No Need to Stress Over Holiday Travel

Cheapflights.com Shares its Top Holiday Travel Tips to Get You through the ‘Most Wonderful Time of the Year’

With flights to catch, security lines to endure and delays to tolerate, making it to your destination during the holiday season can be overwhelming. The team at Cheapflights.com, the online leader in publishing travels deals, knows all too well about holiday travel and, to help ease some anxiety, has compiled some stress relieving advice. The Cheapflights.com Top Holiday Travel Tips features helpful recommendations for procrastinators, gift givers and mile collectors as well as some final thoughts that will get you through this joyful, yet stressful time of year.

Silver bells, sleigh rides and mistletoe are on the not-so-distant horizon, giving travelers around the world loads to look forward to this holiday season. But, before the festivities get underway, here are five of Cheapflights.com’s Top Holiday Travel Tips to help you navigate the commute this Yuletide season.

For procrastinators - Book last-minute - Typically we encourage travelers to book flights between 60 and 90 days before an anticipated date of departure. That ideal time frame has now passed, leaving many fliers scrambling to find holiday fare deals. But all is not lost! Data shows that airlines this year were perhaps a bit too aggressive with pricing early on, leaving seats still to be filled. Lucky for procrastinators, flash sales are popping up left and right and – better yet – the best is possibly yet to come. Start scanning now, as early December bookers could save the most on holiday flights.

For gift givers - Shop online - In an era of ever-increasing baggage fees, it’s best to show up to the airport with as little to check as possible. Lucky for those with long wish lists, nearly everything nowadays can be found – and shipped – thanks to the glorious Internet. Evidence? Our recent list of travel gift ideas, all of which are available courtesy of the web. Order a Big Wheel-luggage hybrid for the junior traveler in your life or an airline gift card for your favorite frequent flier. No matter the choice, it means less to get through security and less on your credit card.

For mile collectors - Save the miles - Miles get tricky around the holidays, especially since “low points” seats for the most popular travel dates sell out even before the Halloween candy has hit the shelves. There’s that, plus some airlines implement the never-popular blackout dates. Accumulated miles, whether through an airline or a credit card, are used most economically either when travel plans are booked early or a traveler has flexibility with their itinerary. Our advice: Save the points during the holidays unless you snag a great deal.

Final thoughts

Invest in hand sanitizer - The most wonderful time of the year is also the most sniffly time of the year for many travelers. Keep that in mind before you head for the airport, and pack plenty of hand sanitizer to help fend off germs. There’s nothing worse than realizing during ascent that you’re stuck in a cabin full of recycled air with a sickly seatmate. Fill your prescriptions, drink lots of water, wash your hands often – whatever it takes to guarantee your holidays will be spent both joy- and health-filled.

Expect delays - Flight delays are pretty much a guarantee this time of year, whether its crowded airports, bad weather or mechanical problems causing them. There’s a way to plan ahead so that getting stuck behind infrequent fliers and families of five at airport security doesn’t cause anxiety. First, avoid connections if you can when booking, even if it means paying a little more. If a connection is a must, then ensure there’s a long enough layover in case your first flight is late to land. On the day of travel, get to the airport earlier – way earlier – than you typically would. Worst-case scenario: You spend extra time with your Kindle at the departure gate or relaxing at the airport bar (in which case, our beer lover’s airport guide will come in handy).

Additional tips to make Cheapflights.com’s Top Holiday Travel Tips include travel alternatively and fly on the holiday (for the Procrastinators) as well as ship gifts, pack an empty suitcase and peruse Duty Free (for the Gift Givers).