The Best Time to Buy Thanksgiving Flights is Right Now
If you haven’t booked your Thanksgiving flight yet, get going! My God, what are you waiting for?
Maybe this will give you the kick in the pants you so obviously need. Beginning in October, you can add $5 a day to your ticket price for every day you don’t book, according to airfare expert Rick Seaney, co-founder of travel search site farecompare.com. Ouch.
Most of us shop within 30 days of departure, says Seaney, and prices generally rice at the 30-day mark. So we need to break that bad habit if we want to save money, especially during the busiest travel week of the year.
So when should you book? For domestic travel, you should book a month to three months before departure and for international travel, a month-and-a-half to five months prior, says Seaney.
As we all know, Thanksgiving is the busiest travel holiday of the year. Last year, about 43 million Americans traveled during Thanksgiving, according to aaa.com. Sure we’re rewarded with some down time with the family. But Thanksgiving brings stress too. As if the packing and traveling and dealing with the in-laws isn’t enough, 44 percent of us say the cost of Thanksgiving travel is a major stress, according to travel search engine Skyscanner.com.
And since 24 percent of us will travel by plane to hug family this year, we thought we’d help you snag the best deal. You’re welcome.
Cheapest days to fly during Thanksgiving week
Ask the in-laws to schedule dinner later and fly on Thanksgiving Day. With the money you save, you can pick up a gourmet dessert and a bottle of bubbly en route from the airport.
Experts agree that flying directly on the holiday saves you money. Last year, travelers who flew on Thanksgiving snagged fares as low as 30 percent below average, according to travel search site kayak.com. We hopped on kayak to investigate and discovered a Wednesday to Sunday flight from Boston to Chicago Thanksgiving week booked this week would cost $560. By leaving on Thursday instead, the price dropped to $493. That’s a savings of $67. Not quite 30 percent, but a savings.
We bet you’ve been told mid-week travel is the most affordable. Well, all bets are off Thanksgiving week, when mid-week travel is not only notoriously expensive, but ranked among the highest prices of the year. So, if your work schedule allows it, fly Saturday to Saturday instead, recommends Seaney. We went to farecompare to see for ourselves. A Boston to Los Angeles flight Thanksgiving week, departing Wednesday and returning Sunday, costs $751 this week. If you fly Saturday to Saturday, the rate drops to $562. Can you extend your stay until the Tuesday after Thanksgiving? Even better. That move will save you about 20 percent, says Kayak.com. We found an even bigger savings than that when we changed our Saturday departure to the following Tuesday. The fare dropped to $345. Even if we flew out on the Wednesday before the big day, we still found a flight for $443 by returning the Tuesday after the holiday.
By the way, the cheaper flights we found had connections. Which brings us to our next point.
To connect or not to connect?
For the love of your wallet, connect! Sure, it will take longer, but you will usually (not always) save money. For example, a non-stop October flight from New York to San Francisco costs $417 while the same flight with a connection costs $322, blogged farecompare.com. That’s a savings of $95. We searched farecompare.com for a flight from Boston to Los Angeles leaving the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and returning the Sunday after. The non-stop flight was $167 more than the flight with one stop ($751 versus $918).
Wait, what were we thinking? Let’s change that departure date to Thanksgiving Day instead. All right, now we can get from Boston to L.A. for $604 — with a stop. In some cases, you can even save up to 50 percent by booking a flight with a connection, says Seaney. Repeat after us: Become one with the layover. Om.
Why are you still here?
So, yeah. Why are you still here?
Didn’t you get our drift? Book your Thanksgiving airfare now! As in, right now. Head to farecompare.com, kayak.com, cheaptickets.com, or wherever you like to shop airline prices and start scrolling. Go!
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