The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: FerrumB5 on August 14, 2017, 10:39:30 AM
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Hi Folks,
what is the cheapest day to fly right after Xmas and back? If important - Chicago to Ft. Myers. Planning on 1+ week, dates flexible. Thanks!!
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Christmas day afternoon is usually very cheap, then the 26th.
Then wait until after New Years, and not on the morning of the first typical business day because of the work travellers getting back to the office.... so mid week.
We used to fly standby at Christmas, and Christmas day, sometimes the 26th were practically guaranteed that we would board the plane.
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Christmas afternoon is not only less expensive, it's less crowded.
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I find google flights flexible dates helpful for this: https://www.google.com/flights/. Looks like if you could to the 23rd or 24th instead you would save a few bucks, and even more if you could leave on Thursday the 21st. If you really need to leave after Christmas it looks like you'll be paying for it.
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really depends on the route, how far out you're booking, how full the flights are, etc. You really should check quoting online for all your date choices.
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Bf and I always end up traveling between Christmas and NYD because his family celebrates Christmas and my family celebrates NYD and we want to be with each family for their celebration. Even when I've wanted to leave soon after Christmas, we've usually found the cheapest tickets on the 28th or 29th, I think. I think on a couple occasions it's ended up being a Tuesday (which makes sense w/ people trying to take less time off work, etc) so that may be a driving factor.
The bad news: those tickets were probably double the other leg of the trip (before Christmas or after New Years) anyway :(