New data shows steep drop in airfares for Labor Day: What it means for holiday flights
The trend of lower airfares is intensifying as we head into the fall of 2025. As we've been reporting, it's been what TPG has called the "summer of savings," as airfare dropped year over year for peak summer travel in 2025.
New data from our friends at Points Path shows fares are down across the board for the Labor Day long weekend as well — and it may signal lower prices for the holidays as we head into the slower fall period.
Points Path is a free web browser extension that shows points and miles award prices in Google Flights, along with cash fares. Points Path 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
We looked at over 100,000 flights with economy pricing for the four-day Labor Day weekend period, along with search data for international coach and premium cabins.
Points Path and TPG found average fares for domestic flights over the long weekend were down 7.44% from 2024 to 2025, down to around $408 from $440 last year. International economy fares were down even more on average: 8.44%, to about $859.
If you are one of the few folks flying international first class, you'll see really dramatic savings, with average cash prices down more than 23%.
In fact, the only category that saw year-over-year price increases was international premium economy, where prices rose by more than 4% on average. No wonder more and more airlines are investing in premium economy.
The story was similar for points bookings, though not as consistent overall. The data shows that domestic points prices were down 4.46% overall, with international prices down by a similar 4.83% year over year. The cost for premium economy international airfare using points also bucked the pricing trend — though up only 1.21% year over year.
Just to highlight a few examples:
Average airfare for coach tickets for Las Vegas' Harry Reid International Airport (LAS) was $441 this year, compared to about $538 last year, a decline of nearly 18%. Las Vegas has been particularly hard hit by a drop in international demand.
Internationally, while searches for Tokyo-area airports were up more than 40%, average coach ticket prices were down almost 13% year over year to $1,226. Prices were down for international cities nearly universally for the more than 20 airports we checked, with only destinations such as Iceland, Costa Rica, Milan and a few airports in Canada showing increased prices.
So what does all this data mean for you? It may mean cheaper tickets for your flight home for Christmas.
How you can save on holiday travel
Usually, we tell people to book domestic flights one to two months ahead of time and international flights three to five months ahead of time.
While we usually tell people to stick to those timelines, we've seen lots of last-minute deals this year.
Still, I'd strongly urge folks to begin tracking prices for the holidays now — and if you see a deal, jump on it.
I've written extensively about how to save money, but my top tips remain the same:
- Book vacation packages with companies like American Airlines Vacations.
- Use Google Flights Explore to find the cheapest destinations from your home airport.
- Set price alerts on Google Flights and track prices.
- Book now and rebook later if the prices drop (don't try this with basic economy fares).
- Use award booking tools (like Points Path).
- Be flexible with your dates.
I hope this data from our friends at Points Path means there are lots of deals just in time for Christmas. We will have updated looks at pricing for the holidays in the coming weeks, so stay tuned. For now, start shopping and set those price alerts.
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