Fall officially begins in the Northern Hemisphere on Monday, September 22 at 2:19pm ET so if you haven’t booked your holiday flights yet, hopefully this change in seasons will motivate you. The biggest motivation should be that you will save money if you book your tickets soon.
According to Google Flights data, which analyzed four years of travel information, the cheapest time to book Thanksgiving trips is typically about 35 days before departure. Last year, it was 45 days in advance. This means if you’re planning on leaving Wednesday (November 26) before turkey day (Thursday, November 27), the cheapest day to buy your tickets is Wednesday, October 22.
As for Christmas and New Year’s Eve trips, prices tend to hit their lowest 51 days before departure. That means if you want to leave Saturday, December 20, the cheapest day to purchase your plane tickets is Thursday, October 30, 2025.
The Points Guy website agrees. They write in their Holiday Travel 2025 guide: “The best time to book flights for Thanksgiving trips is from the end of September to the end of October. Trips for Christmas should be booked around Halloween and by mid-November at the latest at least if you want the best prices.”
I personally don’t recommend leaving for Thanksgiving on the Wednesday before because not only is it one of the busiest travel days of the year, it is also one of the most expensive. I would take the kids out of school a day or two earlier to not only save a lot of money but to also have a much less stressful and crowded airport experience. I would also avoid leaving early in the morning even though it is the best time to avoid flight delays. Instead, I would book a flight between 11am and 3pm to avoid the rush.
Leaving a day or two early will also help you avoid the stress of needing to be somewhere the next day because if there is a major storm, it will cause havoc.
FYI: The photo above was taken last year on our Thanksgiving trip to Fiji and Australia.
