The sights, the sounds, the smells – the holiday season is a magical time of year. Twinkling lights adorn neighborhood streets, the aromas of hot cider and freshly-baked treats fill the air, and a certain undercurrent of excitement and anticipation buzzes all around.
But amidst all the merriment and tradition, one harsh reality looms large – the nightmare of holiday travel. As families nationwide scramble to get to their preferred destinations for quality time together, airports become a congested mess of frantic travelers battling it out for limited flights at sky-high prices.
I’ll never forget the year my husband and I naively decided to book our Christmas flights just a few weeks out. Huge mistake. We ended up paying nearly triple the amount for our tickets compared to cheap fares available months prior. That’s when I vowed to never again get caught in the holiday air travel fiasco.
If you want to avoid the outrageous markups and undue stress that comes with waiting until the last minute, you need to book those holiday flights now. Like, stop reading this and go do it right now! I’m talking 6-8 months in advance if possible. It may seem overly eager, but it could mean massive savings and your sanity fully intact.
The reason getting airplane tickets insanely early is so clutch? Basic economics – the law of supply and demand. Holiday travel is absolutely peaked between mid-December and early January, with everyone having roughly the same idea of when they want to go visit family or take a vacation.
As planes fill up closer to those prime travel dates, airlines start ramping up prices in response to dwindling supplies and intense demand. It can turn into a frenzy of two holidays travelers battling it out over the last few overpriced seats, paying premiums that’ll make your eyes water.
But when you take care of your holiday air travel plans well in advance, you get to avoid the insanity while also scoring the most affordable rates airlines list when they first open the bookings up. It’s not at all uncommon to find holiday flights 50% cheaper, or even more, simply by purchasing 6-8 months ahead of your planned travel dates.
Just look at these actual price comparisons for roundtrip flights from New York to Denver around Christmas this year. Booking now in April, you can snag tickets for $256. Not too shabby, right? But if you wait until November when most holiday travel planners purchase, that soars up to $554 for the same exact flights. And if you seriously drop the ball, making reservations just a couple weeks out could have you paying the gouge of $718 or more.
That’s over $450 in savings just for buying your holiday plane tickets 8 months early! Think of all the gifts you could get your loved ones, or money you could put towards an epic vacation splurge with those savings.
Of course, some may argue there are risks with reserving flights so far in advance. Job circumstances or other conflicts could potentially change, leaving you with non-refundable tickets you have to eat the costs on.
But if you do your homework upfront on the airline’s policies, many allow free changes or cancellations if you make adjustments several months in advance. So vet the fine print, know the cut-off dates, and avoid reserving anything too rigid if uncertain circumstances could shift between booking and takeoff.
If cost is the biggest factor, you can also set up alerts on sites like Scott’s Cheap Flights to be instantly notified when they spot great bargains for your holiday travel routes, then pounce quickly before those rates expire.
At the end of the day though, I’m convinced booking holiday flights as early as humanly possible is worth the tiny bit of upfront planning to reap those big savings and travel experience upgrades.
There’s nothing quite like breezing through the airport without masses of crowds, having first dibs on overhead bin space, and most importantly, keeping enough cash in your pocket to make the most of your holiday adventures instead of blowing it all on the fare to get there.
So take a little advice from someone who’s lived and learned the hard way – do yourself a favor and ditch the procrastination habits. Get that holiday airfare situation under control now while the gettin’ is good!
Check www.Bestairticket.com for cheap and best flights for your best holiday travel.