Your Guide to Thanksgiving Travel Savings

 

By: Hipmunk Staff

The holidays seem to come sooner each year, and while we’re advocates of enjoying each season as it comes, we’re even bigger fans of saving our hard-earned money.

That’s right— it’s time to start thinking about your Turkey Day travel plans. After recent buzzthat August 10 was the best date by which to  purchase Thanksgiving airfare, an examination of our own data revealed that 2014 booking prices truly begin to rise a week or so later, making next week the optimum time to purchase tickets.

Scroll down for more tips, including the busiest and cheapest Thanksgiving dates, average round trip airfare, and whether it might be worth it to consider alternate airports.

When to Buy

We examined Hipmunk’s historical Thanksgiving booking data and found that, while there were slight fluctuations in prices from August until T-Day, airfare was never again as low as it was on the third week of August.

Month over month comparisons show a steady rise in booking prices, and a 28 percent total increase in average booking prices.

Busiest and Cheapest Dates

• 40 percent of Thanksgiving travelers fly out on Wednesday and return on Sunday.

• Departing on Wednesday and returning on Saturday is most likely to bag you the cheapest fares (average price $405), but you’d have to be ok with braving the Wednesday crowd.

• Departing on Monday and returning on Sunday will return the steepest ticket price. With an average price of $567, that’s $142 more than the least expensive travel date range.

We compiled this chart of average round trip Thanksgiving airfare to the top 30 U.S. cities so you’ll have a better idea of how much a trip home for turkey day will cost you this year.

Thanksgiving 2014 Avg. Roundtrip Airfare to 30 Most Popular Airports
1. Atlanta (ATL)              $442	11. Houston (IAH)          $491	21. Ft Lauderdale (FLL) $579
2. LA (LAX)                    $519	12. Miami (MIA)             $565	22. Baltimore (BWI)       $551
3. Chicago (ORD)          $437	13. Seattle (SEA)           $456	23. DC (IAD)                  $531
4. Dallas (DFW)             $433	14. Newark (EWR)         $549	24. Chicago (MDW)       $359
5. NYC (JFK)                 $610	15. Orlando (MCO)        $571	25. Salt Lake (SLC)       $407
6. Denver (DEN)            $426	16. Minneapolis (MSP)  $384	26. DC (DCA)                 $436
7. SF (SFO)                   $493	17. Detroit (DTW)           $456	27. Honolulu (HNL)        $949
8. Charlotte (CLT)          $431	18. Boston (BOS)           $526	28. San Diego (SAN)     $511
9. Las Vegas (LAS)        $483	19. Philadelphia (PHL)   $491	29. Tampa (TPA)           $554
10. Phoenix (PHX)         $456	20. NYC (LGA)               $415	30. Portland (PDX)         $456

Alternate Airport Savings

If your primary concern when planning Thanksgiving travel is cost, it’s worth considering alternative airports. Here’s how some of the biggest hubs compare to their neighbors.

• Los Angeles
  • Long Beach: $499; LAX: $519; Orange County: $533
  • Savings: Up to $34 by flying into Long Beach
• San Francisco Bay Area
  • Oakland: at $383; San Jose: $461; SFO: $493
  • Savings: Up to $100 by flying into Oakland
• New York City
  • LaGuardia: $415, Newark: $549; JFK: $610
  • Savings: Up to $195 by flying into LaGuardia
• Chicago
  • Midway International: $359; O’Hare: $437
  • Savings: Up to $78 by flying into Midway
• Washington, DC
  • Ronald Reagan: $436; Dulles: $531; BWI: $551
  • Savings: Up to $115 by flying into Ronald Reagan
• Miami
  • Miami: $565; Ft. Lauderdale: $579; Palm Beach: $605
  • Savings: Up to $40 by flying into Miami

Methodology

Busiest Thanksgiving travel dates established by number of actual airfare bookings on Hipmunk from January 1, 2014 – November 26, 2014 for travel dates between November 24 – 30, 2014. Average Thanksgiving airfare and booking frequency based on roundtrip flights between airports in top 30 U.S. cities.

Alternate airport roundtrip airfare pricing based on average booking prices for common Thanksgiving travel dates (November 24 – 30, 2014) from top 30 cities to specified alternate airports booked from January 1 – November 26, 2014.