This is the time to buy airline tickets for the holidays

Buy your airline tickets for the holiday season now, according to AAA Director of Travel Products, Lisa Anciaux.

“You know, we really should be doing that right now,” Anciaux said. “I think as soon as autumn comes around, and you know, the kids are back in school and things kind of settled down from summer vacations. We all start thinking about the holidays and what we should be doing. And we really should be looking at booking our hotels, our airfare now for the holidays, you should be looking about two months in advance.”

Travelers can get some of the best fares if  they are purchased about 50 days in advance, Jake Bouvrie, KAYAK‘s Chief Economist, told USA TODAY recently. That means you should try to book all your holiday travel plans, including whatever you may be doing for Christmas, before the end of October.

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Hopper, a travel booking website, released its 2023 Holiday Travel Outlook last month and reported the holiday season is expected to be busy, especially with Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve falling over the weekend (both on Sunday). A survey of Hopper users revealed most holiday travelers (59%) will head out to see and spend time with friends and family, while 33% of travelers plan to make a vacation out of their holiday travel. Christmas will attract the highest volume of travelers, with 2/3 of respondents traveling for the December holiday, Hopper reports.

Despite their intention to travel, Hopper’s survey of users revealed 41% of users traveling for the holidays are “very concerned about how they will afford the travel they have already planned.”

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Travelers should know the deals have already started and they should expect ticket pricing to go up towards the end of October, Anciaux added.

“As the demand becomes bigger the demand, of course, the pricing is going to go up. So there are still some great deals out there. I was looking at some air airlines this morning, some fares and just even to Los Angeles around the Thanksgiving holiday, we were already showing that some of the basic economy, pricing was already sold out.”

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Both Hopper and KAYAK also suggest travelers be as flexible as possible on travel dates.

“For Thanksgiving, flying the Monday of Thanksgiving week and returning any week day of the following week will save you the most,” Hopper’s travel outlook reads. “Similarly, departing the Monday or Tuesday before Christmas weekend and returning midweek following the holiday will get you the most bang for your buck.”

KAYAK recommends travelers use its Best Time to Travel tool to find out what days to book.

Making your holiday travel as easy as possible

Anciaux also said that for smooth holiday travel, some should consider travel insurance.

“I think it’s one of those things that people never like to pay for insurance because nothing is going to happen to them,” she said. “I’m not going to get sick or I’m not going to you know, break a leg accidentally stepping off a curb or something. But you also got to remember that travel insurance can cover you for other reasons too. If something happens to a family member, or you need to stay home instead of traveling or something happens to your property that you need to stay home. Anciaux said, if you are traveling overseas it’s a good idea to have.”

There are her top 3 travel tips for breezing through the airport:

1. Travelers should consider TSA-Precheck
2. Carry your luggage on your flight and skip checking a bag.
3. Get to the airport early. Remember last year’s debacle with Southwest?

Past coverage: At Southwest Airlines, a day of calm after a week of chaos

Another tip: If your family is traveling with children and you all want to sit together, buy your tickets early so you have plenty of time to choose your seats and if you can upgrade.

Contributing: Steve Coogan, MyNorthwest

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