Over the years we've said, and it still holds true, that the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday season is the most traveled, and generally most expensive, time in the year to travel. One of the reasons it is so expensive to travel by air is the airlines reduce the number of deeply discounted seats available during that time, and so by the time the traveler is ready to begin thinking of making reservations to go see Grandma, those “cheap seats” are already gone.
One report out last week said that more travelers will fly on U. S. Airlines during the Thanksgiving holidays this year than ever before. They are projecting to fly 27.3 million passengers from Friday Nov. 18 through Tues Nov. 29. The Sunday after Thanksgiving will likely be the busiest day, always is, at 2.81 million passengers taking to the skies. We've had some shoppers come in this week and want a “deal” on a flight leaving on Thanksgiving Thursday and returning on Sunday. It really doesn't make any difference where you are going, you are not going to like the price.....but if we can find any availability at all, that will be the “deal”!!
Often we will hear something like, “well, I guess we can always use our points to find something”. Not really, not during holiday time, especially last minute. There has been some recent research regarding travelers who collect miles to use for free or discounted travel. Fifty-eight percent of travelers believe that using a credit or debit card to redeem travel rewards makes financial sense, yet only 1 percent have paid for their entire trip using these points. Fifteen percent of Americans have paid (in part or in full) for their trips with rewards points.
As you know, my mantra has always been, if you have earned points by flown miles or using a particular credit or debit card, use those points if at all possible because that “point-giver” can take them away as fast as they gave them, or can increase the number of points required to redeem them.
Thanksgiving or Christmas, or really any holiday travel period, should be planned ahead at least 10-11 months to be able to get the best rate. Put that ticket in your pocket and forget about it until you travel, and I can almost guarantee that you have saved a bucket full of money. Now the down side is that person up in that airline ivory tower will be tinkering with your flight numbers and flight times for the next 10 months, and what you purchase will most likely not resemble at all what you booked when you get ready to travel. But the best part.....your price hasn't changed!!!
Remember when booking, tell your travel agent that you want to travel on Tuesday; it is typically the least expensive day to travel, followed on most weeks by Saturday. The most popular departure day for travel is Friday. Sunday is usually the most expensive day to travel with Friday coming in right behind.
The experienced travel agents at The Travel Factory spend several hours a day searching out the best schedules and the best rates for our loyal clients, and they keep coming back because they know we will do our best to get them the very best rate available at the time they want to travel. We'll even give them several options and let them decide on which one they want to afford. It is always our aim to please, and to save our clients their time and money. So for all your travel needs, rely on our many years experience in helping our friends with their travel needs. We are at 4150 Southwest Drive at the Plaza at Park Central between Rosa's and Chick-Fil-A; phone is 325-698-1421 or 800-760-4040. Or visit our attractive website: www.thetravelfactoryabilene.com. We'd love to help you get outta town.