The Smartest Days to Fly Around the Holidays, According to Travel Experts

If your holiday tradition usually involves white-knuckling your way through serpentine airport security lines, battling for overhead bin space, and shelling out a small fortune for airfare, you’re certainly not alone. Between rising ticket prices and crowded terminals, the annual pilgrimage to see family often feels like the most stressful leg of the festive season. In fact, according to NerdWallet‘s 2026 Holiday Travel Report, 31% of Americans say they won’t spend money on holiday flights and hotels this year—a sharp jump from 22% last year—as higher travel costs force many to stay home.

Still, 42% of Americans plan to hit the road and take to the skies, budgeting an average of $2,439 for holiday flights and hotels. For parents with kids under 18, that figure surges to 62%, with many going to great lengths to make trips work: 18% of parents admit they are willing to book less comfortable routes like red-eyes or layovers to trim costs, while 26% are leaning heavily on credit card points to cover the tab.

The good news? You do not have to endure peak-season chaos or drain your savings just to be with loved ones. If you’re willing to tweak your departure dates, travel experts say there is a much smarter, less stressful window to take flight.

Related: This Is the Cheapest Day to Book Travel, According to Expedia

The Best Holiday Travel Hack: Skip Christmas Week Entirely

“If you can travel outside of Christmas entirely, that’s your best bet,” says Sally French, travel expert and co-host of NerdWallet’s Smart Travel Podcast. “My family is actually doing one big winter holiday celebration—Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year—the week before Thanksgiving. We call it the Bush Bash! With it, we have families flying in from all around the country—Missouri, Minnesota, Northern California, Idaho, Colorado, etc.—down to Southern California. Flights are way less expensive than traveling the holiday week.”

Related: Travel Advisors Say These Are the 5 Best Off-Season Trips to Take in November and December

If You Must Fly for the Holiday, Target These Exact Dates

For those who need to spend the actual holiday with loved ones, the secret lies in targeting specific, off-peak days rather than traveling during the traditional mid-week rush.

“If you can’t be in the air on the holiday, the next-best move is to leave earlier and come back later,” French explains. “We looked at five years of TSA data, and the quietest dates this year are Friday, Dec. 18 on the way out, and New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day on the way back. Lower demand generally means lower prices, so the least crowded days are usually the cheapest ones too. The ones to avoid are Dec. 21 through 23, and Dec. 29 and 30.”

The drop in crowd volume—and the potential savings that come with it—is significant. “Last year, about 2.07 million people went through airport security on Christmas Day, compared with the nearly 2.92 million who went through the following Sunday, according to NerdWallet’s analysis of TSA data. That’s about 29% fewer,” notes French. “Considering that fares tend to follow demand, that’s a pretty good indicator of where the savings are.” She points out that simply comparing flight schedules can reveal major pricing swings: “Sometimes flying out one day later can amount to hundreds of dollars in savings. For a family taking roundtrip flights, that can net out to thousands of dollars in savings.”

Related: Travel Tuesday: What It Is and How To Get Flight Deals

Beware the Calendar ‘PTO Trap’ This Season

Navigating the travel calendar this year is particularly tricky because both Christmas Day and New Year’s Day fall on Fridays. That setup creates two back-to-back long weekends with only three working days in between, which tempts standard Monday-through-Friday workers to snag 11 consecutive days away for just three days of paid time off.

However, French warns that this convenience will trigger massive travel bottlenecks: “I anticipate that a lot of people will take advantage of that and book one long trip for the period between Christmas and New Year’s. Not only does that mean higher airfares, but it definitely means big crowds particularly at popular family destinations like Walt Disney World. If you’re flexible at all, steer clear of those.”

How to Outsmart the Holiday Rush Without Missing the Magic

To capture the best rates without missing out on cherished moments, French reminds flyers: “You probably have more flexibility than you think.” She suggests several realistic strategies depending on your family’s schedule:

• “Fly on Christmas Eve if you need to be there by Christmas morning. Christmas Eve is typically cheaper/less crowded than Dec. 23, but it still gives you some wiggle room if flights are delayed or something else goes wrong.”

• “Book a morning flight. Early departures are generally less prone to delays and cancellations than evening ones, simply because problems related to a late inbound aircraft are the No. 1 reason for flight delays. If you’re the first flight of the day, you can’t be part of that snowball effect of late flights throughout the day.”

• “Fly the week before if you can work remotely or take a few days off. Crowds ease the farther you get from Christmas, and the Monday and Tuesday the week before tend to be lighter.”

• “Shift the celebration, as I do!. If your family is flexible, consider celebrating a couple of days or even weeks later. We do a mid-November celebration, but historically, January and February tend to be the cheapest months to fly.”

Related: A Travel Pro Is Begging You To Stop Making This Expensive Holiday Booking Mistake

This story was originally published by Parade on Nov 2, 2026, where it first appeared in the Travel section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.