Holiday Travel Guide

Holiday travel is known as a huge hassle. Everyone has the stories of waiting in the endless lines at the airport, lost luggage, delayed flights and backed up lines going through security due to the packages everyone is carrying on board. Well, I can’t do anything about that! However, I can give you some tips to make the booking process go slightly smoother and hopefully give you one less headache this holiday season!

Here are my tips:

·      Book Early

I generally suggest booking your holiday travel as far out as possible. The prices during the holidays are always going to be higher, but they will be a little bit higher 6 months out but MUCH higher 6 weeks out!

·      Try to Be Flexible with your dates

I realize this isn’t possible for everyone, but the more flexibility you have the greater your chance is of finding a flight that is reasonable. For example: the Wednesday before Thanksgiving is the WORST day of the year to travel. Traveling on Thanksgiving Day itself is generally more affordable and easier. There are fewer people, no lines and fewer delays.  Plus, if you get a morning flight you can make it to your destination in time for Thanksgiving Dinner! Plus, it gets you off the hook for helping prepare the meal ;-)

·      Be Careful with Connections

When booking flights during the holiday season be extra careful of your connections and make sure you have enough time between flights.  Flights during the Holidays are often delayed and you don’t want to arrive in your connecting city to find out that you’ve missed your connecting flight. Avoiding tight connections may save you the hassle of having to get moved to another flight or having 10 minutes to sprint through 4 terminals while carrying Christmas gifts for 30 people…. arriving at your connecting flight covered in sweat and so miserable that you make the Grinch seem like Santa.  My advice is no less than a 2 hour connection during holidays.

·      Arrive at the Airport Early

Most of us have navigated our home airports enough to know the minimum amount of time we need to be at the airport before a flight. During the holidays, these rules DO NOT apply. Example: If you generally get to the airport 1 hour before your flight plan 2 hours for holiday flights. If you generally get to the airport 1.5 hours prior to a flight plan 3 hours for Holiday flights…Catch my drift? The security lines are longer, more people are checking bags, more children are travelling, etc.

·      The Early Bird Catches the Worm

As a general rule of thumb not just for holiday travel, but anytime time of year is early morning flights tend to be on time more than flights later in the day. So if you can get out on the first flight of the day.

I hope these tips help make your holiday travel a little less stressful! If you have any questions about your holiday travel plans do not hesitate in contacting me!

Bon Voyage!