How to Find Cheap Flights During Christmas and the Holidays—Plus When to Book

24.10.2024 - 20:05 / cntraveler.com

Fortunately for the procrastinators among us, there's still time left to score lingering deals on cheap flights during Christmas and the holidays. But the window to book the most affordable flights for the 2024 holiday season—including Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, and New Year’s—is rapidly closing.

Overall, holiday airfares are trending slightly cheaper this year compared to 2023, according to recent data from travel search site Kayak. The average airline prices for Thanksgiving “have dropped 6%, while the December holidays are seeing a 9% dip this year,” the Kayak holiday travel report states.

While those cheaper trends are good news, holiday flights will only remain affordable for a little bit longer before they likely skyrocket as the festive season nears. At this point in the year, you can safely assume that the fewer days left on the calendar before the holidays, the more expensive airfares will become. Even waiting one day too long can result in a significantly more expensive flight.

Below is your annual breakdown on how to book affordable holiday airfares, including how much you can expect to spend, what days are cheapest to travel on, and the absolute latest time you can find a fair price. For more tips and tricks, see our full guide to booking cheap last-minute flights.

When to buy flights for Thanksgiving 2024: Although travel deal site Hopper advises the best time to buy flights for Turkey Day travels—the middle of October—has come and gone, there may still be hope for those looking to book a domestic trip. Kayak says the best time to book domestic flights for Thanksgiving is at least one month ahead of time. As the big day falls on November 28 this year, you can think of October 28 as your absolute deadline for finding a cheap flight within the US. In other words, lock in those airline tickets, ASAP!

Waiting too long can have real consequences for your wallet. Hopper’s report says that airfares will spike by five to 10% each day “or by as much as $30 per day, in the final two weeks before Thanksgiving as flights sell out and travelers scramble to book last minute trips.” Booking before the end of October can save you from being among the scramblers—and potentially keep hundreds of dollars in your bank account.

Some of the most affordable domestic destinations for Thanksgiving include Minneapolis ($337 average airfare); Denver ($359 average airfare); and Chicago ($379 average airfare), according to Kayak data.

Cheapest days to travel over Thanksgiving 2024: Savvy travelers know that the best way to avoid holiday airport crowds—and expensive airline tickets—is to hit the skies on the actual holiday itself. It might feel a little less festive to travel on Thanksgiving Day, but the