# Saturday Night Special

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saturday-night-special/28509>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 8, 2000, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saturday-night-special/28509 "2000-08-08T02:11:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![omni-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@omni-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omni-not)\
**Post date:** [August 8, 2000, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saturday-night-special/28509/1 "2000-08-08T02:11:26Z")

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What’s the deal with this requirement that, to take advantage of airline ticket discounts, you often have to stay at least a Saturday at your point of destination? IIRC, your trip can be as short as three days as long as there is a Saturday somewhere in there. Is this standard practice among airlines?

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**Author:** ![Gatsby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@Gatsby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatsby)\
**Post date:** [August 8, 2000, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saturday-night-special/28509/2 "2000-08-08T02:25:20Z")

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WAG: It allows them to minimize discounting tickets to business travellers who would rather come home on friday than save the company a few bucks. I’m sure someone else can verify or refute this.

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**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\
**Post date:** [August 8, 2000, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saturday-night-special/28509/3 "2000-08-08T02:45:52Z")

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I believe Gatsby is correct. The airlines make their money off of business travelers who have to pay full-fare or close to it for most flights. And full-fare is extremely expensive.  
Call up an airline and ask them for a price on the next flight from LA to NY and returning by Friday. The price will make your head spin.

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**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\
**Post date:** [August 8, 2000, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saturday-night-special/28509/4 "2000-08-08T02:57:06Z")

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It’s definitely, as stated above, a gig the business traveler deal. I used to go to Jackson, Mississippi on business (from Houston). Now, Jackson’s a nice town and all, but it doeasn’t draw a lot of tourist traffic. The roundtrip fare during the working week was $650 (hell, I can get to NYC or LA and back for less than about half that) and the stay over Saturday fare was $150 (and the plane would be about half-full - yes, I’ve weekended in Jackson).

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**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\
**Post date:** [August 8, 2000, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saturday-night-special/28509/5 "2000-08-08T04:27:50Z")

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Hooray for Cecil: [Why are air fares cheaper if you stay over Saturday night?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_136.html)

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**Author:** ![omni-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@omni-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omni-not)\
**Post date:** [August 8, 2000, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saturday-night-special/28509/6 "2000-08-08T12:49:53Z")

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Should have gone for the obvious, but it never crossed my mind. Many thanks guys (…not to mention Our Master).