Now is the best time to book your Christmas holiday break for the cheapest price
The lowest priced festive fares are on sale now. Get them – stat!
The annual Skyscanner "Best Time to Book Christmas Flights" report has been released, assuring festival holidaymakers who have yet to secure their trips that it's not too late to grab a bargain.
In fact, the report which is based on the median price paid for economy flights over last year's festival period (21 December 2017 to 7 January 2018) in the weeks leading up to Christmas, showed that the sweet spot to book for the biggest bargains is 17 to 18 weeks in advance.
In other words: NOW.
Based on last year's figures, booking this week can save you an average of 24% on Christmas fares compared to any other time. And with Click FrenzyTM Travel knocking on our doors tomorrow night (21 Tuesday), there's no denying that now is a great time to be looking forward to your next big break.
Some of the biggest discounts anticipated to appear in the upcoming weeks, based on historical data patterns, include:
- Gold Coast - Bangkok flights: Book between 20-26 August for savings of up to 35%.
- Perth - Phuket flights: Book between 20-26 August for savings of up to 28%.
- Adelaide - Sydney flights: Book between 27 August and 2 September for savings of up to 46%.
- Sydney - Brisbane flights: Book between 27 August and 2 September for savings of up to 34%.
- Melbourne - Wellington flights: Book between 27 August and 2 September for savings of up to 35%.
- Perth - Penang flights: Book between 5-11 November for savings of up to 37%.
- Brisbane - Melbourne flights: Book between 3-9 September for savings of up to 35%.
We took a squiz at prices for these legs over the Christmas period selling right now and found flights such as Perth to Phuket from 22 December - 1 January from $747 return, Adelaide to Melbourne from 20 December to 4 January for $120 return and Hobart to Melbourne from 20 December to 5 January for $114 return.
You can search for all these and more through Flight Finder.
Hot tips for budget Christmas breaks
Timing the booking of your flight is one thing, but there are other ways to tweak your holiday to remain at, or even below, budget.
- Avoid travelling on 21 December. This is historically one of the most expensive dates to fly out on, costing an average of 21% more than if you waited a day or two more to head off.
- Fly out on Christmas Day. This is one we abide by and runs in conjunction with flying out on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. They're cheap because they're less desirable dates to be in the air.
- Fly mid-week and during the middle of the day. We sussed out the cheapest times to take off during the week in general and found mid-week flights the cheapest. If you'd prefer to fly outside of this, aim for flights in the middle of the day which tend to be cheaper than morning or evening flights.
- Book earlier, rather than later. Another one that goes without saying, the later you push your flights the more expensive they will be as the supply-and-demand scales tip out of your favour. Couple that with the fact that Skyscanner's report states that 84% of travellers still haven't booked their Christmas flights and you'll want to snap them up before somebody else does.
- Travel to less popular destinations. According to Skyscanner, some of the most popular destinations Aussies hit over the Christmas break last year included Bali, Melbourne, Sydney, Auckland and London. Most of these will be holiday trips (56%). However, a good chunk (37%) are to visit family, hence the local destinations. To save on costs, avoid these destinations for less popular ones where demand for seats isn't so great.
