Here’s Your Holiday Travel Cheat Sheet: Tips To Navigate the Season Ahead

by Mia Taylor
Last updated: 8:00 AM ET, Thu November 21, 2024

The busy holiday season is just around the corner and travelers have a lot on their minds.

A recent survey found that travelers who are getting to their destination by plane are concerned about everything from missing their connecting flight (36%) to delays and cancellations (35%) and crowded terminals (34%).

Still other travelers are concerned about the long walks between gates (29%) and turbulence during flights (28%), according to The Most Anxious Airport Travelers report from Airport Parking Reservations.

The data surrounding traveler anxieties is just one of many recently released reports delving into holiday travel 2025.

Travel industry heavyweights such as Kayak, Expedia, trivago, and OAG have all weighed in with their own reports to help navigate the busy end of year holiday travel rush.

Here are the top takeaways from those sources to help you compile your own holiday travel cheat sheet.

What to expect this holiday season: On-time travel

First, the good news. Or at least the more optimistic news. According to Kayak, this year could be the “most on-time holiday travel season yet.” Well, at least compared to the last few years.

To come up with this prognostication, Kayak reviewed historical travel trends. And while admittedly, predicting the future or controlling the weather is hard to accomplish, Kayak stands firm in its belief that this holiday travel season…may not be so bad, dare we say it.

“Based on our data, the overall trend of seeing fewer flight delays and cancellations has been going on since last year, with 73% of flights reported as ‘on time,’"says the Kayak report.

The report goes on to add that if you look at the 2023 winter holidays, Thanksgiving cancellations were down by 28% and December holiday cancellations plummeted a whopping 91% compared to 2022.

Top destinations for Thanksgiving

According to trivago, many travelers are staying closer to home this Thanksgiving, having already taken their big vacations earlier this year. Others however, are looking to escape the big city and soak up warmer weather in a tropical environment (think: Cancun, Miami, Orlando and the like.)

Travelers seeking a less traditional holiday trip or a solo trip, however, are heading for urban destinations like New York City and London.

So where specifically is everyone headed for Thanksgiving? Here are the top 10 destinations, per searches on the trivago platform.

Las Vegas
New York
London
Cancun
New Orleans
Orlando
Miami
Panama City Beach
Lake Buena Vista, Florida
Chicago

Best days to fly, best times to depart

Though this will likely come as little surprise, airports are expected to be very busy over the coming holidays. In particular, Expedia data is showing year-over-year flight search increases for Thanksgiving.

Based on their data review, Expedia determined the following for 2024 travel:

Busiest day to fly: Wednesday, November 27 and Sunday, December 1.
Best day to fly: Prices and crowds will be better on Monday, November 25 and also on Thanksgiving Day.

Expedia also recently released its 2024 Air Travel Hacks report, which the online travel booking platform says was created to "help break the cycle of stress as the busy holiday travel season approaches.”

A few relevant tips from the report:

Fly before 3 p.m.: By flying earlier in the day, you are more likely to minimize the impact of delays and cancellations. Flights departing after 3 p.m. statistically have a 50% higher chance of being canceled than earlier flights.
Purchase your airfare on a Sunday to save up to 13%: For the procrastinators out there who have not yet booked holiday flights, this tip may still come in handy: Travelers who book on Sundays instead of Fridays tend to save, on average, around 6% on domestic flights and 13% on international flights.
Depart on a Thursday to save up to 16%:  Avoid planning to depart on Sundays, which are the priciest days, on average, to start a trip.

Bonus holiday travel tips: Airlines and routes to avoid

A few departing tips, at least with regard to Thanksgiving, courtesy of global travel data provider OAG. The company’s chief analyst, John Grant, shared the following insights on what to expect for Thanksgiving travel and how to (try and) avoid disruptions.

Skip JetBlue for on-time arrivals: Recent data shows that JetBlue’s on-time performance has been slipping (with a 3.1% cancellation rate), which could leave Thanksgiving travelers waiting at the gate when they’d rather be at the dinner table.
Avoid NYC to Orlando if you can: This year, the New York City to Orlando route is one to skip if you can help it. Recently, this route has had a high cancellation rate (4.1%), which will only worsen during high traffic times.