Flying for the Holidays? Here’s When It’s Cheapest — and Most Expensive

Flights around the holidays can be some of the biggest travel expenses of the year. At a certain point — maybe while you're stuck in your Uber at the peak of holiday airport traffic — you might begin to wonder if there’s an easier and cheaper way to get to your destination.

One unconventional way to save is to celebrate an un-Thanksgiving — but if Grandma insists that Turkey Day can’t be celebrated any other time, you might have to be creative with which days you choose to fly.

NerdWallet analyzed the past three years of checkpoint travel numbers provided by the Transportation Security Administration, which tracks the number of passengers screened daily at U.S. TSA checkpoints. Because flight pricing is incredibly sensitive to demand, the most crowded days generally correlate with the most expensive days to fly and the least crowded days usually mean you can find savings or book a better flight (like a nonstop flight).

Cheapest days to fly around Thanksgiving

The cheapest day to fly around Thanksgiving is generally Turkey Day itself.

If you cannot travel on Thanksgiving Day itself, here are the three least-crowded days to travel ranked from least to most crowded for both pre-holiday and post-holiday departures. Because they're less crowded and likely less expensive, it makes them some of the best days to fly around Thanksgiving.

Pre-holiday:

1. Saturday before (least crowded).

2. Monday before.

3. Tuesday before.

Post-holiday:

• Wednesday after (least crowded).

• Tuesday after.

• Black Friday.

Cheapest days to fly around Christmas

Because winter breaks are a bit more spread out, you have many more affordable options when it comes to Christmastime travel. Based on the 2024 Expedia's Holiday Travel Outlook, the least expensive days will be either on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day itself or the Monday through Wednesday of the week prior (Dec. 16-18.). That also correlates with the least busy days to fly around Christmas, according to historical throughput data from the Transportation Security Administration.

The days following Christmas are generally expensive and busy days to fly as well, but your best bet returning from Christmas is to fly on the next holidays: New Year's Eve or New Year's Day. Those are the days with the least number of people traveling through airports in the seven days after Christmas.

When to book

For the best deal on Thanksgiving and Christmas flights, you'll want to book by the end of October, according to data released by Google Flights in 2024. You'll likely find more availability and lower prices than if you wait until the end of the year.

» Learn more: The best days to book a flight and when to fly

The bottom line

Play with dates in Google Flights If you have the flexibility to work remotely or take time off around the holidays, it could save you $100 or more to fly on lower-demand days. The same goes if you’re trying to book a flight using your travel rewards. Many U.S. airlines offer different levels of award pricing based on demand, so you might be able to spend fewer points if you fly on the cheaper days.