It’s almost that time of year again. Yep, you know, the one where you expect to be trampled on, sworn at and pepper sprayed all in the name of a door-busting discount.
Just kidding! We’re in the business of finding flights, so our version of Black Friday is sitting in bed, cramming our faces with leftovers and browsing airline websites for the best Black Friday airline deals.
Since the pandemic, sales have been a bit of a hit-and-miss. Luckily, though, as more countries continue to reopen for U.S. citizens, it looks like 2022 might just be the year that things bounce back. The question is, though, are these sales actually worth it?
In this article, we’ve rounded up the best Black Friday flights from the most popular airlines we’ve seen in the past, to shed some light on this year’s sales and what you can expect.
Round trip flights to Malta at $483, Isle of Man at $533 including a checked bag, and five-star flights to Bali at $638 only scratched the surface of deals we found.
We’re only talking about the stuff that’s actually deal-worthy. Many airlines have “sales” but, in reality, offer mediocre fares. We aren’t afraid to call a spade a spade, so you won’t see any of that stuff below.
Quick Reference
It’s important to note, even though we are super awesome at finding our members great deals, we aren’t fortune-tellers. The predictions we’ve made about this year's Black Friday and Cyber Monday flight deals are based on trends we’ve seen in the past, with a pinch of our flight expertise thrown in.
Since fuel prices have skyrocketed in recent months, it’s highly likely that prices might be a smidge higher than last year across the board. We’re keeping our fingers and toes crossed that 2022 will be the year of (good) surprises!
But if you'd rather just sit back and have the best Black Friday deals roll into your inbox, don't forget to sign up to JFC, it's easy peasy!
Southwest Airlines
Cheap and cheerful flights including bags and a generous change policy make Southwest our favorite no frills airline, hands down.
And they aren’t afraid to put on a sale, either! Not only do they whack down their prices for Black Friday, they often have seasonal sales across the USA pop up throughout the year.
When it comes to Black Friday, their M.O. is pretty clear, with domestic trips in the $70s.
Through the years
2019: Domestic trips all over the continental U.S. at $78 RT.
2020: No BF sale, but they did have Christmas/New Year’s sale for non-stop domestic flights all at $78 round trip and Hawaii at $198 round trip.
2021: Cyber Monday sale for domestic trips across the continental U.S. at $78 RT.
What we expect in 2022
It’s probably safe to say we’ll be seeing more of the same from Southwest this year. But hey, $78 for flights across the country ain’t too bad! The last sale we saw from their competitor, budget-airline Spirit, went below 70’s so there’s a chance that prices might match that.
They’ve also just had two mammoth sales for summer and fall, so we can probably expect a similarly huge sale for summer 2023, with hundreds of routes included.
How did we do?
Southwest was a little late to the game, only coming through with a domestic sale for Cyber Monday. Unfortunately, we didn’t see their routes go lower than $90 RT, so it was a little lacklustre in comparison to what we were expecting!
United Airlines
You either love them or hate them, but either way, United will get you from A-B and beyond, with a few more frills than a budget airline.
We really love that they fly to some harder-to-reach places like India, Tahiti, and Japan and in the past, they’ve smacked on some heavy discounts for these routes.
But, in the last couple of years, they’ve focused more on short-haul destinations across the USA.
Through the years
2019: Tokyo and Osaka with bags included in low-$500s from Boston and Washington, D.C.
2020: No BF sale, but they did have an unannounced summer sale across the country at $149 round trip, departing from East/West coast.
2021: Non-stop flights to Hawaii and Cancun at $198 round trip. They also had a summer sale to Europe all under $480 round trip to places like Poland, Italy, Czechia and Greece.
What to expect in 2022
We won’t hold it against United for not having a Black Friday sale in 2020, considering it was the worst year for travel and all!
This year, we’re expecting more domestic and Latin America drops, but it’s definitely possible that they’ll revive their long-haul routes to Asia since the continent is slowly opening for tourism again.
Plus, other airlines that are part of Star Alliance have been dropping their long haul prices too. So even if we might not see big sales with United directly, there’s a chance you’ll still see decent discount from their partner airlines.
How did we do?
Well, this was a big disappointment. United didn’t come through with any kind of sale, domestic or otherwise. We were waiting and watching, and…nothing. The only routes we saw that were worthy of a deal were last-minute fares to Brazil in the $480s from Florida and some transcontinental routes to/from New York, but none of these were part of an announced sale.
That being said, we weren’t off the mark by too much, because Air Canada’s routes in $180s were a nice offering from United’s Star Alliance partner.
