Let me know if you try this on a flight because I don’t think I could last long.
Mark your calendar! The best day to buy holiday flights
Attention, travelers: I have good news! Despite a record-setting summer for travel prices, winter isn’t looking so bad — if you know when to book.
Luckily, you have me. I’ve been to 36 countries, and I’m still itching to see the rest of the world. I’ve learned lots of ways to save over the years.
Best time to book for the holidays
Travel booking site Hopper predicts tickets will go up, up, up the later into fall we get. I checked Google’s most recent travel data, too, and it shows you’ll pay the lowest if you book 71 days before departure. Overall, the typical low-price range is 54 to 78 days before takeoff.
🦃 Thanksgiving Day: This year, Thanksgiving falls on Nov. 28, so you’ll need to buy your tickets between Sept. 11 and Oct. 5. If you want to go by Google’s data, purchasing on Sept. 18 will give you the lowest price.
🎄 Christmas: If you’re looking at a departure date of Dec. 20, for example, the ideal date range to buy your airline tickets is between Oct. 3 and Oct. 27. Google recommends booking on Oct. 10.
This is what the research says, but if you want to be sure you have a seat on the plane, go ahead and get those tickets ASAP. Another tip: Travel on Wednesdays for the lowest fares, and take the earliest flight you can; If it gets canceled, you have greater odds of catching another flight.
Google Flights’ lowest-price guarantee
This can help you get the best deal on your plane ticket. Here’s how it works: When you book a flight through Google Flights, they guarantee if the price of your ticket goes down after you buy it, they’ll pay you back the difference.
You can tell if a flight has Google’s Price guarantee on Google Flights by looking for a little badge or label that says “Price guarantee” when you’re browsing flights. Not all flights have this guarantee, so you’ll need to keep an eye out for it.
There are a few gotchas, of course. The guarantee only works if you book through Google Flights, and it only covers the difference if the price drops within a certain time after you book.
Get automatic price drop alerts
Get the best vacation deals, without getting scammed
Aloha! I’m so excited. I just booked a trip to Hawaii. I scored a great hotel, a fabulous room and a knockout price (hello, extra night free!), so I figured there’s no better time to share my tricks.
And, because cyber creeps are everywhere, I have travel scams to warn you about, too. Let’s book your summer vacay or upgrade the one you have the right way.
A canceled or delayed flight is the worst: Before I leave for the airport, I look up my trip on FlightAware. If your plane is stuck in another city, you’ll see it there before your airline updates its app.
💄 All glammed up and no place to go: TikTok is loaded with people complaining that concealer, fake lashes and overlined lips in your passport photo can lead to big delays if you travel bare-faced (paywall link). You confuse both human and tech scanners. Btw, my passport photo is a publicity shot, and I’m happy to report I never get held up.
$12,000 in flights
To one winner in Frontier’s free-airfare-for-a-year contest. Another 100 folks will win a $1,000 voucher. You have until July 2 to enter. Hope you win!
The worst airlines for losing luggage
I bet you or someone you know has a luggage horror story. Here’s mine: On one trip to Paris, everyone got their luggage when we landed … except for Barry. I called British Airways at least a dozen times, asking when he’d get his bag. They couldn’t find it.
Stop texting for their travel ETA
Have someone flying in to visit this summer? No more tracking them online or trying to figure out if they’ve been delayed if you use this hack.
✈️ Cheap flight cheat code: Go to Google Flights, select your departure location for a round-trip flight, then choose Anywhere as your destination. Leave the dates blank, and watch a map populate with the cheapest round-trip tickets available. From Phoenix, I could vacay in Cancún for $229, Seattle for $38 and Bora Bora for $1,341. I know what you’re thinking: “Kim, I’ve always wanted to go Bora Bora, but I’m poor’a-poor’a!”
Lowest flight price, guaranteed: When you buy a qualifying ticket, Google Flights monitors the ticket price. If it drops before takeoff, you’ll get the difference. At flights.google.com, select a flight with a rainbow shield icon next to it. Click Book on Google and check the box next to Price Guarantee to accept the terms of service.
⌛ Quick travel booking tip: Based on average round-trip flight ticket prices, you can save up to 15% when you book on a Sunday. The cheapest day of the week to travel is Wednesday.
📶 Calling all RVers, travelers and campers: The new Starlink Mini dish gives you Wi-Fi anywhere, fueled by a power bank or solar generator. Price: $599 for the hardware, then $150 a month for unlimited data, or $50 per month for 50GB of data.
Calling all planners: Get the nitty-gritty details of your seat on your next flight with SeatGuru’s seat map tool. On your airline’s website, you just see the seat; it’s especially helpful to get more info for the tall and/or claustrophobic among us.
How to find hidden GPS trackers
Nervous that there might be someone following you? Here are five ways to spot sneaky GPS trackers in your car.
I’m leavin’ on a jet plane: Don’t wait in line for a bad passport pic. Head to Passport Photo Online and follow a few steps to take the perfect shot. It’s easy, and the site tells you exactly what to do. That means you won’t get rejected once you submit the pic.
$6,000 per ticket
To fly BarkAir. The dog-first airline sounds like a joke, but it’s totally real. It’s a private charter where you and your best friend are treated like royalty. Routes are super limited, but you can request one if you and the pup need a getaway. Hmm … How do I get them to sponsor Abby and me?
4 steps
To fall asleep on a plane. The “going-over-the-alpha-bridge” method is going viral on Instagram thanks to psychologist Erica Terblanche. Think it’d work for you? Watch the vid!
🛫 Get me outta here: Sharing this again because I always get a hearty “Thank you!” from someone who saved money on a flight. Based on average round-trip ticket prices, you can save up to 15% when you book on a Sunday. The cheapest day of the week to travel is Wednesday.
30 years without losing a bag
Japan’s Kansai International Airport (KIX) has gone that long without a single lost bag. Yup, officials there say they haven’t lost a customer’s bag since 1994. The workers confirm it but say it’s NBD; they’re just doing their jobs! I wish U.S. baggage handlers had the same idea — then, we wouldn’t need an AirTag in every bag!