Still don’t have your holiday flight booked? Here are 4 ways to help you get home
The holidays are rapidly approaching, and if you’re both a procrastinator and someone who is heading out of town, airline flights are on your mind.
With Thanksgiving 50 days away and Christmas 83, it’s officially time to say “better late than never” and book a ticket.
But don’t fret too much. According to some data and key tools, you might still be in luck.
Here’s what you need to know to make sure you don’t have to sell a kidney or two to make it home for the holidays:
1. Timing, Timing, Timing
You’ve probably heard it’s better to get your flights as far away from your departure date as possible. You’ve heard right. However, there are a few exceptions to that rule.
Google’s Flight Price Trend Tracker shows the cheapest flights from 2018 in major cities such as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago and Orlando, but the data should reflect how flight pricing works everywhere.
For Thanksgiving, you should try to get tickets 89 to 92 days before, but thankfully, booking today isn’t too late.
The tracker showed waiting 22 days before Turkey Day still gives you a better deal than waiting a week before to get to grandma’s house.
For the December holidays, booking a flight in October is your last chance for a good deal.
The tracker showed that 67 to 87 days out stayed at a cheaper rate — $330 to $350.
But again, don’t wait until a week before. Do and you’ll be footing a much larger bill at $540.
Key lesson here: Get your tickets today or else.
2. Keep an eye out for fall airline deals
Airlines know you’ll need a way to make it back home for the holidays, so as Halloween approaches, you can bet they’ll be dishing up deal after deal.
A check of airline websites such as Southwest, Allegiant and United shows that fall is the time of year they want your money — and your behind in a seat — most.
United even has a list of U.S. flights you can take during the fall for a much cheaper rate than usual.
Check airline sites frequently or sign up for their email subscriptions.
It might flood your inbox, but it’ll be worth it once you’re ready to fly.
3. Bundle up
Believe it or not, you can sometimes pay less and get more when it comes to flights.
Flight and hotel bundles can help you get two things for the price of one, which means you don’t have to stay in your old childhood bed unless you just want to relive your “glory days.”
Use sites like Kayak, Booking.com and Expedia have both the cheapest flight and places to stay.
4. There’s an app (or website) for that
You might find yourself overwhelmed trying to find the perfect flight on some of the most popular sites.
You can scroll for days and days on end and still feel like you’re not getting the best deal.
Thankfully, Google has a solution.
Not only did Google come out with their tracker to watch trends over the holidays, but Google Flights gives you a way to find the best flight for you.
Google Flights tracks across all airlines and shows you, day by day, the cheapest ticket for that day.
If you want to try a different site or download an app, here are a few we recommend:
Have another trick we should know about? Let us know in the comments.
This story was originally published October 3, 2018 at 10:57 AM.