Turkish Airlines
If you’re hoping to get to some of the world’s exotic destinations, Turkish Airlines is your best bet, since they fly to more countries than any other airline out there.
We hadn’t seen much sale action from them until last year, when, out of the blue, they jumped on the bandwagon with both a Black Friday and a New Year’s sale!
Through the years
2019: No BF sale.
2020: No BF sale.
2021: Sale across Europe, Africa, Middle East in $400s-$670s, with checked bags. Including Malta at $483 and Egypt at $579.
What to expect in 2022
We’re pretty hopeful that Turkish Airlines will run another Black Friday deal this year, since they showered us with cheap worldwide flights last year.
Most likely, it’ll be another monster sale, with most of their international routes like Kenya, UAE, Turkey, and Italy.
Keep an eye out for another New Year’s sale, too. Last year, the discounts weren’t as big as their Black Friday sale, but they still had pretty reasonable non-stop fares to Asia.
Our favorites being Georgia (the country) at $698 from Los Angeles and Nepal at $728 from New York. Just keep in mind that Turkish Airlines no longer offer free bags on most basic economy fares, so it’s likely they won’t be included this year.
How did we do?
Sooooo, Turkish Airlines, we need to talk. What happened?
Looks like they took a leaf out of their 2019-20 playbook and skipped the Black Friday sale for the US completely. Let’s hope they’ve saved it all up for their winter sales.
Avianca
Since Covid, Avianca’s Black Friday deals weren’t much to write home about, but they still offered decent discounts to Colombia, Ecuador, and El Salvador.
Their New Year’s sale last year actually had more coverage, with both deals to South America, and Guatemala, Honduras, and Costa Rica, too. In some cases, the fares were slightly cheaper than what we saw on Black Friday.
Through the years
2019: 40% off all flights to Central and South America.
2020: No BF sale.
2021: Central & South America in $100s-$410s round trip, including Bogotá from Washington, D.C. at $184 and non-stop to San Salvador at $132 from New York.
What to expect in 2022
Pardon the pun, but Avianca’s future was up in the air for a bit, when they filed for bankruptcy in 2020 thanks to Covid. Luckily, they hustled hard and came back on top with fresh investments and reduced debt.
We’re expecting a similar sale like last year, since Avianca covered the main routes that depart from the USA. But, If you’re looking to stretch your wings beyond the typical, you could technically fly to Colombia first, and grab another flight out of Bogotá to Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Spain, or even the UK.
How did we do?
We nailed this one! Avianca repeated their 2021 sale, with their best fares on routes to El Salvador, Costa Rica, Chile, Guatemala and Colombia. We didn’t see prices in the $100s, though (lowest price was $242 RT for the non-stop flight from Houston to San Salvador) so there is definitely room for improvement.
Spirit Airlines
Given the particularly precarious situation that many airlines found themselves in over the pandemic, we’re giving props to Spirit for pushing through with a Black Friday sale in 2020.
Unsurprisingly, though, we haven’t seen those kinds of jaw-dropping fares (75% off!) since the before times. But last year, we still saw loads of routes, including cross-country trips like Philadelphia to Las Vegas, at $41 round trip.
Spirit isn’t one to usually pop up out of nowhere with a flash sale, so if you’re looking for dirt-cheap domestic trips, they might be your best bet.
Through the years
2019: 75% off round-trip flights.
2020: One-way domestic flights at $20.21 (get it?)
2021: Domestic flights at $41 RT.
What to expect in 2022
Given their steady track record, we’re definitely expecting a domestic sale between most major cities, covered at around $20 each way. Just remember Spirit is the king of sneaky add-ons so be prepared to fork out extra for bags or fly light.
It’d be nice to see their Caribbean routes pop up for cheap as well, but we won’t hold our breath.
How did we do?
It seems like the super-low-budget airlines decided to get a little *creative* this year, and focussed on loyalty points, rather than actual discounts. It’s great if you’ve been trying to bank rewards for future Spirit trips, but not that useful for the rest of us.
Their 2022 deal was double membership points when buying flights and holiday packages, which definitely wasn’t on our bingo card - we would have preferred the $20 flights!
Alaska Airlines
An Alaska Black Friday sale is almost a certainty - they’re no strangers to dolling out discounted fares across their domestic and regional routes.
In 2020, we saw them go a little further, with rarer destinations like Liberia in Costa Rica from LA at $322 round trip. And, of course, Hawaii for under $200 is always a winner.
Through the years
2019: Domestic flights at $89 RT, with main cabin tickets at $109 RT.
2020: Domestic and selected Central America (including Belize, Costa Rica and Mexico).
2021: Hawaii at $158 RT, and Mexico in $250s.
