Looking for cheap holiday flights?
It may sound like an oxymoron, but findingreasonably priced airfarefor the holidays is doable.
Here are our best tips and tricks for finding cheap holiday flights:
1.
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Dont Wait
Seriously, buy your tickets as early as possible.
According to data from Google Flights, the sweet spot for domestic flights is 21-52 days before departure.
Thats 28 days earlier than it was in 2023.For the holidays, its better to book even earlier.
Travelers heading home for Thanksgiving should book their trips in early October.
And if youre traveling for Christmas, the back end of October is the ideal booking window.
Shop Around for the Best Deal
For researching your flight options, dont rely solely on the airlines websites.
Online flight trackers can send you alerts when prices drop for your preferred travel date, time and destination.
Flying on the holiday doesnt have to mean missing all the festivities.
One option would be to leave super early in the morning, arriving just in time for turkey.
Another would be to coordinate with your family to celebrate the day after.
Just give yourself enough time between flights to account for delays!
Check Fares at Nearby Airports
Just because an airport is the biggest doesnt mean its the cheapest.
Check alternate departure and arrival airports to try and score a deal.
you’re able to even fly into one airport and out of another.
Know When to Fly
If you want tosave money, dont fly on a Sunday.
This rule applies all year long but especially around the holidays.
Wednesday is the cheapest day to fly.
Use a Rewards Travel Card
Theres no way around it: Holiday flights are expensive.
But you could recoup a little bit of the expense by paying for travel with arewards credit card.
Some travel credit cards might earn you cash back while others can rack up points for future travel.
Susan Shain contributed to this post.