The simple trick that will save 60% on Christmas travel
This Christmas, thousands of us are planning a getaway, to enjoy the festive season everywhere from Christmassy New York to sunny Sydney. Much of the travel at this time of year is long-haul, which can prove ridiculously pricey. Fortunately, one simple trick can cut the price by 60%.
Research from Kayak found that the top five most popular destinations to fly to this Christmas are Bangkok, New York, Dubai, Sydney and Cape Town. The rest of the top ten demonstrates our willingness to chase the sun at this time of year, in Cape Town, Mumbai, Orlando, Miami, Auckland and Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
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Loella Pehrsson from Kayak says flights at this time of year are more expensive than any other. If you fly on the most expensive days of the week, these prices are positively eye-watering. The priciest destination in the top ten is Sydney, at a cost of £1,804. This is followed by Auckland at £1,344. Aside from Dubai and Santa Cruz de Tenerife, all the other destinations cost more than £500 for flights.
The priciest days
Bangkok Depart Saturday Return Sunday
New York Depart Sunday Return Friday
Dubai Depart Friday Return Saturday
Sydney Depart Saturday Return Wednesday
Cape Town Depart Thursday Return Sunday
Mumbai Depart Sunday Return Friday
Orlando Depart Saturday Return Thursday
Miami Depart Sunday Return Saturday
Auckland Depart Saturday Return Wednesday
Santa Cruz de Tenerife Depart Saturday Return Friday
Fortunately Kayak checked thousands of flight prices in order to track down the cheapest days to travel. In every instance the price came down below £1,000, and all aside from Cape Town, Sydney and Auckland came down below £500.
The biggest saving came from changing the day of travel to Sydney, which cut the price by 60%. The rest of the top five biggest price drops were Miami, which was 38% cheaper; Auckland at 37%; and Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Orlando at 36%.
The cheapest days
Bangkok Depart Monday Return Tuesday
New York Depart Tuesday Return Tuesday
Dubai Depart Monday Return Monday
Sydney Depart Monday Return Wednesday
Cape Town Depart Monday Return Wednesday
Mumbai Depart Tuesday Return Tuesday
Orlando Depart Tuesday Return Tuesday
Miami Depart Monday Return Monday
Auckland Depart Monday Return Friday
Santa Cruz de Tenerife Depart Thursday Return Tuesday
What can you do?
It is easier to tailor a trip if you are traveling for more than a week, as otherwise departing on a Thursday and returning on a Tuesday for a trip to Tenerife offers only four days on the beach - which might not feel like a substantial winter getaway.
Even if you can take a longer period off work, you may need to be flexible on where you stay. Some villas will only allow bookings from Saturday to Saturday. Others will let you book whatever days you need, but it will be trickier to find availability on stays that straddle a couple of weeks.
However, there's nothing stopping you booking a villa for a week, and then a hotel or an Airbnb property for a few days either end of the week. This could even give you an opportunity to spend a night near the airport if you are arriving late, or travel to a different part of the city - or even take a road trip - if you have a few days to kill.
You will need to weigh up the additional accommodation cost against the saving on the flight and any benefit you will get out of staying longer. Given that in many cases you stand to save over £300 per person by moving your flights for a few days, it gives you some scope for paying higher accommodation bills and still breaking even or benefiting from the change.
Unfortunately not everyone has this much flexibility, but even if you cannot time your trip exactly to fly on the very cheapest days, you should be able to do something to avoid the most expensive ones, and get away for marginally less this Christmas.