What to expect in 2022
It’s highly likely you’ll be able to snag a nice fare from the West Coast to the smaller airports that don’t often see a whole lot of sale action, like Redmond, OR and Bozeman, MT, under $150 round trip.
There’s nothing stopping them from including both Central America and Hawaii in this year’s sale, either - let’s hope we see those prime high-season dates again!
How did we do?
Alaska didn’t set their sights too far in 2022, with the best of their Black Friday fares from San Francisco to New York and Boston in $180s-$190s RT. So, no Hawaii, and no Central America.
Sure, that’s an OK price for a cross-country trip, but we didn’t get any deal action for the regional airports we’re used to seeing.
SAS Airlines
Unsurprisingly, Scandinavian Airlines has focused on, well, Scandinavian destinations in their past sales, usually in the mid-to-high $300s from the East Coast.
It seems that SAS actually comes alive outside the Black Friday period - they choose to drop the majority of their routes outside typical sale times. For example, we saw a huge deal for spring trips to Scandinavia, France, Germany, Poland, and Italy in October 2022 with prices just a little more than what we’d expect from their Black Friday sale.
Through the years
2019: Scandinavia, Finland, and other European countries at $349 RT.
2020: No Black Friday sale, but they did run a small New Year’s sale from Chicago and New York to Scandinavia in the high $300s.
2021: Scandinavia in $360s RT from Chicago.
What to expect in 2022
We’re hoping to see a part two of the October 2022 sale (with peak-summer dates, if we’re very, very lucky), but it’s more likely that instead we’ll see a handful of drops to some of Norway and Sweden’s airports, including smaller cities like Bergen and Stavanger. You can expect prices to be in the mid-$300s, in any case!
How did we do?
Another prediction that was spot on!
SAS’ 2022 sale focussed on Swedish and Norwegian destinations, plus a smattering of UK and Baltic cities. Prices started at $358 RT, so it seems the good folk at SAS read our article before locking in their fares.
CC image of Iceland Air Group, courtesy of [email protected] on flickr
Icelandair
It’s been a bit of a mixed bag from Icelandair over the years. First, they didn’t have a sale in 2019. Then, in the middle of the pandemic, they dropped a monster with dates across spring and early-summer from tons of departures.
Finally, last year we saw a more subdued offering. We had some very nice prices, though, like Orlando to Iceland non-stop at $357 round trip, and Seattle to Ireland at $359 round trip.
Through the years
2019: No Black Friday sale.
2020: Huge sale across Europe, including the UK, Ireland, Switzerland, and Scandinavia under $510 round trip.
2021: Iceland, Scandinavia, Netherlands, and France in under $390 round trip from Orlando and Seattle.
What to expect in 2022
Now things are a little more settled, we hope to see Icelandair bring back the looong list of destinations to rival what they pulled out of the bag in 2020.
The airline has really great connections across Europe (being based in Iceland, which is essentially half-way between both continents, helps!), so we may see more deals to places like Amsterdam, Paris, Berlin and Zurich, alongside cheap, non-stop flights to Reykjavík.
How did we do?
We’ve got to pat ourselves on the back for this one - Icelandair’s sale was par for the course, following in the footsteps of 2021. We did see more departures included, including several East Coast cities. The cheapest routes were DC to Paris and NY to Helsinki at $367 RT.
Aer Lingus
We’ve gotta give it to Aer Lingus for sticking with their Black Friday deals, especially when some airlines threw in the towel once Covid sunk its teeth into the travel world.
Granted, they haven’t all been jaw-dropping discounts, but last year’s 2021 sale was noticeably cheaper than previous offerings, with passengers from the West Coast getting an average of $200 off economy fares and $300 off business class to Ireland. The rest of the U.S. saw the same discounts as in 2019.
They also held a fall sale this year with tons of routes all over Europe that were on par with their previous Black Friday deals. We especially liked New York to Edinburgh at $497 round trip, since it covered Hogmanay dates.
They cover the typical routes across Europe, but if there’s one thing that sets them apart is the handy security preclearance in Dublin.
Through the years
2019: $100 off economy class flights or $200 off business class flights on transatlantic flights from the USA/Canada to Europe.
2020: All of Europe under $590 round trip with checked bag. Including the Isle of Man at $533 and Switzerland at $463.
2021: Up to $300 off round trip flights across Europe for West Coast and up to $200 off flights from the rest of the US.
What to expect in 2022
One thing is for certain: they’ll definitely be having another Black Friday Sale. As for the routes, we’re hoping that since most countries in Europe have re-opened, we’ll see a bigger sale that includes Austria, Croatia, and France.
