How to snag cheaper deals on last-minute flights this holiday season

Holiday flights are known to be notoriously expensive, and travel is cumbersome—especially this year, when Thanksgiving travel is expected to hit record high numbers. Almost 80 million more people are expected to travel this year, with almost 5.8 million people traveling by air, as reported by the AAA. 

If you’re anything like me—a tiny bit of a procrastinator, or spent endless weeks in a time warp working on elections as a journalist—it’s likely that you pushed buying your flight back home until the last minute. 

Hurry up now, though!

 Here are some personal tips on the best, cheapest way to book and plan that travel back home for the holidays: 

What’s the best day to book a flight? 

Conventional wisdom suggests to buy tickets on Tuesdays, but that might no longer be true. As per Expedia, the online travel agency, Sunday is the best day to book a flight. You might save 6% on domestic flights and 13% on international flights by doing so. 

If you’re planning to go out-of-state for Christmas, but stay domestic you are in high probability of still snagging a decent deal since travelers who book domestic flights 28 days prior to departure save almost 24%. 

Track flight prices for price drops! Google Flights’ price tracking tool is pretty neat, and it will periodically send you updates on the route you were looking to book. 

How to get cheap last minute flights? 

Prices are bound to increase as you get into the thick of the holiday season, but here are some ways to mitigate overspending. 

• Consider flying out from alternate airports: Instead of flying out of Manchester’s MHT, maybe make that drive down to Boston’s Logan International Airport, and try to snag a cheaper deal. Or if you’re flying to, for instance, Chicago, try landing into Midway rather than O’Hare. 
• Take a red-eye: Red-eyes or overnight flights are cheaper because they’re less in demand, and fly at odd times. 
• Opt for a longer layover: Flights that offer longer layovers are always cheaper. 

When to travel? 

The least crowded days to travel for Christmas are Dec. 25, Christmas Day or Dec. 24, Christmas Eve. But for cheapest deals, avoid Sundays and Mondays. They are the most expensive days to depart for domestic trips.

Wednesdays are the most ideal days for domestic travel. 

Fly before 3 p.m., as it is statistically recorded that flights that depart later have a 50% higher chance of cancellation. 

 Staff-recommended sites to buy flights from

Expedia: “I like Expedia because I don’t have a preferred airline and I like to see all my options. I prefer whichever airline is offering a nonstop flight to my destination,” said Katy Savage, the Granite Post Community Editor. 

Skyscanner: “I have always found Skycanner to have prices a little bit lower than Google Flights. But I also use Google Flights to check out my options. Ultimately, I direct myself to particular airline websites to make the purchase,” Mrinali Dhembla (me), the community reporter at the Granite Post says. 

Google Flights: “Google is good bc I can see a range of prices and dates really clearly and easily between airlines,” our political correspondent Colin Booth says. 

United Airlines using the United travel credit card: “Chase Bank and United Airlines work together so every dollar I spend is 2x the points. So if you use it every day, by the time vacation comes you can treat yourself to a trip,” according to our social media manager, Angelique Inchierca.