Holiday Travel 2025: Americans think they’ve been waiting too long, but there’s still time
We just spent Labor Day, but the winter season approached quickly. TPG has commissioned a Harris poll for the second consecutive year to assess Americans’ sentiment towards holiday travel. One of the most shocking findings was that the people under investigation believed they had missed the best booking window for their flights.
But we have good news.
The best time to book a Thanksgiving trip is from the end of September to the end of October. Christmas trips should be booked around Halloween and booked at the latest in mid-November – at least, if you want the best deal.
Related: The best time to book the cheapest flights
The best time to book a domestic flight is one to two months in advance.
Another fascinating discovery is that more Americans are planning to travel on holidays this year than last year. Although there is some data that demand has declined.
Americans are planning more holiday trips this year
This year (between Thanksgiving and New Year), nearly one-third of Americans (65%) plan to travel during the holidays. This is more than half (51%) of growth from the same last year.
The younger generation seems to be particularly enthusiastic about traveling this holiday season. Z and millennials are more likely to express travel intentions than Gen X and baby boomers and are nearly twice as likely to plan international flights this holiday season.
Among those planning to travel on this holiday, most (83%) plan to visit family and friends, and more than half (55%) plan to take leave during this time (similar to 2024, when 81% plan to visit family and friends, and 52% plan to take leave).
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Three out of five holiday travelers (60%) plan on this holiday (similar to 2024, when 55% point out that they are flying during the holiday), half (50%) plan domestic flights (up from 44% in 2024, and 44% in 2024), while 4 (26%) plan on flying internationally (26%), similar to 2024 (24% when 24% similar, and 24% plan mentions our outside plans to fly by plane.
Among holiday travelers, Gen Z and Millennials are more likely than Gen X and Baby Boomers to say they plan to fly internationally on this holiday (34% in the former, while the latter is 18% and 16% in the latter, respectively).
We should note that the 2025 survey was conducted in early September, one month earlier than the 2024 survey conducted in early October last year. Time differences may affect responses about travel.
When to book a holiday trip – it’s not too late
Despite our constant refusal to wait longer to drop before booking holiday flights, more than half of holiday travelers (54%) initiated bookings for at least some holiday trips, although only 31% said they had completed all arrangements.
Most people who start booking holiday trips this year have income savings (92%), hotel accommodation (51%) to top the list, followed by flights (42%) (42%), vacation rentals (34%) and rental vehicles (34%).
Of course, if you find a lot of deals on your holiday flights, jump on it, but now, according to new data collected by our friends at Point Path, both Thanksgiving and Christmas trips are higher than last year.
We found that Thanksgiving and Christmas prices increased by about 7% year-on-year, but prices could fall as we enter the best booking window in history, with the best booking window for the next few weeks and months.
If the previous trend is reached, we hope to see some considerable fare drops in the coming weeks. Our best advice is to set up Google Flights Price Naters to monitor prices easily.
Point Path is a free web browser extension that shows points and miles rewards on Google flights as well as cash fares. It uses the conversion of search data to better understand how airlines currently price their flights.
Related: How to use point path extensions to compare cash and reward rates in Google flights
As a reminder, TPG recommends booking domestic flights one to two months in advance. You should have Google Flights Alert set up, but now is the time to book a Thanksgiving trip, and you should book a Christmas trip around Halloween, no later than early November.
According to a Harris Poll-TPG survey, about one-third of travelers believe they have been waiting too long to book a holiday trip said it was because they were waiting for prices to fall (33%) or waiting to confirm plans with friends and family (35%).
However, as we suggest, it is not too late to book these flights.
Points and mileage still make sense
Of course, while it may not always work perfectly with points and miles, using rewards for vacation trips may still be your best bet, especially when cash prices are high.
The Harris Poll-TPG survey found that 88% of vacation travelers with reward program points or miles plan to redeem them for holiday trips and plans to use their rewards for hotels (54%) rather than air tickets this year (32%).
More than 3 of the 5 holiday travelers who have travel rewards this year (62%) compared to the previous holidays.
That’s why we people at TPG like to have certain points and miles, whether you plan to use them on vacation, last minute emergencies or a once-in-a-lifetime trip in business class. Hiding is always good.
Related: Credit cards can earn you $1,000 or more in first year value
In fact, one in five holiday travelers (80%) participated in the travel rewards program (up from 76% last year).
Interestingly, more than one-third (68%) of the three holiday travelers who flew with their favorite hotels during this holiday trip or with their favorite airline said the price was more important than them.
Travelers worry about delays and cancellations
Finally, we found that weather delays are the biggest concern for holiday travel.
In planning trips, 88% have some concerns. More than half (51%) were worried about weather delays (from just 43% last year), while 47% said they were worried about a large number of travelers (similar to 47% last year).
Other concerns that holiday travelers are concerned about when traveling include delays and cancellations by airlines (32%, up from 27% last year), packaging (26%), lost luggage (26%) and traveling with gifts (18%).
But never worry: TPG comes with all the tips and tricks here and you need to win on your holiday trip.
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Investigation method: The survey was conducted on behalf of the Harris Poll on behalf of the United States Online molecular From September 2-4, 2025, of 2,093 American adults aged 18 and older, 1,390 of them were from 2,093 American adults aged 18 and above. Travel on this holiday. The 2024 survey was conducted by the United States in the United States Online Harris conducted a survey on behalf of people from October 3 to 7, 2024, including 2,085 American adults and 18-year-olds and Older, of which 1,069 are planning to travel during the 2024 holiday. Sampling accuracy Harris Online Polls are measured by using Bayesian Trusted Intervals. For these studies, sample data Use a 95% confidence level to accurately within +/- 2.5 percentage points. This credible interval will be The subset of the population surveyed is more extensive.
