travel

The cheapest — and most expensive — dates to fly this holiday season

Published: September 30, 2017 07:30 AM GMT+8

If you're travelling over the holidays, now's the time to book, say travel experts at a bargain airfare website. — AFP picLONDON, Sept 30 — If you're planning to travel over Thanksgiving and Christmas, now's the time to book your flight. 

After tracking more than 3.6 million airfares and more than 11,000 itineraries per day during the holiday season, analysts at bargain airfare website CheapAir.com have compiled their annual Holiday Cheap Flights Report for consumers looking for flight deals. 

According to their stats, the longer they wait, the more flyers will pay for their holiday flight. 

Travellers who haven't yet booked their flight for Thanksgiving will pay an average of US$41 (RM173) more on their airfare purchased in October, for instance, compared to September. 

Wait until November, and that average spikes to US$102. 

Same goes for Christmas and New Year's: airfares are estimated to rise a modest US$5 in October, compared to US$56 and US$143 in November and December respectively. 

If you must fly on the premium-priced days, CheapAir experts recommend buying tickets as early as possible to try and score a better price. 

Here are a few key dates on the most expensive and inexpensive days to fly: 

Cheapest days to fly for Thanksgiving: Nov. 19-20, Nov. 24-25 
Most expensive dates to fly: Nov. 17 and 26 
 
Cheapest days to fly over Christmas and New Year's: Dec. 19, 20, 24 
Most expensive dates to fly: Dec. 22, 26 31, Jan. 1. — AFP-Relaxnews