Weekend is always more expensive, Kogasa-san.

Reader-added tags include "Let's eat local specialties in that extra day", "The surprising EXILE Effect", and "The System's turn at bat has begun".

Local specialties it is, says the survey:

We're off to Kyushu! What shall we eat?
• Hakata ramen
• Nagasaki champon
• Mustard Lotus Root
• Chicken nanban
• Satsuma Berkshire pork

I've only ever bought a plane ticket once, but I did notice that the difference between a departure and return date being Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday compared to any other time was about 50% lower.

So if you're planning a full weekend trip if you're willing to miss some work by starting a day earlier and returning a day later you could save more than enough money to justify the missed work.

It's more than just the day of the week. Return tickets with an entire weekend between tend to be cheaper... Friday -> Monday will often be cheaper than Monday -> Friday. There are a number of factors in this (more seats towards/away from touristy spots on certain days), but it really comes down to the fact that tourists aren't willing to pay as much for seats as businesses... and business flights don't tend to go over the weekend (leave or arrive on a weekend day, yes, but a business is typically not going to send someone off to an early Monday meeting on Friday morning, they'll send the person off on the weekend because that's not the business' time). So the airlines will charge more, and the local tourism boards aren't going to subsidize tickets that don't have a full weekend in the middle somewhere.

I wish I could wait until Mondays at least to get my return flights from cons, but I can't. Can only afford to miss so much time at work. I'm all for using that extra day to eat, go for it, Kogasa-san!

For the poll, satsuma berkshire pork sounds good. I'd go for all, of course.

In some occasions, longer tours are cheaper in the long run due to low sales.