You’re Probably Booking Your Holiday Flights Wrong—Here’s How to Make It Right

Every October, the chat of holiday travel starts, and everyone from friends to coworkers shares their theory on when they think it’s to book. Some have strategies on time of day, others on days of the week, and others even wait til the very last minute to purchase their holiday tickets. Google has real answers. Its Search team studied five years of Google Flights data and published the sweet spots for holiday fares, along with the destinations people are suddenly searching for. And some of the data may surprise you.

First, let’s start with timing, because the window is closing. Thanksgiving flights are cheapest about 34 days out, which for a November 26 departure lands on October 23. Google’s low-price range runs from 21 to 57 days out, or roughly September 30 to November 5, and Google says October is when those fares tend to bottom out. Christmas is cheapest around 56 days before departure, which is October 30 for a December 25 flight and five days earlier than last year. The low-price range runs from 33 to 67 days out, or roughly October 19 to November 22, with the best deals landing between late October and mid-November. If you’re dreaming of a December escape, now is the moment. Spring breakers get a similar nudge. The sweet spot is 50 days out, a full week earlier than last year, which means about January 24 for a March 15 departure, so March and April trips belong on your radar by midwinter.

A few smaller tricks are worth knowing too. Leaving on a Monday and returning Tuesday or Wednesday saves about 14 percent compared with weekend flights, and up to 20 percent domestically compared with flying out and back on a Sunday. Nonstop tickets run about 20 percent higher than connections on average, which is a real trade-off if you can stomach a layover. And the day you book hardly matters. Wednesday edges out Tuesday, but the savings over Sunday come to about 1.4 percent.

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The data also revealed some interesting new trends on where exactly people are headed as well. For Thanksgiving, the biggest jumps in Google Flights searches over last year are Hilo, Buffalo, Columbus, Punta Gorda, and Greenville, South Carolina. Google reads that as a growing interest in tropical retreats and mid-sized regional hubs. I read it as travelers choosing places that feel doable and a little less picked over. Hilo, in particular, is a long way from the resort stereotype of Hawaii, and I love that people are looking at it instead of spending their treasured PTO around a table overindulging with people that may not resonate with them anyway.

The international list for Christmas and New Year’s Eve is even more interesting: Athens, Québec City, Rio de Janeiro, Hanoi, and Guatemala City. Winter lights in one, a Southern Hemisphere summer in another, and a few cities that reward anyone willing to wander on foot and eat well. Google puts the international sweet spot at 89 days out, which is September 27 for a December 25 departure, with a low-price range of 50 to 133 days, or roughly August 14 to November 5. So if one of these is calling you, check dates today rather than next week.

Seeing that the time is now, pull out your calendar, pick your dates, and book that flight. Your future self, the one sipping something warm in a city you’ve never seen, will be grateful.