So you want to know the best days to travel during the holiday season? Just about everyone does but the answer’s not as easy as you might think.
But there are hints.
Priceline.com publishes an annual chart of the variations in cost of holiday travel over the full period, based on costs of travel booked through its site.
This year, Christmas and New Year's both fall on Sundays, so most travelers will have the following Mondays as holidays. Priceline gives these results:
- Best dates to travel: Dec 12, 13, 14, 17, 20, 24, 27, 28, 31.
- Fair dates to travel: Dec 15, 16, 18, 19, 21, 25, 30, Jan 1, 2.
- Worst dates to Travel: Dec 22, 23, 26, 29.
For the most part, these conform to conventional wisdom.
“Fares are highest the Thursday and Friday before and the Monday after the Christmas weekend, and the Thursday before the New Year's weekend. Pre-weekend Thursdays tend to be worse than Fridays,” said Smart Travel.
Priceline's data is based on average fares across a large number of air routes. Averages do not necessarily reflect conditions on any individual trip, however, to further add to the complexity.
Keep in mind, too, that these fare differences are a moving target, and the results of such comparisons may well be different if you check in a week or a month.
By David Wilkening
