Not Christmas or July 4: here’s the day in 2025 expected to have the most air travel and how to plan
Make sure to keep an eye open if you plan on travelling on this specific date.
Alaska Airlines has identified December 1st as the single busiest day for air travel in the United States. GoBankingRates explain that avoiding this date, along with others like it, can help travellers plan more strategically and avoid paying over the odds for flights.
Experts suggest that booking too late almost always leads to higher costs, but buying tickets too early doesn’t guarantee a bargain either. For domestic trips, the ideal spot tends to be between one and three months before departure.
For international journeys, it’s smarter to plan three to five months ahead, and for far-off destinations like Asia or Oceania, five to seven months is ideal. Travel platforms also recommend starting to watch fares in late summer and locking in a price by mid-October if you’re flying during the holiday season.
Another reliable way to save is by choosing less popular days to fly. Midweek flights—particularly on Tuesdays and Wednesdays—are often much cheaper than Friday or Sunday departures. Saturdays can also be a surprisingly affordable option. Pairing a Saturday outbound flight with a Wednesday return often beats the typical Friday-to-Sunday pattern both in price and availability.
Avoiding peak dates altogether is another obvious but effective strategy. The days right before or after major holidays, such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve, are usually the most expensive. However, flying on the actual holiday—say, on Christmas Day or Thanksgiving morning—can cost significantly less, since demand is lower. This simple shift in scheduling can make a big difference, especially for families or groups traveling together.
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Finally, staying flexible and using the right tools can take the stress out of trip planning. Platforms like Google Flights let you compare fares across different days and airports, often revealing hidden savings. Even adjusting your itinerary by a single day can slice the price by a considerable amount. Flexibility isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s one of the most powerful ways to cut costs while still getting where you want to go.
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