• Introduction
• 1. Factor New Airline Fees into Travel Costs
• 2. Monitor Your Route for Best Fares
• 3. Don’t Hold Out for Last-Minute Deals
• 4. Be Flexible: Avoid Peak Travel Days
• 5. Book a Flight & Hotel Package for Overall Value
• 6. Fly on the Holiday Itself
• 7. Consider Alternate Airports
• 8. Shop Around on Many Sites, Including Airlines’
• 9. Be Prepared to Layover to Cut Costs
• 10. Get Grounded: Look into Trains, Buses & Cars

Monitor Your Route for Best Fares

Unfortunately, there's no perfect science to locking in the season's lowest fares, given their tendency to fluctuate on seemingly day-to-day (or even hour-to-hour!) whims. As such, a savvy traveler's safest bet is to monitor rates chosen routes for at least a couple of days (and ideally more, based on your comfort level), in order to get a real sense of just what comprises a good price before booking. If you’re familiar with the going rates on said route outside of the peak holiday period, even better – you already have a good barometer of what you should normally be paying, and can anticipate that the rate during the holiday timeframe will be at least 20 percent higher (and probably a good deal more). Also consider using airfare tracking tools and signing up for fare change alerts at sites like FareCompare (www.farecompare.com), Bing Travel (www.bing.com/travel), or Yapta.com (www.yapta.com) – once you’ve firmly established a benchmark for your holiday fare, you’ll know when to pounce on it. If the rate seems to be headed in a downward spiral, terrific – follow it for a few days to see just how low it can go. However, if it seems to be moving upwards in price, it's probably best to not allow it to continue for more than one or two days in that direction before caving in and booking. And, if by chance your very first search should turn up a fare that stands out as exceptional, don’t bother dilly-dallying to track the route – snatch it up on the spot, especially if you intend to fly at peak travel times, like the day after Christmas.

See United States Travel Guide