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Thanksgiving Countdown: Best Time to Book Flights

Tuesday September 3, 2019

Skyscanner.com, the global travel search engine, collated and analyzed data from its more than 90 million monthly users and found that domestic Thanksgiving travel favors last-minute travelers, with some of the best deals to be found two to three weeks in advance and with savings sometimes as high as 20 percent.

The insights led to a deeper dive into itineraries, length of travel, and how Thanksgiving travelers go about their planning and booking. When looking at the data alone for 2018 domestic travel, Skyscanner found the majority of travelers booked their flights one to two weeks before Thanksgiving.

Skyscanner analyzed the data and found travelers tend to fit into one of three personas:

  • Almost 60 percent of Americans are midweek travelers, choosing to depart on Tuesday or Wednesday and return between Friday and Sunday

  • Approximately 10 percent are week-long travelers, and travel weekend to weekend (Saturday/Sunday to the following Saturday/Sunday)

  • Nearly 20 percent are same-day travelers, preferring to avoid the airport masses and depart on Thanksgiving Thursday and return between Friday and Sunday

    Note: Skyscanner data found the number of people who fly on Thanksgiving day itself was double the size of the week-long Thanksgiving travelers

    Regardless of which persona a traveler identifies with or where they plan to enjoy a Thanksgiving turkey dinner, booking at least two weeks in advance is recommended to find the best prices. If traveling with the majority of Americans on Tuesday or Wednesday, Skyscanner found the most consistent deals by booking between one month and two weeks in advance. The week-long travelers' time window to find good deals starts from two months in advance up until two weeks out.

    For those that swear by the Thursday flight — it turns out there is truth to this rumor! On average, these travelers found better deals than other travelers. Not only that, but they also had a longer booking window to score these deals - deals started up to three months in advance, and could still be found up to two weeks in advance.

    In order to ensure travelers find the best deal to their destination this Thanksgiving, Skyscanner has compiled some helpful tips to make the process easier:

  • Set up price alerts for different departure dates, keeping in mind the majority of Americans will be flying on Tuesday/Wednesday

  • Set up price alerts in advance, since deals do occur starting now (Skyscanner data just shows when the deals are consistently available)

    Remember, this is for domestic data only. If looking for an international trip during Thanksgiving week, it is always best to book international flights months in advance!

    For 2019, deals are already available, but the week of Halloween is a good week to buy based on 2018 data.