with your newfound expertise. Seriously, it's a great party trick. People find airline facts very interesting, I promise.

And if you decide you'd rather let someone else do the hard work of finding cheap flights for your next vacation, well, you know where to find us.