For a cheap holiday flight, book early and use the right credit card
Booking holiday flights is never a feel-good experience. It鈥檚 more of a 鈥渞ipping off the Band-Aid鈥� experience.聽You click聽鈥淏uy now鈥� and wince. Afterward, you avoid looking at your credit card statements and try to focus on more cheerful聽things, such as family and eggnog.
But this year can聽be less painful, if you get an early start. The secret to paying less for your flight聽has two parts:
- Minimize your airfare cost聽by booking early, traveling on nonpeak days and splitting your reservation.
- Maximize your credit card benefits聽by using your card鈥檚 travel perks and either paying for your flight聽with rewards or qualifying for聽a sign-up bonus or 0% annual percentage rate deal.
Here鈥檚 how you can do that.
Minimize your airfare cost
Simple economics tells you that when demand for tickets increases, airlines will increase prices.聽But you can generally avoid the worst of those high holiday airfares by booking early.
BUY TICKETS IN OCTOBER, AT THE LATEST
鈥淚n general, September is the best time to buy for Thanksgiving travel and October is the best time for Christmas,鈥� says Jeff Klee, CEO of聽.
The online travel agency, which tracks the daily average among 11,000 holiday airfares in 40 domestic markets, predicts that fares for flights around Christmas and New Year鈥檚 will dip in October by an average of $22. But in November and December,聽it expects those prices to increase sharply.
鈥淚t鈥檚 like playing the stock markets, in a sense,鈥� Klee says.
Within those large-scale trends, all routes have their own ups and downs, of course. Once you know where you鈥檙e flying, watch for a聽drop聽in fares. If you see a good deal, Klee says, be prepared to buy, rather than hope聽for it to go lower, since the fare could聽spike back up at any time.
CONSIDER TRAVELING ON A HOLIDAY
Sometimes, the cheapest holiday flights depart on the holiday itself.
For Thanksgiving travel, for instance, 鈥淭he best time to fly is on Thursday morning,鈥� says Rick Seaney, CEO of聽, a flight deals website. If you leave in the morning, he points out, you may聽still be able to get to your destination聽in time for the festivities. In its analysis, CheapAir.com also notes that Christmas Day is one of the most affordable days to fly.
If you can鈥檛 stomach the idea of spending a holiday up in the air, consider flying on other less popular travel days. For 2016, these include Nov. 25 (Black Friday), Nov. 29 (the Tuesday after Thanksgiving) and聽Dec. 19-21,聽
SPLIT YOUR RESERVATION
You might be traveling聽with a small army of relatives聽over the holidays,聽谩 la聽鈥淗ome Alone.鈥� But that doesn鈥檛 mean you all have to be on the same airline reservation. In fact, you鈥檒l probably save more if you split your order up.
Because of a quirk in many airline reservation systems, 鈥淓veryone on the same reservation has to be at the same price,鈥� Seaney says. If you buy聽four tickets, for example, and two are聽at a higher price, you鈥檒l end up paying that聽higher price for every ticket on the reservation. But if you聽make four separate reservations, you can聽get the lowest price possible on each ticket, he says. This can聽be a good strategy聽if you鈥檙e traveling with adults or high-school-age kids and you鈥檙e OK with sitting apart from one聽another.
Maximize your credit card benefits
Even if you get tickets that are relatively inexpensive compared with聽other holiday airfares, you still might end up paying plenty. Round-trip airfare now runs over $400 on average, according to CheapAir.com. This is where聽your聽聽can help.
RESEARCH聽YOUR CREDIT CARD鈥橲 FRINGE BENEFITS
If you鈥檙e a once-a-year kind of traveler, take stock of your聽聽before buying plane聽tickets and booking the rest of your trip. Some聽cards offer credits for airline fees or checked baggage fees, discounts for flying with a companion, rental car coverage and trip cancellation insurance. Taking note of these can save you from paying for add-ons聽you鈥檙e already getting and might lower your bill considerably.
PAY WITH聽FLEXIBLE TRAVEL REWARDS
If you聽have聽points or miles sitting on your general聽travel credit card, the holiday season might be聽an ideal time to聽cash them in. Unlike with frequent-flier miles tied to a specific airline, you can redeem these more flexible rewards without worrying about limited award seat availability or poor聽redemption value during peak season.
Say聽you鈥檝e been earning rewards on the聽or the聽. You can charge your travel expenses聽to those cards and then use your rewards to erase all or part of the cost. If you鈥檝e been sitting on points from聽a聽sign-up bonus for a while, this could save you hundreds on聽holiday travel.
QUALIFY FOR A聽SIGN-UP BONUS OR聽0% APR OFFER
If you can鈥檛 redeem your points or miles for a holiday flight,聽you can still upgrade your plastic.
Before booking your flight, look for a new credit card that offers high flat-rate rewards, a聽, a聽聽period on purchases or all of the above. Some聽triple-threat cards, including the聽聽and the聽, do it all 鈥� and don鈥檛 charge聽an annual fee.
Once you鈥檝e gotten your credit card, use it to book your flight. That might be enough to help you qualify for聽your sign-up bonus. And if you have a 0% APR period, you鈥檒l have more time to pay down your bill interest-free.
Putting it all together
The less you have to worry聽about spending money on your holiday travel聽this season, the better.
Practically speaking, this is probably the best argument for planning your holiday trip early.聽If you dread paying for聽travel now,聽you鈥檙e going to聽feel the same way one month from now, or two months. And during that time, airfares will be getting more expensive, and聽you鈥檒l have fewer credit card strategies at your disposal.
So, as with many of life鈥檚 decisions, it鈥檚 better to get it over with early. By the time the holidays finally roll around, you won鈥檛 have to worry about it anymore.
Claire Tsosie聽is a staff writer at NerdWallet, a personal finance website. Email:聽claire@nerdwallet.com. Twitter:聽.
This article first appeared in .
