Now is the best time to book cheap Christmas flight deals. As we routinely write, the best time to buy cheap Christmas flight deals is one to two months in advance of departure. We are now just over a month ahead of booking for Christmas, thus airfares should be at their cheapest around this time.

If you wait too long, costs may rise as we near Christmas — so consider this your fair warning to hurry booking. Unfortunately, our most recent data analysis of travel prices for the 2025 holidays reveals that overall, rates have increased year over year; fortunately, this increase hasn't been as significant as it was in October. But rates will only surge after mid-November for Christmas flights.

Our recommendation for discovering the cheapest prices ahead of time is to watch the search starting three months before the dates you plan to visit. (Of course, you should take advantage of any offers you come across before then.)

That lines up with what Google reports, too:

• 35 days prior to departure, Thanksgiving travel costs are typically at their lowest.
• 51 days before departure, the average cost of travel for Christmas and New Year's is usually at its lowest.

I'm a major admirer of Google Flights because you can create alerts for particular places. Additionally, keep in mind that, provided you don't purchase basic economy tickets, you can receive a trip credit for the fee difference if you book now. For this reason, standard economy fares are always advised by TPG instead of basic economy.

Read Also: How to Book Southwest Christmas Deals/Sales 2025?

Holiday pricing patterns for 2025

Our final analysis on vacation airfare trends is not what we intended to share. As previously indicated, with the exception of a few particular cabins and dates, fresh data from our friends at Points Path indicates that rates are rising annually for both Thanksgiving and Christmas excursions.

A free browser plugin called Points Path displays Google Flights point and mile award costs in addition to cash fares. Reams of search data are used by Points Path to gain a better understanding of the current flight pricing practices of airlines.

Thanksgiving prices

We examined search data for international coach and premium cabins, as well as over 100,000 flights with economy tickets over Thanksgiving week. The data was collected as of Oct. 19.

Overall, coach rates within the U.S. are up by around 3.4% YOY to little under $586 for the Thanksgiving weekend. For domestic travel, business-class and premium economy costs are down 1%-5%, though average fares for first class are up by a stunning 12%.

International pricing for coach tickets are up roughly 3% YOY, though we are witnessing dramatic decreases of between 6% and 35% in international premium economy, business- and first-class cabins. If you want to treat yourself to first-rate accommodations abroad for Thanksgiving, you have good news. The

Christmas prices

Prices for Christmas flights show similar trends, with domestic economy tickets costing $639 compared to $633 in 2024. Fares in coach are around 1% higher year over year. Domestic flights in premium cabins exhibit even greater YOY price rises of 8% to 16%. International costs are generally down thus far, averaging $1,258 for coach seats.

Unfortunately, the YOY drop in airfare we observed earlier this year hasn't carried into the holidays. Prices are overall higher, especially for domestic fares. Still, fares aren't going to drop much cheaper than they are today, so it's best time to buy flights for Christmas.