I get some version of this question every August. Is it too early to book Thanksgiving and Christmas flights. This year the answer is no, and waiting is going to cost you.

Both holidays follow a pattern that's easy to miss if you're not watching for it.

Thanksgiving books first

Thanksgiving 2026 falls on Thursday, November 26th. Multiple fare tracking sources put the cheapest booking window at 8 to 12 weeks out, which for this year lands between late August and mid-October. Google's own flight data pegs the average lowest fare at around 35 days before departure. Wait past mid-October and prices start climbing fast.

Christmas needs an earlier start

Christmas airfare behaves the same way but on a longer runway. The cheapest fares tend to show up 32 to 73 days before the holiday, which for a December 25th flight means the window opens in mid-October, with Halloween as the hard deadline most travel experts use. After that, prices climb steadily through the peak December 19th to 26th travel window.

Holiday booking windows for 2026
When to start watching, when to book by
Thanksgiving (Nov 26)Book by mid-October
Christmas (Dec 25)Book by Halloween, Oct 31
Average lowest Thanksgiving fare~35 days out
Average lowest Christmas fare~51 days out

Which days actually save you money

For Thanksgiving, flying out Tuesday, November 24th or on Thanksgiving Day itself, November 26th, is meaningfully cheaper than the Wednesday before, which is the single busiest travel day of the year. On the return, Friday the 27th or Monday the 30th beat the Sunday after by a wide margin.

For Christmas, avoid December 23rd and 26th if you can. Those two days carry the steepest fares of the entire season because everyone is trying to fly on the exact same two days.

Last year's Thanksgiving data gives a good sense of what waiting actually costs. AAA's 2025 Thanksgiving numbers put the average roundtrip domestic fare at $700, a figure that mostly reflects travelers who booked late. Travelers who booked in early October last year paid meaningfully less for the same routes.

Four things to actually do this week

01
Set a Thanksgiving deadline for yourself right now. Aim to have Thanksgiving flights booked by the end of September. Every week past that, the math gets worse.
02
Start watching Christmas fares in the next few weeks. You don't have to book today, but set a price alert now so you actually see the drop when it happens instead of missing it.
03
Build your dates around the cheap days, not the other way around. A Tuesday departure and Friday or Monday return for Thanksgiving, or avoiding December 23rd and 26th for Christmas, is worth more than almost any other single decision you'll make on this trip.
04
Run the whole cost before you commit, not just the flight. A cheap flight booked into an expensive hotel week doesn't actually save you anything. Check the whole trip together.

Run your holiday numbers now.

See what the whole trip costs before you lock in flights.

Run Your Holiday Budget →

Related reading

Sources

  1. ShopBack: When to Book Thanksgiving Flights 2026, US Cheapest Window
  2. Pointhound: Best Time to Book Flights in 2026
  3. TSA Wait Times: When to Book Holiday Flights, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Spring Break
  4. The Points Guy: The Best Time to Book Flights for Cheap Airfare in 2026

Published August 25, 2026. Booking-window figures reflect fare-tracking data available at time of writing. Individual routes and prices vary. Always confirm before booking.

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