Keep in mind though, in 2020 Aer Lingus stopped including checked luggage in their fares, so we’re not sure if they’ll be generous enough to include bags in this year’s sale.
If we’re really lucky, they’ll even discount their flights all the way to Australia, as long as you don’t mind spending a few days in Dublin and connecting in Abu Dhabi.
How did we do?
Wow, we were optimistic to think there may be discounts to the Middle East and Oceania. Unfortunately, Aer Lingus stayed closer to home, by to taking $100 off European destinations (and $200 off business class). The main savings were found in cheap, non-stop fares to Dublin from the East/West Coasts, and Florida, in $350s-$450s RT.
We did predict that France would be included in Aer Lingus’ sale - Miami saw Paris fares at $394 RT. We also saw smaller airports in Ireland and the UK included, like Donegal and Newquay, which was a nice surprise.
Copa Airlines
Copa Airlines has been dipping its toe into the Black Friday pond recently, first with a focus on the Caribbean and Central America in 2021 (honestly, we don’t see Nicaragua pop up all that often, so props!), followed up a year later with our least favorite type of sale - air miles.
In general, the airline isn’t fond of announced sales - we haven’t seen a summer or New Year’s sale from them in recent years, either.
Through the years
2019: No Black Friday sale.
2020: Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Honduras under $300 round trip.
2021: 40% discount on ConnectMiles when you buy 3,000 or more.
What to expect in 2022
Honestly, we wouldn’t count on Copa having the Central and South America bonanza we’d so dearly like from them. It could be another focused sale with a couple of destinations, like in 2019, or just nothing to write home about at all. Sometimes Copa surprises us by dropping prices on their upgraded Economy fare or including bags for free on some routes, here’s hoping for more of that this year.
If (at the very least) we see Panama with a nice sale price tag of $200 or under, we’ll take it!
How did we do?
Well, we were afraid of this - instead of a whole list of destinations with prices under $300, we got a sale that really wasn’t worth covering, at all. Not even to Panama, which is the airline’s hub.
It seems they focussed the best of their prices on regional flights within South America, which is great for them, but not so much for us.
Their best price from the US was Miami to Panama at $286 RT, which is definitely more expensive than what we were hoping for. And, to top it off, that was the only price under $300, with New York to Panama even climbing into the $400s. Considering we’ve recently seen this route in the mid-high $200s recently, that hurts.
Oh well, there’s always next year…
TAP Air Portugal
Well, well, well, TAP certainly loves a blanket discount. Unsurprisingly, they have become a little more conservative as the pandemic has gone on, but considering TAP’s prices are on the cheaper side of things anyway, it’s still allowed you to pick up a pretty good deal to the far-flung corners of Europe.
But, it’s that 2020 Black Friday sale that got us really excited - there were some suuuuper rare destinations on the list. We’re talking smaller cities like Agadir on the coast of Morocco, and places as far away as Cape Town, for the same price as a nice non-stop fare to Italy or the UK. Wow!
Through the years
2019: No BF Sale, but they did run a sale in February of the same year, offering 50% off all routes.
2020: East coast to Ibiza, South Africa, Croatia, and Morocco under $480 round trip.
2021: 20% discount on all routes.
What to expect in 2022
They’ve definitely proved capable of surprising us in the past, so we’re holding out hope that TAP will go one better on that 2020s rare destination line-up. We’d love to see more places that are harder-to-reach in Europe, like the Azores and Canaries, alongside hubs in North and South Africa.
Of course, they may decide to go back to a more conservative % drop instead - while that means we might still see these rarer routes come into deal range, it’ll be more likely that the real savings will be focused on the usual suspects, like mainland Spain and Portugal, instead.
How did we do?
Our prediction that the real savings would be focussed on Spain was correct, but that was it. No Azores, Canaries or discounts on non-stop routes to Lisbon. As disappointing as that is, it looks like what TAP gave up in their list of deal destinations, they made up for in their prices.
We didn’t see Europe in the $250s RT from any other airline, including the likes of budget players Norse Atlantic Airways or PLAY. So, bravo, TAP!
LATAM
With LATAM being crowned by Skytrax as the best airline in South America, Latam are always one to get us to South America on the cheap. They’ve managed to rally up some decent deals over the years, especially since Brazil and Chile are usually pretty expensive to reach. Last year’s Black Friday discount of 50% was the clear winner here.
Through the years
2019: Peru, Brazil and Ecuador in $440s-$670s round trip.
2020: Brazil under $480 round trip from New York and Boston.
2021: 50% off flights to Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Peru.
