When Should Clients Book Holiday Flights? Google’s Latest Data Offers a Guide
Google’s analysis identifies key booking windows for Thanksgiving and Christmas, plus the destinations gaining interest for holiday getaways.
Photo: Sondoce Wasfy / Unsplash
Travelers planning holiday flights should book sooner rather than wait for a last-minute fare drop, according to Google’s latest travel analysis. Drawing on five years of aggregated Google Flights data, the report identifies October as a key booking period for Thanksgiving and finds that the lowest Christmas fares are appearing earlier than in last year’s analysis.
The findings create a useful starting point for conversations with clients who have settled on a destination but haven’t committed to flights, especially those whose holiday dates leave little room for adjustment. “When your dates are already set, booking early is the safest bet to protect your itinerary,” wrote James Byers, Google’s group product manager for search, said in the report.
Thanksgiving flights historically reach their lowest average prices 34 days before departure, with a broader low-price range of 21 to 57 days out. That places October squarely within the booking window for the November holiday. For Christmas, the lowest average fares occur 56 days before departure, five days earlier than in last year’s findings. The broader range runs from 33 to 67 days before departure, with Google identifying late October through mid-November as a period to watch for deals. (These are historical averages, not guarantees for a particular route, so itinerary-specific pricing matters in the booking decision.)
International travel warrants an earlier approach: although average fares bottom out 89 days before departure, Google found little meaningful price variation within the low-fare window of 50 to 133 days. It recommends booking as soon as possible. Europe follows a similar pattern, with the lowest average prices appearing 90 days ahead and a low-price range beginning at least 49 days before departure.
Mexico and the Caribbean follow a different timetable: their lowest average fares occur 43 days before departure, within a 24- to 69-day window. That distinction gives advisors a more useful framework than applying the same booking deadline to every winter getaway.
The report also challenges the familiar advice to buy airline tickets on a particular weekday. Wednesday narrowly emerged as the cheapest day to buy, but savings over Sunday, the most expensive, averaged just 1.4%.
Travel dates have a larger effect. Departing Monday and returning Tuesday or Wednesday saves about 14% compared with weekend flights, according to the analysis. Domestic savings reach up to 20% compared with departing and returning on Sunday. Nonstop tickets, meanwhile, cost 20% more on average than connecting itineraries, a tradeoff that clients can weigh against convenience and travel time.
Beyond fares, Google’s search data highlights several destinations gaining attention for the holidays. Athens leads its international trending list for Christmas and New Year’s Eve, followed by Québec City, Rio de Janeiro, Hanoi, and Guatemala City. For domestic Thanksgiving travel, Hilo, Hawaii, ranks first, followed by Buffalo, Columbus, Punta Gorda and Greenville, South Carolina.
These rankings measure the largest relative increases in flight searches compared with 2025, rather than total search volume or confirmed bookings.
