WEBVTT - Best Times to Book Holiday Flights

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<v Speaker 1>The best time to buy your holiday flights hasn't happened yet.

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<v Speaker 1>What's going on? I'm rich Demiro. This is rich on tech.

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<v Speaker 1>Hopper is a great travel app. The company slices and

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<v Speaker 1>dices historical flight and hotel data to help you figure

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<v Speaker 1>out the best times to buy. I've definitely talked about it. Before.

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<v Speaker 1>You pop in a destination and you'll get a map

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<v Speaker 1>with days in green, yellow, orange, and red, Green being

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<v Speaker 1>the cheapest days to fly, red being the most expensive.

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<v Speaker 1>You can also set up price alerts, and the app

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<v Speaker 1>will even tell you the best time to buy, whether

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<v Speaker 1>it's now or you should wait. And again, it's all

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<v Speaker 1>backed up with data, which I just love. The company

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<v Speaker 1>just released it's Holiday Travel Index for twenty eighteen, and

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<v Speaker 1>the good news is that if you haven't booked your

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<v Speaker 1>holiday travel just yet, you are still okay. Hopper says

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<v Speaker 1>the average flight price will change one hundred and two

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<v Speaker 1>times between now and Thanksgiving. If you're looking at Christmas,

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<v Speaker 1>it will change one hundred and fifty two times now.

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<v Speaker 1>If you're traveling on a super popular route like LA

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<v Speaker 1>to New York, price could fluctuate as many as two

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<v Speaker 1>hundred and fifty times before you get on that plane.

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<v Speaker 1>I know this firsthand as I often travel between LA

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<v Speaker 1>and Newark to go home to New Jersey and I'm

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<v Speaker 1>literally always tracking a flight. It's pretty crazy how much

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<v Speaker 1>they can swing higher or lower in just a few hours. Now. Personally,

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<v Speaker 1>I use a combination of Hopper and then Google Flights

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<v Speaker 1>to keep tabs on my upcoming journeys. I've saved over

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<v Speaker 1>one hundred dollars on a flight just by booking it

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<v Speaker 1>when the price drops for a few hours. And I

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<v Speaker 1>know that might not sound like a ton of cash

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<v Speaker 1>to all of you, but the way I see it,

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<v Speaker 1>that money saved can pay for other things on your trip,

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<v Speaker 1>like those higher baggage fees we all have to pay now. Okay,

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<v Speaker 1>So when are the best times to book your holiday

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<v Speaker 1>travel this year? According to Hopper, when it comes to

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<v Speaker 1>Thanksgiving late September, we'll have some of the best deals.

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<v Speaker 1>Prices will come down about one hundred dollars from August,

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<v Speaker 1>or about a twenty eight percent drop. But Hopper says

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<v Speaker 1>you don't have to jump on your booking just yet.

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<v Speaker 1>They believe that prices will remain pretty stable through October,

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<v Speaker 1>but you have to book before Halloween. That's when prices

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<v Speaker 1>are going to start going up. So if you want

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<v Speaker 1>to save the most money, you have to leave on

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<v Speaker 1>Thursday Day, November twenty second. Yes, I know that's Thanksgiving

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<v Speaker 1>and return on Wednesday, November twenty eighth. And yes, I

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<v Speaker 1>get it, Thanksgiving Day not ideal, but I've definitely done

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<v Speaker 1>that flight before myself, and of course Christmas Day to

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<v Speaker 1>save money. But if you don't want to fly on

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<v Speaker 1>those days because they are the holiday, the next cheapest

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<v Speaker 1>day to depart fear Thanksgiving destination is Monday, November nineteenth. Now,

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<v Speaker 1>when it comes to Christmas, the sweet spot seems to

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<v Speaker 1>be mid October, and the good news is prices this

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<v Speaker 1>year are already trending to be about fifteen percent lower

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<v Speaker 1>than last year in twenty seventeen. Now. I've noticed this

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<v Speaker 1>personally just in keeping tabs on some of the flights

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<v Speaker 1>home during the holidays. And while the lower fares are nice,

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<v Speaker 1>keep in mind airlines are making up the difference with

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<v Speaker 1>all kinds of extra fees. And while I know in

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<v Speaker 1>flight Wi Fi is not a must have, one of

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<v Speaker 1>my recent flights actually wanted a whopping fifty dollars for

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<v Speaker 1>that connectivity. That is just insane to me now. If

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<v Speaker 1>you want to save the most money on your Christmas flight,

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<v Speaker 1>the best dates right now are leaving on Tuesday, December

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<v Speaker 1>eighteenth and returning on Thursday January fourth. Obviously, not everyone

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<v Speaker 1>can take that much time off from work, so your

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<v Speaker 1>next best bet is to return on Thursday December twenty seventh.

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<v Speaker 1>One thing to keep in mind Christmas flight prices are

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<v Speaker 1>more volatile than Thanksgiving flights, so your best bet is

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<v Speaker 1>to start researching now and keep tabs on the flights

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<v Speaker 1>you want. For instance, in the hoper app, you can

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<v Speaker 1>choose to watch specific dates or even an entire month

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<v Speaker 1>to get the absolute best deal. Just be prepared to

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<v Speaker 1>book when you get that notification that tells you it

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<v Speaker 1>is the best time to purchase. On Google Flights, you

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<v Speaker 1>can get very specific. I like to choose my preferred

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<v Speaker 1>airline dates and flight times and then set a tracking notification. Now, remember,

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<v Speaker 1>the more flexible you are with NonStop versus connecting the

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<v Speaker 1>airlines you'll take, the times and even days of the

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<v Speaker 1>week you'll fly, the more you can save on your flights.

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<v Speaker 1>It can be a difference of hundreds of dollars. I've

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<v Speaker 1>flown a lot in my time, and I understand that

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<v Speaker 1>booking flights can be expensive and stressful, but having some

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<v Speaker 1>of these data driven tools at our disposal these days

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<v Speaker 1>is pretty amazing. Personally, I can spend hours, days, or

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<v Speaker 1>even months researching flights, but when it comes time to book,

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<v Speaker 1>I love the feeling of knowing that I had the

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<v Speaker 1>best data possible to back up my choices, even if

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<v Speaker 1>my flight isn't always the absolute cheapest around. Thanks so

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<v Speaker 1>much for listening. If you like this podcast, be sure

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<v Speaker 1>to tell a friend, take a screenshot of your phone

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<v Speaker 1>and share it on social media, and be sure to

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<v Speaker 1>tag me so I can also share and of course

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<v Speaker 1>see the love. Thanks so much for listening. You can

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<v Speaker 1>find links to everything I talk about here. Just go

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<v Speaker 1>to my website. It is Rich on tech dot tv,

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<v Speaker 1>or check the show notes. I'm Rich Demiro. I'll talk

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<v Speaker 1>to you real soon