Q. What day of the week and days during a month would be the least expensive to fly within United States. Is there any way to get last minute cheap fares without having to sleep at an airport or fly stand by?

A. Tuesday and Wednesday are generally the cheapest days to fly, but not necessarily the cheapest days to buy (amazing unadvertised sales can pop up at any minute of the week, which is why I advise consumers to sign up for airfare alerts). There’s no such thing as cheap stand-by airfares any longer. The best way to get last minute deals is to use the “name your own price” bidding for travel feature on Priceline.com or to take advantage of the airlines’ last-minute weekend specials, which have no advance purchase requirement but require that you leave on the coming Saturday and return on the following Monday or Tuesday.