If you smashed 'book now' the second Black Friday deals dropped this year, you may have paid over the odds. Skyscanner's analysis of its own flight data shows that across the now-annual five-day sale window — Black Friday through to Travel Tuesday — Cyber Monday delivered the lowest average price per seat in 2025.
So where did fares fall hardest? Over the full sales period, Calgary in Canada topped the list with prices down 35 per cent compared with the previous 12-month average. Buenos Aires followed at 29 per cent, Barcelona at 27 per cent, with Milan and Honolulu rounding out the top five.
Travel Tuesday, the closing sale of the week, told its own story. Honolulu led with fares down 27 per cent, ahead of Buenos Aires at 21 per cent and Los Angeles at 16 per cent, while Taipei and Vietnam's Da Nang both dropped 14 per cent. For Australian travellers in particular, that's good news — the US and Honolulu are perennial favourites, so the deepest cuts landed on routes people actually want to fly.
Price wasn't the only interesting signal. Search interest went somewhere far less predictable: Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan saw the biggest search surge over the week, up a striking 175 per cent, followed by Rovaniemi in Finland (85 per cent, Santa Claus Village country) and Hamilton in New Zealand (66 per cent). On Travel Tuesday alone, Lima in Peru led the interest spike at 88 per cent.
Does that mean Travel Tuesday is a write-off? Not according to Skyscanner travel expert Jarrod Kris. His point: by the time the sale week wraps up, most people have already sorted their plans, so airlines and hotels use the day to tempt late browsers with genuinely competitive offers. His broader advice for the sale-season scrum is simple — don't rush, stay flexible on dates, track fares rather than eyeballing them, and keep an open mind on the destination instead of pouncing on the first discount that flashes past.
For travellers, the takeaway is practical: treat Black Friday as reconnaissance, not checkout. Prices typically improve on Cyber Monday, and Travel Tuesday can still surprise — especially if Hawaii or the US west coast is on your list. For anyone booking ahead on 2027 trips, waiting those extra 48 to 96 hours looks like the savviest move in the sale week.
