Planning to visit Grandma’s for Thanksgiving or spend Christmas in Rome? Traveling over the holidays can be notoriously busy, expensive and stressful, but the news isn’t all bad. There are still deals to be found, provided you plan ahead.
Rule #1: Avoid peak travel dates
At Christmas and New Year’s (or during summer), the peak holiday travel dates change each year depending on which days the holidays fall. You can generally guess which dates will be the most expensive for travel (consider which travel days would allow you to maximize long weekends without taking too many days off work — and that’s probably when everyone will want to go).
Rule #2: Know your airports, ports or train/coach stations
Checking alternate airports is a pretty standard tactic, but during holiday travel it can really make a difference. At no time can the alternate airport gambit pay off better than during the holiday crush. You can score on almost every front — parking, rental cars, traffic to and from, nearby hotels — and save both time and money.
Keep in mind that smaller airports see fewer flights and, typically, fewer delays — not a minor consideration during the busy holiday travel season.
When booking flights, check your search results carefully for sufficient time during layovers, and build in some time for flight delays and weather woes. Particularly during the winter months, peak travel times often bring peak travel delays, and your connection is more likely to be jeopardized. Avoiding really tight connections might save you a sprint through the terminal or a missed flight. Also, it is best if you can muscle your flight path into position so that connections are in places less likely to experience delays — specifically, airports in warmer climates.
Same rule if you are travelling by land or sea.
Rule #3: Leave early
During peak travel times especially, much of the trouble you’ll face lies on this side of the security check-in, from traffic jams and full parking lots to absent shuttles and long lines. Rather than striving to “arrive at the airport early,” you may want to try to “leave for the airport early” to anticipate all the peripheral delays you may encounter.
Get in touch and our friendly team will assist you and share the best bargains available.
[Back]