When is the Goldilocks window? Here's the best time to book Thanksgiving, Christmas flights and more travel tips
Fall is less than a week away on the calendar and as travelers prepare to make holiday plans, The Points Guy shared new data on airfare price expectations and the best strategies to save the most money.
Brian Kelly, author and founder of The Points Guy, joined "Good Morning America" on Thursday to help people prepare for the holiday rush, remind everyone about the "Goldilocks" approach for the best time to book and more.
"As we look forward to the holiday travel season -- I urge people to start planning now," Kelly said. "Timing is everything when booking tickets."
Travel price expectations and outlook on hotels, flights
"The good news is this fall airfare has come down. There are actually quite a lot of deals this fall traveling internationally and domestically," he said.
But as the team of travel experts analyzed pricing for the holiday season, Kelly said "we are seeing domestic airfare up 6% this year so far -- the average domestic ticket during the holidays is over $600 and $1200 internationally."
When to book Thanksgiving, Christmas flights
Kelly reminded travelers about the Goldilocks approach for booking Thanksgiving airfare.
"The airlines penalize the nervous nellies, so for Thanksgiving travel, book around the first week of October. If you are think of traveling, you want to look now," he suggested. "For Christmas travel, the first week of November."
Kelly added, "Timing is how you save money. It's not the day you buy your ticket."
For example, leaving in the morning on a less popular travel day and returning later on the Monday post-holiday can help people save "almost half" on airfare, Kelly said.
"A lot of people might be thinking, 'leaving first thing Thursday is better,' but that's how you save the money and avoid the crazy Wednesday in the airport," he explained.
Start flight price alerts now for holiday travel
Like all travel experts, Kelly encouraged people "always use technology" and "set alerts if the flight price drops."
"Google flights is free -- if you're looking at a route, start alerts now," he said. "When you start seeing prices go up, in general, they will keep going up. Procrastinating for holiday travel is not a good strategy."
