How to Save on Holiday Airfares
The time to find flights for the upcoming holiday season is “before your sum mer tan fades,” said Stacy Rapacon in Kiplinger.com. The sooner you can book, the better. Holiday airfares increase by an estimated $3 each day you wait to buy beginning in September, and $5 a day beginning in October. Many of the best deals have probably already been snatched up, but it’s still possible to find savings. Travel search site Skyscanner says that for Christmas travelers last year, tickets bought the week of Sept. 28 saved fliers about 9 percent compared with last-minute purchases. And for the cheapest fare, “your best bet is to fly on the holiday itself.”
“A handful of new and updated websites and apps are trying to perfect the art of what’s known as farecasting,” said Stephanie Rosenbloom in The New York Times. Tools like Flyr, Skypicker, and Hopper help fliers predict the best date to buy a ticket. Google Flights shows a monthly calendar with fares for each day, and filters results by fare class and number of stops, “so you’ll instantly know if you should tweak your arrival or departure to score a better deal.” Hopper recommends whether or not to wait for a lower price. “For those who like to get creative,” Skypicker combines flights from different airlines to find bargains. Just be sure to watch the number of stops and time between connections.
“No fare is a deal if you have to sprint through an airport only to miss the next leg of your trip.”
You can find great deals right now “if you’ve saved some vacation days—and some cash—for a fall trip,” said Harriet Baskas in NBCNews.com. Prices drop every year during the “shoulder season” between summer vacation and the winter holidays, but this year’s bargains are especially good. Prices from Labor Day through early December are about 9 percent cheaper than they were this time in 2014, according to Hopper.
Fall airfares are expected to average about $237, 7.2 percent cheaper than last year and 11.2 percent cheaper than in 2013, with the best prices in early November. “The airline industry has changed a lot in the last few years,” but a few rules of thumb remain true, said Ellen Creager in the Detroit Free Press. It’s still cheapest to buy domestic airfares on Tuesday afternoon, according to data from the website FareCompare. Airlines introduce fare sales late Monday or early Tuesday, with competitors matching fares later in the day. “Find a fare around 3:30 Tuesday, and you’re in the golden hour.” The cheapest days to fly are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday on both domestic and international flights. “Are these timing tips infallible?” No, but they just might give you an edge.
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