If you're traveling over Thanksgiving, hopefully, you're planning on buying your plane tickets within the next week. That's when you'll find the best deals ahead of the holiday, and while you're at it, you might as well look at plane tickets for Christmas travel as well. That's right, according to Hopper, an app that analyzes plane ticket prices and alerts travelers when they should buy, airfare for Christmas travel begins to rise by $4 a day throughout November. So, if you're heading home for the holidays, you might want to think about booking ASAP.
In addition to revealing that October is the best month for finding cheap plane tickets ahead of Christmas, Hopper's Holiday Travel Index reports that prices will continue to spike even more every day once we make it to December. "Prices spike by $6 per day in the final two weeks," Hopper reports. That means if you really don't feel like planning ahead or if you can't afford another big purchase after buying Thanksgiving plane tickets, you can wait a beat. Still, you might not want to delay it all the way until December. If you do like to plan ahead and you've got the money to spend, booking by Halloween is your best bet for finding cheap flights.
You can also try switching up your travel days. According to Hopper, travelers can save the most money by departing for their destination on Tuesday, December 18 and returning home on January 4. If returning that late doesn't work for your schedule, the next cheapest day is December 27. If you're planning around your entire extended family's calendars, you might not have much say on the days you fly, but if you're taking a solo trip, Hopper recommends trying out this money-saving tactic. Best of luck finding your flights. It looks like this year, Halloween might be more about two other holidays.