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Holiday Travel Tips – When to Book Flights

Holiday Travel Tips - When to Book Flights

Travelers during the holiday season just want to get home and gobble up turkey with family or enjoy sipping eggnog by the fire with someone special. It’s one of the busiest times of the year. In fact, in order of busiest times to travel per the U.S. Travel Association, they rank as follows…

1. The day before Thanksgiving
2. Fridays, June, July and August
3. Christmas
4. Independence Day (July 4th) when it falls on a weekend
5. Memorial Day
6. Spring Break
7. New Years Eve
8. Labor Day
9. Easter
10. Mardi Gras

Thanks to the industry using dynamic pricing, prices can fluctuate by the hour. If you want the best airfare prices for getting home for the holidays, you can opt for several booking times.

When it comes to Thanksgiving, most travel experts will tell you to book now. Which, if you are traveling with a family and you aren’t flexible on your travel dates, indeed – book now in the final weeks of September. However, if you are bit more of a gambler with a flexibility, you might want to wait until 3 weeks before Thanksgiving. Statistically, November 10th is usually offers some of the best deals.

Travel in weather that can questionable (especially when flying in and out of the snowy east coast), so this is the time you should opt for travel protection when a deal is offered. You can view a list of airlines’ cancellation and delay policies and your rights to compensation at Airline Passenger Rights for Bumped, Canceled or Delayed Flights. Research their protection offers and compare it to their current policies. You might end up paying extra for something that is already covered!

When making your respective Christmas and Hanukkah plans, October 6th – 12th will be your prime fare pricing. According to Skyscanner, prices hit their highest four weeks before Christmas. The worst time to buy winter holiday travel tickets is December 15th – 21st. So, if you get a last minute urge to jump on a plane, wait until December 22nd to hop on a plane.