00:00 Welcome back, even though it's still technically summer,
00:02 it's the time to be thinking about booking
00:03 that holiday travel.
00:05 It can be complicated to figure out the best way
00:07 to get the best deal.
00:08 So here's ABC's Justin Finch with some tips.
00:11 With the sweltering summer continuing
00:15 in many parts of the country,
00:17 it might not seem like the right time
00:19 to start planning your holiday vacations,
00:21 but experts say it is.
00:23 Prices are still too high, so you don't wanna book yet,
00:26 but start monitoring the price of your trips
00:28 for Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's,
00:30 and expect to book in mid-September to mid-October.
00:34 If you're booking after Halloween,
00:37 you've waited too long, prices will be extremely high.
00:39 Haley Berg of the travel website Hopper
00:41 is forecasting a busy holiday travel season this year.
00:45 Airlines are operating even more flights
00:48 and seats available to book this year
00:50 than they were at this time last year,
00:52 so we can expect that the holiday season
00:54 will be jam-packed with a lot of travelers.
00:56 If you're looking for the best dates
00:57 to fly for Thanksgiving, Berg says you can typically
01:00 save hundreds of dollars if you fly the day before
01:04 or on Thanksgiving Day itself.
01:07 Christmas is on a Monday this year,
01:09 so she suggests booking flights on Monday,
01:12 Tuesday, or Wednesday of the week before Christmas
01:15 to get the best airfares.
01:17 If you haven't decided yet where you wanna go,
01:20 you might want to think about an overseas trip.
01:23 We typically see that international destinations,
01:26 especially around the holidays,
01:28 can see huge price drops in the couple of months
01:31 before the holiday season, so if you are flexible,
01:34 you may be able to save significantly
01:36 by going where the deal is instead of the destination.
01:39 Berg doesn't anticipate the chaos and technical meltdowns
01:43 we saw in last year's holiday season,
01:46 but there are things you can do
01:48 to help your trip go as smoothly as possible.
01:51 The easiest way to protect yourself against disruption
01:54 is in the planning process.
01:56 Build in a buffer day when you're booking your flight
01:58 and try to book the first flight out in the morning.
02:01 If you depart before 8 a.m.,
02:03 you are 50% less likely to be delayed or canceled
02:07 than everyone departing after 8 a.m.
02:09 Justin Finch, ABC News, Washington.
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