October 31, 2003 -- Flying over the holidays can be a pain. Airlines know we "need" to travel for Thanksgiving and Christmas, so fares go way up. There are ways to get the lowest possible fares, though, and ways to make the best of a miserable peak-day flight.
Over at super-discounter Priceline, they have banks of computers that do nothing but crunch air fares. So we asked them when flights are cheapest over the next few months. Priceline spokesman Brian Ek got back to us with a list of dates, and with some prices: by flying on off-peak days during the Thanksgiving period, you can save an average of $98 on a domestic round-trip ticket.Over Christmas, the peak days are on average $80 more expensive than non-peak days.
(The smaller gap reflects how many airlines consider the entire period from Dec. 19 - Jan. 4, or even through Jan. 12, a peak time.)
On this calendar we built from Priceline's data, green days are the best days to fly. Orange days are middling, and red days will have the absolute worst fares. (But don't despair; there are still ways to make a buck off a red day.) You can compare our calendar with the similar, but slightly different list of dates provided by Priceline's competitor Hotwire on Hotwire's site. But while Hotwire's calendar focuses on the super-discounted opaque fares available on their site, Priceline mixed both opaque fares and some higher published fares into their analysis.
November
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S
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M
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T
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W
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T
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F
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S
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16
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17
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18
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19
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20
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21
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22
|
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23
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24
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25
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26
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27
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28
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29
|
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30
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December
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S
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M
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T
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W
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T
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F
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S
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1
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2
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3
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4
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5
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6
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|
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7
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8
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9
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10
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11
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12
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13
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14
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15
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16
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17
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18
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19
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20
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21
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22
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23
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24
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25
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26
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27
|
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28
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29
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30
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31
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January
|
S
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M
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T
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W
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T
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F
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S
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|
1
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2
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3
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4
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5
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6
|
7
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So You're Stuck - Now What?
There are some lessons to learn from this chart -- for instance, that if you're going away for Christmas, it might pay to take the week off, fly out on the 21st and back on the 29th. For a New Year's getaway, try flying out on the 29th and back on the 6th. Also, remember this chart applies to domestic flights only. You can still find bargains over Thanksgiving for flying to Europe (where Thanksgiving isn't celebrated), for instance.
But if you're stuck traveling on a high-traffic day, remember the usual mantras: arrive early at the airport and maintain patience, patience, patience. If you have a little flexibility, get bumped, especially if you're flying on Nov. 26, Nov. 30, or Dec. 26 -- three of the highest-traffic days on the calendar. By agreeing to arrive a little later than planned, you can reap hundreds of dollars in flight vouchers usable during less-stressful times of the year.
To get yourself bumped, try to bring carry-on bags only (they're less likely to get lost that way) and make sure you're at the gate when the gate agents arrive an hour before your flight. Ask if the flight is full; if it is, find out what their rewards for bumping are. Make sure the vouchers you're getting are unrestricted -- that they're usable as cash on the airline or are usable for a wide range of flights. Some bump vouchers nowadays are almost unusable because they're for a strictly limited set of seats or flights. (If the voucher has blackout dates or capacity controls, stay away.) Make sure they'd be able to get you on a later flight and that you won't be stuck in the airport overnight. Then tell them that you'd like to be on the bump list.
Priceline and Hotwire will be keeping continually-updated versions of their calendars on their sites at www.priceline.com and www.hotwire.com/plan-smart.jsp, so give both sites a check before you make your holiday bookings.
