Holiday travel 2025: Americans think they waited too long to book, but there's still time

We just got through Labor Day, but the winter holiday season is quickly approaching. For the second year in a row, TPG commissioned The Harris Poll to gauge Americans' sentiments around holiday travel. One of the most shocking findings was that those surveyed think they've already missed the best booking window for flights.

But we have good news.

The best time to book flights for Thanksgiving trips is from the end of September to the end of October. Trips for Christmas should be booked around Halloween and by mid-November at the latest — at least, if you want the best prices.

Related: The best time to book flights for the cheapest airfare

The best time to book domestic flights is one to two months ahead of time.

The other fascinating finding is that many more Americans are planning to travel for the holidays this year than last year. That's despite some data suggesting demand has fallen.

Americans are planning more holiday travel this year

Nearly 2 in 3 Americans (65%) are planning to travel during the holiday season (between Thanksgiving and New Year's) this year. That's an increase from just over half (51%) who said the same last year.

Younger generations seem particularly enthusiastic about traveling this holiday season. Generation Z and millennials are more likely to express intentions to travel and nearly twice as likely to plan international flights this holiday season, compared to Generation X and baby boomers.

Among those who plan to travel this holiday season, most (83%) are planning to visit family and friends, and more than half (55%) plan to take a vacation during this time (similar to 2024, when 81% planned to visit family and friends and 52% planned to take a vacation).

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Three in five holiday travelers (60%) plan to fly to their destination this holiday season (similar to 2024, when 55% noted they'd be flying for the holidays), with half (50%) planning domestic flights (up from 44% in 2024) and just over 1 in 4 (26%) planning to fly internationally (similar to 2024, when 24% mentioned plans to fly outside the U.S. for the holidays).

Among holiday travelers, Gen Z and millennials are more likely than Gen X and baby boomers to say they plan to fly internationally this holiday season (34% each for the former versus 18% and 16%, respectively, for the latter).

We should note that the 2025 survey was conducted in early September, one month earlier than the 2024 survey, which was conducted in early October of last year. This difference in timing may affect responses concerning travel.

When to book holiday travel — it's not too late

Despite our constant refrain to wait a little longer for prices to drop before booking flights for the holidays, more than half of holiday travelers (54%) have initiated booking at least some of their holiday travel, although only 31% say they have completed all their arrangements.

A majority of those who have started booking their holiday travel for this year report having scored savings (92%), with hotel stays (51%) topping the list, followed by saving on flights (42%), vacation rentals (34%) and rental vehicles (34%).

Of course, if you find a good deal on flights for the holidays, jump on it, but right now, prices for both Thanksgiving and Christmas trips are higher this year than they were last year, according to new data we collected with our friends at Points Path.

We found prices are about 7% higher year over year for both Thanksgiving and Christmas, but prices are likely to drop as we enter the historically best booking windows for holiday trips in the next few weeks and months.

If previous trends hold, we expect to see some fairly substantial fare drops over the next several weeks. Our best advice is to set Google Flights price alerts to monitor prices easily.

Points Path is a free web browser extension that shows points and miles award prices in Google Flights, along with cash fares. It uses reams of search data to better understand how airlines are currently pricing flights.

Related: How to use the Points Path extension to compare cash and award rates in Google Flights

As a reminder, TPG recommends booking domestic flights one to two months in advance. You should have already set a Google Flights alert, but now is the time to book Thanksgiving trips, and you should book Christmas travel around Halloween and no later than early November.

According to The Harris Poll-TPG survey, about 1 in 3 travelers who feel they've waited too long to book holiday travel say it's because they were waiting for prices to go down (33%) or waiting to confirm plans with friends and family (35%).

But, as we've suggested, it's not too late to book those flights.

It could still make sense to use points and miles

Of course, while it might not always be the perfect use of points and miles, using rewards for holiday travel could still be your best bet, especially if cash prices are high.

The Harris Poll-TPG survey found that a whopping 88% of holiday travelers with rewards program points or miles plan to redeem them for holiday travel, and more are planning to use their rewards for hotels (54%) than for airfare (32%) this year.

Just over 3 in 5 holiday travelers with travel rewards (62%) plan to redeem more travel rewards this year than they did last holiday season.

That's why those of us at TPG love having a stash of points and miles, whether you plan to use them for the holidays, last-minute emergencies or that once-in-a-lifetime trip in business class. It's always good to have a stash.

Related: Credit cards that can get you $1,000 or more in first-year value

Indeed, 4 in 5 holiday travelers (80%) are enrolled in travel rewards programs (up from 76% last year).

Interestingly, just over 2 in 3 holiday travelers (68%) say price is a bigger priority to them than staying at their favorite hotel or flying with their favorite airline when traveling this holiday season.

Travelers are worried about delays and cancellations

Finally, we found that weather delays are the biggest worry around holiday travel.

Of those planning travel, 88% have some concerns. Just over half (51%) are worried about weather delays (up from just 43% last year), and 47% say they are worried about high volumes of travelers (similar to 47% last year).

Other concerns holiday travelers are worried about while traveling include airline delays and cancellations (32%, up from 27% last year), packing (26%), lost luggage (26%) and traveling with gifts (18%).

But never fear: TPG is here with all the tips and tricks you need to win at holiday travel.

Related reading:

• Best airline credit cards
• What exactly are airline miles, anyway?
• Maximize your airfare: The best credit cards for booking flights
• What are points and miles worth? TPG's monthly valuations

Survey method: This survey was conducted online within the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of The Points Guy from Sept. 2-4, 2025, among 2,093 U.S. adults ages 18 and older, among whom 1,390 are planning to travel this holiday season. The 2024 survey was conducted online within the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of The Points Guy from Oct. 3-7, 2024, among 2,085 U.S. adults ages 18 and older, among whom 1,069 were planning to travel during the 2024 holiday season. The sampling precision of Harris online polls is measured by using a Bayesian credible interval. For these studies, the sample data is accurate to within +/- 2.5 percentage points using a 95% confidence level. This credible interval will be wider among subsets of the surveyed population of interest.