What to expect in 2022
We’re feeling pretty optimistic that the deals for 2022 will keep on coming, especially since the continent has reopened for tourism.
Miami will probably see the highest number of discounted routes on Black Friday, since Latam flies from there more than any other city in the USA... And, if we had to guess, it’ll probably be another blanket sale of a certain percentage off, rather than specific routes. With luck, it’ll be 50%... or more.
How did we do?
So, at first glance, LATAM’s Black Friday sale looked pretty good. First, we saw ‘40% off’ in giant text at the top of their sale page. So far, so good.
But, when we looked into it a bit further, we couldn’t believe how far they had marked up their prices! Even with the allusive 40% discount, the best price we saw for cities like Bogota, Guayaquil and Lima were in the $500s-$700s! For countries like Colombia and Ecuador, we consider a deal to be in the $200s-$300s (depending on where in the US you’re flying from), so we didn’t bother covering this ‘sale’.
Upsetting doesn’t even begin to cover it.
Cathay Pacific
Wow, Cathay Pacific’s 2019 Black Friday sale was absolutely insane! The number of hard-to-reach and rare destinations across all corners of South East Asia makes our mind boggle in a post-pandemic world.
Unfortunately, we’ve not seen the same kind of love since. And that is a shame, since Cathay is a 5-star rated airline, known for getting you over to Asia (and beyond) in style.
Through the years
2019: South East Asia under $620 round trip, including Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand and Taiwan.
2020: No BF sale.
2021: 50% off a second ticket when two people fly together, 25% off on three or more tickets, and a contribution to offset your carbon emissions.
What to expect in 2022
Honestly, it could go either way this year. The last time we saw a sale with similar prices to 2019’s Black Friday sale was actually in the middle of the pandemic - likely because the airline wanted to boost their revenue while travel was ground to a halt.
Now air travel to Asia is (mostly) back up and running, demand is very high, meaning the airline may have a reason to hold off on dropping their prices to the crazy lows we once saw. While we may not see pre-pandemic prices, they already seem to be warming up for Black Friday, last week we covered Bali at $727 RT – not bad for a random drop.
On the other hand, it may go the other way, with another monster sale across Asia in the $600s (or lower, please!) That’s what we’re praying for, as it’s been waaaay too long since we’ve seen a deal to some countries in Cathay’s network, like Vietnam, Hong Kong, The Philippines, and Indonesia. Come on, Cathay - you know you want to!
How did we do?
Yay! Cathay really came through on this one. Their sale reminded us of pre-pandemic prices, with a nice long list of Southeast Asian destinations from LA and San Francisco.
So our prediction came true, with places like Hanoi, Hong Kong, Manila and Jakarta finally popping up for the first time in forever, alongside other rare cities like Taipei and Osaka, all under $690 RT. Niiiiice :-)
New additions to the 2022 Black Friday sales
In 2022, a few airlines decided this year was their moment to shine, and gave us Black Friday sales worth covering for the first time! Here's the breakdown:
- American Airlines: Domestic and Caribbean destinations in $90s-$330s RT, including New York to San Juan at $138 RT non-stop
- Delta Air Lines: Domestic and Caribbean routes in $90s-$370s RT, including LA to Austin and Boston to Buffalo at $90 RT
- WestJet: Canada in $180s-$300s RT non-stop from the West Coast, New York, Atlanta, Florida and Texas
- PLAY: Boston, New York and DC to Hamburg, Germany at $378 RT
- Norse Atlantic Airlines: New York, LA and Fort Lauderdale to Berlin and Oslo non-stop in $270s-$380s RT
- Singapore Airlines: New York, West Coast and Houston to a bunch of South-East Asian destinations, including Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Manila and the Maldives and more in fancy premium economy in $980s-$1690s RT
- Air Tahiti Nui: Seattle to Tahiti at $644 RT non-stop, including checked bag
Keep up the good work! We hope to see you again next year :-)
Other Airlines
Wait… what about KLM, Air France, Lufthansa, Qatar and countless other airlines out there?
Well, it doesn’t mean they don’t do Black Friday sales, just that we haven’t seen them produce anything that’s truly deal-worthy for the U.S. market, in our expert opinion. You might find them on our other article that explains airline sales.
We only share sales that are truly deals. That means good value and historically low prices when compared against all of their competitors.
So if there’s an airline you like to fly with, it’s always going to be worth checking for a sale on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Just because we haven’t listed it here, it doesn’t mean they don’t have some discounts.
We would always recommend checking the price of a flight you’re interested in a week or two before sale time, so you know exactly how much they’ve actually discounted it on the day. Airlines like to get creative with how they advertise their prices sometimes.
