Saturday-night stay is a rule used by airlines to separate business and leisure travelers. For travelers to qualify for a low round-trip airfare, some

legacy carrier A legacy carrier, in the United States, is an airline that had established interstate routes before the beginning of the route liberalization permitted by the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 and so was directly affected by that Act. Legacy carr ...

s require them to spend Saturday night at their destination. The rule is based on the airlines' assumption that

business travel Business travel is travel undertaken for work or business purposes, as opposed to other types of travel, such as for leisure purposes or regularly commuting between one's home and workplace. According to a survey, 88% small business owners e ...

ers are more likely than leisure travelers to spend Saturday night at home. For example, a business traveler may depart on a Sunday or Monday and then return home that Friday or Saturday. Business travelers'

demand In economics, demand is the quantity of a good that consumers are willing and able to purchase at various prices during a given time. The relationship between price and quantity demand is also called the demand curve. Demand for a specific item ...

for travel is less

elastic Elastic is a word often used to describe or identify certain types of elastomer, elastic used in garments or stretchable fabrics. Elastic may also refer to: Alternative name * Rubber band, ring-shaped band of rubber used to hold objects togeth ...

and airlines attempt to increase their profits by price-discriminating business travelers and leisure travelers. Business travelers often do not pay for their tickets personally and may also be more loyal to a particular airline, and therefore are more likely to accept a higher price. In early 2000s, the Saturday-night stay rule vanished due to competition from

low-cost carrier A low-cost carrier or low-cost airline (occasionally referred to as '' no-frills'', ''budget'' or '' discount carrier'' or ''airline'', and abbreviated as ''LCC'') is an airline that is operated with an especially high emphasis on minimizing op ...

s, which commonly do not impose the rule and often sell one-way fares only. However, the practice of pricing according to Saturday-night stay reappeared in 2008.Sharkey, Joe
The Saturday Night Stay Is Making a Comeback
April 8, 2008.

References

Airline tickets