Avoid These 7 Mistakes When Booking Vacation Trips

We’re still a month away from turkeys appearing en masse on supermarket shelves and familiar Christmas tunes blaring from store speakers. However, now is the best time to get serious book vacation trips – especially when it comes to flights.

To avoid paying a premium for vacation travel, it’s a good idea to book your vacation airfare as early as possible. According to a seasonal forecast From Google Flights, you should try to book Thanksgiving flights in early October and Christmas and New Year’s flights in late October.

But how soon you make your reservations isn’t the only factor to consider when solidifying your holiday travel plans, whether you’re heading home for Thanksgiving or heading to the mountains in late December. skiing. The type of ticket you book, the dates of your trip and even the credit card you use Defining your travel plans can also be a critical part of your experience.

One of the most common errors is waiting too long to make flight reservations. Here are seven more mistakes to avoid when booking travel for the 2024 holidays.

Mistake 1: Being inflexible with travel plans

Being inflexible with travel plans prevents you from being able to take advantage of the lowest possible airfare.

For those of us with full-time in-person jobs or families with work or school requirements, flexibility is often easier said than done, especially when it comes to the short Thanksgiving holiday period.

However, anything you can do to open up your airfare search can help.

Let’s say I’m a college student or young professional in Washington, DC, who needs to get home to Austin for Thanksgiving.

Depending on my schedule, I may feel that I have to fly out of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), the closest airport to Washington, no earlier than 4 pm on the Wednesday before the holiday and fly back the following Sunday.

With all of those parameters for my search, the cheapest nonstop itinerary currently available is a whopping $858 on Southwest Airlines, according to a quick search on Google Flights.

However, watch what happens if I rearrange my agenda and schedule and search all the airports in the Washington region.

Here’s a round-trip flight for $564, again, on Southwest, departing from Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI). It still comes out the Wednesday before, just earlier in the day; It’s also back on Sunday, albeit with a connection to save you a couple hundred dollars.

That’s a 34% savings simply by removing some rigidity from my plans, although you should always proceed with caution when deciding to introduce a connection during a busy travel week.

Any other flexibility you can find in your plans can help, whether it’s leaving on a different day or, for ultra-flexible travelers, flying from a different location where fares are cheaper.

Mistake 2: Flying on busiest days

In both 2019 and 2023, the Transportation Security Administration set all-time records for passenger volume at checkpoints.

This summer, those records were broken several times and nine of the 10 busiest days at TSA checkpoints It occurred between Memorial Day weekend and Labor Day.

Expect the same this Thanksgiving, particularly the Sunday after the holiday, when millions of travelers will return home.

Since airfare is dictated by supply and demand, you’ll often see the worst prices on the busiest days surrounding major holidays. So the more you can do to avoid those peak days, the better.

On Thanksgiving, the Hopper reservation app suggests fly on the Monday before the holiday or before. To avoid the biggest crowds and highest prices on the return trip, the company suggests one of two options: fly home on Black Friday immediately after the holiday or the Monday after Turkey Day.

Likewise, you can save money by avoiding peak Christmas travel days. New Year’s Eve is one of the best days to fly this year, Hopper notes.

Another way to save beyond extending your trip? Fly to your destination on the major holiday (such as Thanksgiving or Christmas). Often, with so many travelers already in their destinations, crowds are smaller, and that often translates into lower prices.

Mistake 3: Forgetting to set up an airfare alert

The ideal is to book or cancel holiday flights soon. However, if your plans aren’t set in stone or you’re not ready to take the leap yet, the worst thing you can do is forget to book and simply “check back in a few weeks.”

Several sites have services that will alert you to price fluctuations in airfare.

Let’s say I’m planning to book a Christmas flight from San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to Denver International Airport (DEN) and I’m not yet prepared to pay for this $379 round trip on United Airlines. In that case, I will use Google Flights’ “Price Tracking” feature.

As soon as I do that, Google Flights will monitor any fluctuations in my itinerary and send me email alerts about any changes.

Mistake 4: Using the wrong credit card

Another common mistake travelers can make is using the wrong credit card to book a flight, hotel, or other element of the trip.

