2024 Christmas Holiday Travel Outlook

Last-Minute Christmas Airfare Prices

Last minute domestic airfare for Christmas is averaging $371 per round trip ticket, up 8% from the first week of December last year. Prices have risen 10% in the last 5 weeks, rising by $35 on average, and are set to spike as the holidays draw closer. Last year prices spiked by $100 per domestic ticket or about 27% in the last 3 weeks before departure. 

Last minute international airfare remains high to most regions of the world for last minute holiday trips, with fares to Europe over $1,300 per ticket, up 38% from last year. 

Airport Traffic - What to expect at the airport?

32.5 million seats are currently scheduled to depart from US airports between Monday December 23rd and New Year’s Day, representing a 2.4% increase compared to what was scheduled at this time last year for the holiday. Unlike Thanksgiving week, there isn’t a single busiest day to travel, with most days between Christmas and the New Year expecting to see high volumes of travelers. 

To avoid the crowds this year, plan to travel on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day and again over New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.

Busiest Airports Christmas 2024

This Christmas and New Year travel week major US airports like Atlanta, Dallas Fort-Worth and Denver will be some of the busiest, serving over 1.3 million scheduled departing seats each. The morning will be busiest in most airports, with the highest volume of seats scheduled to depart between 8am and 12pm in most major cities. All three busiest airports are seeing higher disruption rates headed into the December holiday season, so travelers should plan ahead for extra time at security and potential disruptions. 

Table: Total seats scheduled to depart on flights leaving between December 23rd and January 1st. 

Tips for Managing Holiday Crowds & Flight Disruptions

With children out of school, many workplaces slowing down and millions of Americans headed home or on vacation for the holidays- Christmas week is one of the busiest weeks of the year to travel. For those hitting the skies- plan for longer lines at security and potential delays or cancellations as the airports are packed with larger schedules than usual. 

Last year the two days following Christmas had a flight disruption rate almost 2x higher than that of Christmas Day! Travelers flying immediately after the holiday should plan ahead for busier airports and potential disruptions. 

With winter weather already impacting millions of Americans and flights in early December, travelers should be monitoring weather as their flight dates approach so they can be prepared for any unexpected weather related impacts. Though travelers can’t predict when a travel disruption will impact their travel, they can plan ahead to minimize the potential impact, both travel related and financial, of unexpected disruptions. 

How to prepare before you book holiday trips: 

• Plan for disruptions: If you’re flying this holiday season, we recommend adding rebooking services like Disruption Assistance offered on Hopper and other travel providers. If your flight is delayed, canceled or you miss a connection, you can immediately rebook on any flight, regardless of carrier. 

• Book the first flight of the day: In general, flights departing after 9am are 2X more likely to be delayed than departures scheduled between 5-8am. To avoid travel disruption, fly as early in the morning as possible.

• Fly direct: You will usually pay a premium to fly direct, rather than with stops, but it may be worth the cost for travelers concerned about getting to their destination on time. Missed connections following flight delays or cancellations can make getting to your destination on time challenging during busy travel periods marred by bad weather or other disruptions. 

• Build in a buffer day: Travel a day early to your holiday celebrations if possible, that way if you’re impacted by a delay or cancellation you will have 24 hours to reschedule your travel and get onto your final destination. 

• Book with flexibility: With recent disruptions at the airport, travelers may want to consider adding extra flexibility to their travel plans in the future in case they want to make last minute changes. Travelers should take advantage of plans like Cancel for Any Reason or Change for Any Reason available on the Hopper app. With these plans, Hopper pays the difference to the airline if you make changes or cancel your trip all together - with no additional cost to the traveler.

How to prepare before you head to the airport: 

• Sign up for alerts & check flight status before you go to the airport. You’ll want to know about delays and cancellations as early as possible. On most U.S. carriers, passengers can sign up for text, email, and/or in-app notifications about any changes to their itinerary including delay and cancellations. 

• Know what options you have available: Know what other flights are headed to your destination the same day as your trip in case you’re disrupted and need to get on another flight. Be sure to check airline policies, many carriers will waive change fees if there is a weather advisory or give compensation/travel credit if your flight is canceled within a few hours of departure.

What to do if you are impacted by travel disruptions: 

• Multi-task. As soon as you learn of a disruption, hop in line to speak with a customer service agent in your terminal. At the same time, try to change your flight yourself in the airline’s app and/or call the airline’s customer service call center. Oftentimes you can reach an agent via phone before an agent at the airport can get to you. Sometimes you can even reebok yourself on the airlines own app!

• Consider alternate airports. If you’re flying out of a major city with multiple airports, check out flights still scheduled to depart that may get you onto your destination more quickly. If you’re stranded in cities like New York, Chicago, and Dallas, your ticket home may be just a train or Uber ride away. 

• Pack your patience. It’s impossible to predict travel disruptions but we should expect there will be more of them during the busiest travel weeks of the year. With more passengers departing from airports over these holiday weeks than usual, everything from backups on the tarmac to bad weather can impact your travel plans. Pack your patience and plan ahead to make sure you’re prepared for anything unexpected. 

Accommodation Prices

Most Booked Destinations for Christmas 2024

Last-Minute Christmas Booking Tips

• Book ASAP!: Prices will only increase as we get closer to Christmas and New Years. Travelers who are planning to fly over Christmas and the New Year should book now, as prices are expected to spike by as much as 27% in the last 3 weeks before the holiday. 

• When it comes to your hotel stay, it can pay to book last-minute: Hotels often drop prices in the days leading up to the holiday, especially in big cities. Be sure to favorite a few hotels on Hopper and the app will alert you as soon as a good deal becomes available.

• Plan a Staycation: Planning to stay home for the holidays? Or wondering if you’ll need to escape to a hotel at the end of a long day with family and friends? With everyone getting out or away for the holidays and corporate travel slowing for the end of year, Christmas can be a great time to schedule a staycation in a major city near you! Hotels in big cities see a slow down in reservations at the holidays, leading them to drop prices at the last minute for interested travelers. 

• Be flexible on travel dates: You can save the most by being flexible with your travel dates. You can save nearly $200 off per ticket, just by being flexible with your travel dates for the holidays. The cheapest days to travel? On the holidays themselves,  Christmas Eve, Christmas Day & New Year’s Eve.

Holiday Deals Available to Book Now

• Boston, Massachusetts to Nassau, The Bahamas for as low as $377 round-trip on Hopper

• Boston, Massachusetts to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for as low as $116 round-trip on Hopper

• Dallas, Texas to San Juan, Puerto Rico for as low as $369 round-trip on Hopper

• Houston, Texas to Cancun, Mexico for as low as $290 round-trip on Hopper

• New York City, New York to Charleston, South Carolina for as low as $161 round-trip on Hopper

• Newark, New Jersey to Fort Lauderdale, Florida for as low as $215 round-trip on Hopper

• Newark, New Jersey to Charleston, South Carolina for as low as $157 round-trip on Hopper

Methodology

Average airfares are calculated as a demand weighted average of the 10th percentile of prices available to book during the period of searches utilized for the report. This report looks at prices based on the previous 1 week of searches for holiday dates. Prices for Christmas travel dates are defined as departures beginning December 21st, 2024 and ending on Christmas Eve, unless noted otherwise. Average hotel rates are calculated as demand weighted averages of rates available to book in the week ending December 3rd, 2024. For trip level recommendations on when to purchase a flight to get the best price, set up a price watch in the Hopper App.