Is your blank calendar begging for plans? It’s time to lock in and map out your trips for the new year.
Fortunately for travelers, airfare might be a little more affordable in 2026. According to NerdWallet’s latest Travel Price Index, which looks at data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index, airfares were down 3.4 percent in December compared with last year.
That could be a simple case of supply and demand. Airfare expert Scott Keyes, founder of Going, said the travel industry saw “a drastic slowdown” in 2025, and he expects more of the same in 2026.
“One of my predictions for this year is we’re actually going to see fewer travelers in 2026 than 2025,” he said.
That could mean a better year for deal-finding, Keyes said.
According to Skyscanner data, the cheapest destinations for flights from the U.S. in 2026 are:
- Las Vegas ($232 average round-trip, with flights sometimes as low as $38)
- San Salvador, El Salvador ($282 average RT)
- Miami ($284 average RT)
- Kahului, Hawaii ($329 average RT)
- Orlando ($353 average RT).
Other notable destinations for finding good deals include San Juan, Puerto Rico; Punta Cana, Dominican Republic; Mexico City; Cancún, Mexico; and Milan.
One of Keyes’s core tenets of finding deals is shopping during the “Goldilocks Window,” the period when cheap fares are most likely to pop up. The Goldilocks Window will vary depending on whether you’re traveling domestic or international, and during peak or off-peak times. You can use it as a time frame for your shopping, rather than an immediate pressure to book.
Once you’ve established your travel dates and corresponding Goldilocks Window, try the set-it-and-forget-it method of signing up for airfare price alerts. You’ll be notified when fares drop or begin to rise If you’re not sure whether you’re getting a good deal, you can also plug the trip into Google Flights. The site will tell you whether a price is high, low or typical compared with past averages.
Of course, sometimes you just have to book a flight when you can. Keyes said if you’re traveling with the whole family, you’ve got time constraints and the price looks good, just buy the ticket.
If your fare is flexible (not basic economy), you can always keep an eye out for a price drop and rebook. Even better, Keyes said, is when the airline makes a schedule change that could allow you to swap for an even better flight.
“When you get that email of a schedule change, it’s not a crisis, it’s an opportunity,” he said.
For example, he recently got an email that his flight schedule — which involved a connection — had been changed, and he was eligible for a free flight change. He called his airline and was able to switch to a nonstop.
“Basically, we got this free change that would have otherwise cost nearly $2,000 just by dint of the fact that they changed the schedule,” Keyes said. “I think that folks miss out on these opportunities when they wait too long to book.”
Without further ado, here’s a rough guide for when to start looking and booking, depending on when and where you want to fly.
Typical domestic trip: 1 to 3 months out
For an off-peak domestic trip — meaning no holiday weekends, no school breaks and no World Cup host city on a match day — “you are most likely to see cheap flights pop up about one to three months in advance,” Keyes said.
That estimate lines up with Google Flights data, which suggests the range for finding the lowest airfare for a domestic trip is 23 to 51 days before departure (roughly one to two months).
The most popular trips: 3 to 7 months out
Certain trips will be expensive no matter how far in advance you book, so you may be out of luck if you’re flying to Tokyo for cherry blossom season or New Orleans for Mardi Gras.
You can still keep an eye out for unexpected drops in price, mistake fares or sales. Or opt to visit during shoulder season, when crowds are smaller, hotels and car rentals are cheaper, and the weather might even be better. In Spain, for example, Keyes said, “the weather’s way better” in the spring, September or October than in the middle of the summer.
Otherwise, Keyes advises travelers to start shopping for hot spots during the opposite season (so winter for a summer booking), or about three to seven months out for domestic trips, and four to 10 months for international.
Spring break: 1 to 3 months out
Spring break is a tricky one. Keyes notes that because it’s different everywhere (starting as early as February for some schools, and as late as April for others), it can be a tough period to find cheap flights. He suggests setting your Goldilocks Window one to three months out.
Google Flights data shows the range for finding the lowest airfare on March and April trips has been 28 to 61 days before departure — which could be as early as … December of last year. That’s actually when Keyes booked his family’s 2026 San Diego spring break trip. His reasoning was two-fold: First, he found good-enough airfare, and second, “we had some expiring Alaska [Airlines] companion passes that had to be purchased by the end of the year,” he said.
Summer vacation: Winter through spring
While you’re sipping cocoa in the throes of winter, it’s a good time to daydream about your summer vacation. But you have some wiggle room.
Google Flights data says the window for the lowest priced July and August flights is 14 to 43 days (with a caveat: the best prices for flights to Europe tend to hit, at minimum, 48 days or more from departure).
“It depends where you’re going,” Keyes said.
For example, the farther you’re going, or the nicer the fare class, start your search earlier. For a spendier trip, like flying to Europe in premium economy, Keyes said January through April should be a good timeframe. If your trip is a common domestic destination like Los Angeles or Miami, “February through April is probably fine,” Keyes said.
The wisdom changes if you’re booking with points or miles, particularly for business class or international trips.
“Your best odds of a cheap flight for that are going to be basically right when the schedule opens, 10 [or] 11 months in advance, and right when the schedule closes before takeoff, you know, the final few weeks,” Keyes said. He followed this wisdom when booking his family’s summer trip to the Netherlands.
Thanksgiving: May through October
Per Keyes’s Goldilocks predictions, you can get ahead of the Thanksgiving gouge by setting price alerts as early as late May.
But according to Google’s analysis of travel trends last year, the cheapest airfare for Thanksgiving trips has popped up 35 days before departure; if you are planning on flying the day before the holiday, that means booking on Oct. 22 this year. Their “low price range” for Thanksgiving travel is 24 to 59 days before departure, which gives you a late September deadline.
If you have a flexible family, or want to skip out on turkey this year, don’t forget Thanksgiving week is one of the best times to find deals on flights abroad. You can follow the two-to-eight-month timeline, but Keyes said it’s also possible to find last-minute deals on trips overseas. A last-minute deal for a regular Thanksgiving trip to see your family, on the other hand, is wishful thinking.
Christmas and New Year’s: July through October
Parked on the beach? Put down the sunscreen and start your search for Christmas and New Year’s flights.
“When Fourth of July rolls around, that’s when you should be looking around for Christmas trips,” Keyes said.
Google says Christmas and New Year’s airfare tends to be cheapest 51 days before departure; that’s Nov. 3 to fly on Christmas Eve, and Nov. 11 for New Year’s Eve. Your “low price range” window for Christmas flights should last from mid-October to mid-November.
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