There are a couple of factors to consider when deciding which card to use. You may want to use a card that earns you the most rewards on airline or hotel purchases or a card that can help you reach the top with elite status as the year ends.

Perhaps most important, however, is to use a card in your wallet with travel insurance benefits. Many cards will reimburse you for covered trip cancellations, trip interruptions, or other issues. Using the right card can save you hundreds of dollars if you get stranded somewhere and face an unexpected night in a hotel.

Often, cards with travel insurance benefits will pay expenses even when a flight is canceled, for example due to weather, which airlines typically don’t cover.

However, there is one key stipulation: you generally must book all aspects of the trip with that card to be eligible for an insurance claim.

On many occasions we have I heard stories from TPG readers. who have filed a travel insurance claim with their card issuer after a cancellation and an unexpected hotel night. Only later did they realize that they had booked their flight with a different card and were therefore not entitled to any refund.

Mistake 5: Using too many miles or points

Here at TPG we will be the first to say it: Using points and miles It’s a great way to reduce the out-of-pocket cost of travel.

However, treating your hard-earned points and miles like the currency they are is key to avoiding giving away too much at once.

Now that many airline and hotel loyalty programs use less predictable methods dynamic award pricing modelsYou could end up paying too much in points or miles for a flight during the expensive holiday season if you’re not careful.

As tempting as it may be to avoid paying for that Thanksgiving flight, using all your points for holiday travel will mean nothing left for next year’s holidays. This would be especially unfortunate if you had been saving for a long-haul business class seat or another redemption that could give you more value for your points.

If in doubt, consult TPG. prize vs cash calculatorthat will help you compare prices in dollars and points to decide how to book.

Mistake 6: Packing more than necessary

Overpacking for any trip can cost you, but during the hectic and already expensive holiday season, it can push flight costs far beyond your budget.

Proceed with caution when booking a basic economy ticket or a flight on a very low-cost airline. It can be an attractive way to save some money on the base fare, but it can cost you money for a small suitcase even if you weren’t planning on checking a bag.

On low-cost airlines, baggage costs for both carry-on and checked bags may increase at the airport compared to online costs.

If you’re checking a suitcase, keep its weight in mind, especially at Christmas when you’re likely to return home with gifts in your luggage. Checking multiple bags or bringing a bag weighing more than 50 pounds can incur significant fees.

That being said, this is where the right trip or airline credit card It can pay for itself – the right card can often provide multiple family members traveling on the same reservation with free checked baggage.

Mistake 7: Making reservations that you cannot cancel or change

If the last few years have taught us anything, it’s the value of having an “out” in your travel plans.

This is especially true during the holidays. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the travel industry and the subsequent rise of the omicron variant ruined many people’s plans three years ago. Then, the Southwest Airlines crisis hit in 2022.

One of the best ways to be prepared for any problems that arise with your travel plans, before or during your trip, is to make reservations that you can cancel for a full refund or full travel credit.

Flights

For airlines, the three “legacy” airlines (American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines) will generally give you full travel credit if you cancel even a non-refundable main cabin ticket. They also do not charge change fees on regular economy fares.

However, on many airlines, basic economy tickets tend to be much more restrictive in terms of ticket changes (which are typically not allowed unless you pay) and cash back (even travel credit).

Southwest Airlines will give you, at a minimum, full travel credit on all tickets as long as you cancel at least 10 minutes before departure.

Hotels and car rental.

Changing your plans is much more difficult when you’ve already invested non-refundable prepaid money on hotel reservations and car rentals.

Although choosing to “pay now” for hotels and cars can be an attractive way to save some money, proceed with caution when paying in advance.

Generally, most hotel reservations and standard car rentals will allow you to cancel, penalty-free, up to a day or two before your trip. This allows you to adapt to any unexpected turns; It also allows you to cancel and rebook your stay if you later find a better price.

By the way, award flights or stays booked with points generally don’t have the features of prepaid, non-refundable reservations. If something comes up, you can usually cancel and get your points or miles back.

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