Busiest days for Thanksgiving travel, how to find cheap last-minute destinations and tips for booking Christmas flights

With 20 days until Thanksgiving, now is the time to secure airfare deals for flights both domestic and abroad. With plenty of time to plan a last minute getaway for turkey day, or for those trying to plan ahead for Christmas, these travel experts’ tips will help guide anyone looking for a little escape this holiday season.
“The good news is there are a lot of deals this year, especially internationally,” Brian Kelly, CEO and founder of The Points Guy, told “Good Morning America” on Friday. “It’s probably going to be the busiest holiday travel season ever. We were up 9% going into the month, and since the election, we’ve seen a huge spike in interest.”
For those traveling during Thanksgiving week, Kelly noted that “Wednesday through Sunday will be the most expensive time to travel,” but he shared some great deals tracked by The Points Guy team for anyone interested in a last-minute holiday getaway.
Thanksgiving in the Caribbean for under $340
With airfare deals on flights to the Cayman Islands starting as low as $330 from New York City, Kelly suggested this Caribbean hotspot.
Tokyo for under $800
“If you want to go further, I love Japan, and Tokyo is an amazing year round destination. November and December can be a little chilly, so just pack a coat,” he suggested.
Flights from Charlotte to Tokyo start at $776 round-trip on Delta Air Lines, which is a nearly 34% price drop from the same time last year.
Adventure or luxury in Costa Rica
For any West Coasters who want to get away, Kelly said there are flights on Avianca from Los Angeles for “under $350 to go to Costa Rica, which is a great adventure destination.”
“There are some new luxury resorts that have opened up there,” he added. “So, lots of different options.”
For those that think they’ve missed the window on finding an affordable fare within the U.S., Kelly said, “The deals are out there, don’t assume all is lost less than three weeks away.”
JetBlue and Southwest both have flights from Denver to Boston for under $200, which is down nearly 57% in price for the same time period last year.
“Even for New Yorkers who want to get away to Miami, you would think that might be crazy expensive,” he said, adding that right now, United has flights to Miami for “less than $150.”
Both United and American Airlines also have fares starting at $358 from Dallas to Hawaii for anyone looking for a tropical getaway without the passport.
Kelly said you “have to learn how to hunt” for the good deals and recommended utilizing tools like Google Flights.
“You don’t actually book through Google Flights, but it will search all the different airlines,” he said. “They now have Southwest Airlines included in the results.”
Google also analyzed the top-searched destinations for Thanksgiving 2024, which showed Orlando, Cancun, New York, Tokyo and London in the top five spots, with others on Kelly’s list above, as well as Honolulu and San Juan.
Kelly also said now is the time for people to use their credit card points, because “the airlines are opening up more seats than ever.”
“There’s a lot of different ways to use points — I use a tool called points.me,” he said. “It will tell you if you have credit card points and where to transfer them to get the most value.”
“Six weeks out is the sweet spot domestically,” Kelly said of the Christmas booking window for U.S. destinations.
He noted, however, that “these are just rough rules” and to never assume there’s no more deals left.
“A lot of times airlines will still open up seats last-minute. Even the week of,” he said. “If you find out you can get off work, don’t just assume it’s going to be ridiculously expensive.”
Kelly also “highly recommends” people use the Google Flights Explore Map. “If you know the dates you can get away, put, for example, New York to the Caribbean, and it will show you a map of all Caribbean islands so you can choose the one with the cheapest flights.”
He also suggests using both the calendar and map features within Google Flights to see which airports, dates and destinations how the lowest fare.
From the Google Flights homepage on a computer, you can click “explore destinations” and select a departure city without adding a destination. Then zoom out on the map to see the best prices for destinations all over the world.