It might seem a little early to be thinking about Thanksgiving — after all, it’s not even October yet — but if you haven’t started thinking about when to book your Thanksgiving flights? Let’s just say you might want to get on that. The good news, though, is that flight deal website CheapAir has put together a handy little flow chart to help you determine whether you should book your holiday flights in September, versus a little later in the fall. Who doesn’t love a flow chart? No one. That’s who.
The chart considers everything from whether your flight dates and times are flexible to whether you like to gamble; also, apparently a lot of people go to Florida for Thanksgiving. Why? Is it because it’s warmer there? Is it because so many people’s grandparents live there? Honestly, I have no idea, but whether or not you’re going to Florida should be factored into your decision as to when you book your Thanksgiving flights. TIL, right?
The kicker? The answer to pretty much every path is to book now. True, CheapAir is a flight booking website; as such, the flow chart is probably intended to encourage you to buy your flights using their site ASAP. But at the same time, I still think it’s still good advice, no matter how you take care of your travel arrangements. Generally you’ll get the best deals on flights 45 days in advance domestically or 60 internationally — but those rules go right out the window when you’re looking at holiday travel. Furthermore, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and the Sunday after it are the busiest travel days of the year, so if those are the only days you can travel? You’re definitely going to want to secure your seats sooner rather than later. Also, I don’t know about you, but I can’t even remember the last time I didn’t fly on a fully-booked aircraft. It must have been years ago — possibly even decades ago.
I feel your pain, Sirius.
Check out the flow chart below, and head on over to CheapFlights for a few more useful pointers. Whenever you do fly, though? Please, please, please follow these do's and don’ts for air travel. No one wants to see or smell your bare feet on a crowded flight the night before Thanksgiving.
<img width="416" alt="" src="http://www.cheapair.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/cheapair-should_you_buy-thanksgiving-2014-v2A-500px.jpg" height="612" class="article-body-image" title="Image: http://www.cheapair.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/cheapair-should_you_buy-thanksgiving-2014-v2A-500px.jpg"/>
Images: Panda Whale; CheapAir.com
