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90+ percent of all airfares that are purchased each day are filed with a clearing house in Washington DC called ATPCO (Airline Tariff Publishing Company). This company was once a government agency but changed to private ownership (owned by 20+ airlines) after airline deregulation in 1978. Hundreds of thousands of airfare price and rule changes flow continuously into ATPCO each day and in turn they distribute them at specified times later that day to a handful of subscribers worldwide that provide reservation systems including the airlines themselves (FareCompare.com is one of these handful of subscribers). Savvy air travel shoppers should know these approximate delivery times to save both time and energy shopping … |
Airfares are distributed in two different groupings each day
- U.S. and Canadian Airfares to/from all airports in these countries
- International Airfares both touching the U.S and Canada and between airports outside the U.S. and Canada
Domestic U.S and Canada Airfare Distribution
Domestic U.S. and Canadian airfares are distributed to subscribers (reservation systems) on the following schedule and are loaded approximately 2-4 hours after distribution into reservation systems (except on FareCompare.com which sends out free airfare email alerts immediately):
- Weekdays - 3 times daily at 10:00am, 12:30pm and 8:00pm Eastern Time
- Weekends - 1 time daily at 5:00pm Eastern Time (loaded after Midnight the next day into reservation systems)
International Airfare Distribution
International airfares are distributed to subscribers (reservation systems) on the following schedule and are loaded approximately 4-8 hours after distribution (except on FareCompare.com which sends out free airfare email alerts immediately):
- Weekdays - 5 times daily at 1:00am, 5:30am, 11:00am, 3:00pm, 8:00pm Eastern Time
- Saturday - 2 times at 5:00am and 5:00pm Eastern Time
- Sunday - 2 times at 5:00pm and 8:30pm Eastern Time
Use Airfare Distribution Times to Your Advantage
Savvy air travel shoppers will use this knowledge to save both time (quit hunting and pecking for good prices randomly) and money (those first to know when prices change are more likely to get the best deal).
Airlines know everything about you and your travel shopping habits — when you like to go, what times you like to go and where you want to visit — it is about time you knew more about the airlines — so you can make the best air travel purchasing decision.
