Now Is The Best Time To Start Looking For Holiday Flights

It may still be only September, but the early bird gets the worm when it comes to travelling around the Holidays. If you are planning to fly this Holiday season, the best time to book your flights is now.

“We recommend that travelers who are planning to fly for Thanksgiving and Christmas start tracking prices now and expect to book their flights for both holidays before Halloween,” Hayley Berg, an economist at travel site Hopper, told TODAY.

As crazy as it sounds, there can be a huge difference in flight fares between now and the end of October.

According to Hopper, close to Thanksgiving and Christmas, fares can go up by $5 and $10 each day. In order to get the best deals and most desirable flights possible, it is best to start booking now.

Due to the recent Boeing 737 epidemic, there may be less flights in the air this Holiday season. Both American Airlines and United are hoping to have them back in the air by the middle of December, but nothing is set in stone.

“Start watching prices now,” Berg said. “Tracking them with a price monitoring software is a great idea. And plan to book before the end of October.”

Some money saving tips? Traveling the Sunday or Monday before Thanksgiving is often 20% cheaper than other dates. And when it comes to Christmas, Dec. 24 and Dec. 25 are the cheapest days to fly.

Purchasing tickets now may save you a lot of money in the long run. Thanksgiving prices are about 4% cheaper than they were last year, and Berg believes that average round-trip domestic airfare will be around $294, the lowest price in three years. Christmas flyers have even more of a discount, with flights about 9% cheaper than last year.

Click here to read Hopper’s full Holiday Travel Guidance Report for 2019.