Flight Tips From A Former Flight Attendant

savings hundreds of dollars (l) woman shares travelling tips (c) booking flights (r)

Via iStockphoto / @flightswaubrey TikTok

A former flight attendant told her audience to use four tips before booking flights. But do any of them actually help secure cheaper tickets?

A flight attendant shared four ways to save money on flights. She said these hacks can cut a plane ticket’s price by hundreds. Whether those tips actually save customers’ money, however, is up for debate.

In a video that received more than 382,000 views, Aubrey (@flightswaubrey), an Airclub partner and former flight attendant, details some methods she uses to save money while traveling. The content creator has four tips, which boils down to booking at certain times, on certain days, with a VPN, and using a flight deal app. Here’s whether those tips land in 2026.

Flight Tips From A Former Flight Attendant

At the beginning of Aubrey’s video, she lays down the law. Her credibility, she says, comes from her experience finding cheap flights for friends.

“So when I was a flight attendant for a couple of years, I learned a couple of, like, little tips and tricks so that my friends and family could get cheap flights alongside me,” she says.

Her first tip? “So No. 1, use incognito mode or a VPN when you’re booking from a browser or, like, a really expensive city, because your demographic and where you’re coming from will cause airlines to up the price based on that,” Aubrey says.

Second, she tells her audience, “You are always gonna wanna book your flight Tuesday, Wednesday, or Saturday. Not take off on those days, but book your flights on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Saturday.”

She also recommends using a flight deals app.

Then came the fourth tip. “You’re gonna wanna get up really, really early or stay up really, really late in order to book your flights. So, like, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Saturday at, like, 3:00am or 4:00am … is usually peak-perfect cheap time,” Aubrey adds.

Should You Use A VPN When Booking Flights?

Aubrey’s flight tips seemed simple and easy. But that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re true.

For one, using incognito mode or a VPN to book tickets doesn’t actually have any credible backing or link to cheaper tickets. Gizmodo says that it’s a myth linked to the use of cookies.

“Folks believe that airlines use cookies to track when you search for flights, and when they figure out you really want a certain flight, the airline raises the price. This is a fundamental misunderstanding of how flights are priced,” the publication adds.

The publication spoke to Scott Keyes, the CEO of Going, who compared the situation to searching for jeans on Google. If cookies lead to increased prices, wouldn’t looking for basic products on the internet also yield marginally higher prices?

A study from economists at Berkeley, Yale, and the University of Chicago came to the same finding. Cookies don’t necessarily impact flights. Pre-existing pricing algorithms do.

What Are The Best Days To Book A Flight?

But what about booking on certain days? Technically, there are “cheaper days to book,” although there doesn’t appear to actually be a consensus on what days those are. The Airline Reporting Corporation (ARC) and Expedia’s 2025 Air Hacks Report, which takes a look at how travelers can save money when they’re booking, says that “Sunday is the cheapest day to book air travel for both domestic and international bookings and across economy and premium tickets.”

The 2025 Air Hacks Report mentions that Tuesday is the quietest day to fly and that Saturday is the best day to travel domestically. However, there’s little mention of those days being “cheaper” to book. Going, meanwhile, does specifically mention Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday as cheaper days to fly—not book. The publication adds that “the day you buy … barely moves the needle.”

Inadvertently, Going’s admission means that the time to book may make little to no difference in the overall price. Going itself says that “this is also a leftover myth from when airlines updated fares manually early each morning. Time of day has no impact anymore. Prices move with market conditions, not your bedtime.”

Which Tip Works?

So, out of all of Aubrey’s recommendations, what truly works?

Well, her recommendation to use a deal app has some merit. There are a number of websites, apps, and software that can reduce flight costs.

Google Flights, for instance, can track routes for customers. Google will send an email to a customer who opts in regarding fare increases for selected routes and locations.

Going can help customers find cheaper fares from their selected home airport. The company has both an algorithm and a team of people working through fares to find compelling rates to send over. Going’s limited plan, as it turns out, is completely free.

Then, there is a long list of alternatives to choose from, such as Skyscanner, Hopper, and even apps from any particular airline. So, it’s a clear winner, at least from Aubrey’s list.