While 2024 is coming to a close, we’re just ramping up for one of the busiest travel times of the year with the upcoming Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. Whether you’ll be flying for the holidays or want to get in one last vacation before the year ends, being savvy about when you book your flights can help you score major savings.
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Google Flights recently analyzed its travel data to find out when you can book the cheapest flights for the holidays and beyond. Here’s what the data revealed.
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The Best Time To Book Domestic and International Flights
According to the Google Flights data, for domestic travel, prices are typically lowest 38 days before departure. For low prices, you should generally aim to book 21 to 52 days before takeoff.
For international travel, it’s best to book at least 50 days before your flight, with the average lowest prices found at 101 days before takeoff. For trips to Europe in particular, the 50-plus day rule holds true, with the cheapest flight prices available 94 days before departure.
Flights to Mexico or the Caribbean are the exception to the typical rules of thumb for international flights. According to the data, prices are lowest 44 days before departure, and the low price range is 26 to 68 days out.
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The Best Time To Book for the Holidays and Other Busy Travel Times
Holiday travel and travel for spring break and summer vacation each come with their own best booking windows, since these are typically super busy travel times.
For domestic travel around Thanksgiving, it’s best to book 45 days before departure for the lowest prices; the low price range is 26 to 59 days out. That means you should book Thanksgiving travel in early October.
For Christmas, domestic flight prices are typically lowest 58 days before departure, with the low price range falling 36 to 72 days before takeoff. Booking flights in the latter half of October will help you score the best prices for Christmas flights.
If you’re traveling domestically for spring break in March or April, you’ll get the lowest prices 44 days before departure; the low price range is 33 to 59 days before takeoff.
If you’re traveling domestically in July or August during the busy summer vacation months, it might actually serve you to wait until the last minute. Prices have been lowest 21 days before departure, and the low price range is 13 to 43 before the trip starts.
Is There a Best Day To Book Flights?
The rule of thumb has always been to book flights on Tuesdays for the cheapest flights, but the data doesn’t really support this. According to the Google Flights data, there is typically only a 1.3% difference in price when booking on a Tuesday versus booking on a Sunday, which is historically the most expensive day to book flights.
Finding cheap flights is less about the day of the week you book and more about the day of the week you fly. Flying on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday is 13% cheaper than flying on Friday, Saturday or Sunday. This discount is even more pronounced when looking at domestic flights only — you can save 20% by flying on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday versus a weekend.
Another way to save a significant amount of money is to opt for indirect flights — you can save 25% if you’re willing to deal with a layover, the data found.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Google Flights Data Reveals the Cheapest Time To Book All of Your Flights in 2024