LOS ANGELES - Many travelers looking to book for the holidays are often left wondering if they should book an early deal before Halloween or take a risk in hopes of scoring a last-minute deal.
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Winnie Sun shares money-saving Holiday travel tips
Winnie Sun Managing Partner, Sun Group Wealth Partner and frequent Forbes contributor joined Good Day LA with tips for folks who want to make holiday travel plans – and still get a great deal.
Winnie Sun shared tips on how to save for holiday travel with financial data from a new Adobe study as her guide.
Sun is a Managing Partner at Sun Group Wealth and a frequent Forbes contributor. She stopped by Good Day LA with tips for people who want to make holiday travel plans and still want to get a great deal.
Thanksgiving travel
-Wait until November to book if you haven’t booked just yet. Travelers still looking to purchase flights for Thanksgiving will see a nearly 10% cost-savings if they wait to book until the first week of November.
That first week is the sweet spot, as tickets will spike up to 14% a week prior to the holiday.
Turkey vs. Presents?
-Choose the food: travelers will find booking flights (anytime during the year) much cheaper for Thanksgiving over Christmas; ticket prices for the week surrounding Christmas are nearly 17% more expensive than Thanksgiving
Christmas flights
-Hold off until December to book Christmas flights: for consumers who haven’t purchased flights around Christmas, flights will decrease by 13% the first week of December. Don’t wait too long, as prices will jump back up 8% the week prior to the holiday.
New Year's Travel
-The best day to book flights for New Year’s is 55 days out from the holiday, November 6.
Flights cheaper in 2019
-Travelers have been seeing the average price on flights for Thanksgiving increase at 6% each year since 2016. This year we expect flight tickets to be 5% cheaper for this year’s peak Thanksgiving period.
Hotels
-Hotels are a different story. Sun says it is best to wait and book them up to six days before your arrival to get the lowest price. If it is a major tourist destination, however, you may not get the hotel you want, so take that into account.
Travel delays
-A reported 66% of airports had their worst delays after Christmas. December 26 is the most unfavorable day for holiday delays at 44% of airports.
Other tips:
-Never book a connecting flight when a non-stop is available for within $200
-When booking with points, book as early as possible to maximize your points