Friday 13th: there's never been a better time to travel
If you're superstitious, then Friday 13th is a day for staying indoors with the curtains closed. If you're not, then today is the day for incredible travel bargains - because a new study has shown that travelling on Friday 13th is up to 41% cheaper than any other day this month.
The travel search engine, Kayak.co.uk looked at flight prices to Britain's ten most popular May destinations - for Friday 13th and the rest of the month. It discovered that setting off on the 13th can save you 41%, and on average will save 14%. It pointed out that these results are particularly striking given that Friday is usually one of the most expensive days of the week for travellers.
The best savings were for people going to Copenhagen - which was 41% cheaper. This was followed by Malaga (with a saving of 17%), and Venice (at 15%). There were actually a number of great bargains for anyone trying to track down a spot of southern European sun - including Rome (which was 14% cheaper), Lisbon (13% cheaper) and Madrid (11%).
Loella Pehrsson, KAYAK Regional Director for the UK, Ireland and the Nordics explained that the bargains were due to the fact that superstitious travellers tend to stay away, saying: "Flight prices are, of course, based on demand, so the data indicates that Brits really are superstitious enough that they would prefer not to fly on Friday 13th."
Can you take advantage?
If you are flexible, enthusiastic, and have your passport handy, then there's nothing stopping you from taking advantage of the bargains right now - and jetting off for a weekend. If, however, this information is coming a bit late in the day for you to radically rethink your weekend plans, you can still take advantage.
The next Friday 13th is in January next year. It gives you plenty of time to sign up to services like Kayak's price alerts, which mean you get an email when your chosen destination, airline or hotel is offering deals for the weekend.
You could also sign up to Skyscanner's alerts - which tell you when the price starts dropping (or rising) for flights to your chosen destination, or Hopper - an app that will even predict when the cheapest time will be to book your ticket.
But what do you think, is travelling on Friday 13th a brilliant way to get a bargain, or is it just asking for trouble? Let us know in the comments.
