Better Holiday Travel

By Melissa Lee

With the holidays fast approaching, many of us who don’t live within 20 miles of our parent’s homes would be left with the obvious option of traveling home. Whether it is Thanksgiving or Christmas, if you’re not driving, or taking the train, you’d be left with the option of flying. I’m no expert on flying, but I think I’ve been through enough TSA checkpoints to share some knowledge.

The first step in your holiday air travel adventure is..purchasing air tickets.

When is the best time to purchase air tickets?

With all the websites promising you the best deals on air tickets, the century old question remains; when do I purchase air tickets to get the best deal? The folks at Huffingtonpost have (hopefully) demystified this for us. Apparently, it is common knowledge that Tuesday afternoons are the best time to purchase air tickets, and if you are returning home for Thanksgiving and Christmas, September and October are the best time to purchase.

2. Go Secret.

Airlines and ticketing websites sometimes use cookies to help track your browsing habits. Simply put, the more often you search the same flight; it signals that you want this flight really badly. The cheaper flights therefore “disappear” since you are more willing to pay a higher price for it. Browsing anonymously helps prevent that from happening.

3. Use “meta” websites

You’ve seen the ad. The surgeon working on a patient and using the patient to search for cheap flights and complaining how his hours are unethical. Websites such as Kayak, Orbitz and Priceline are a great way to save yourself some time by allowing you to search multiple airlines and websites at once. One great website I enjoy using is Tripadvisor. They are not only great for vacation planning, but I have also found the best deals on flights and hotels there.

4., Know your days.

If you plan to go home at Christmas, the best times to depart is as close to Christmas day as possible, and return immediately the weekend after. That’s as easy as you can get; if you’re going somewhere else around that time, then it’s smart to use the Christmas traffic to your advantage. Christmas day might not be the best time for you to drive, but boy oh boy, will the roads be clear.

Now, all that information is great. But that just sounds like its written for people who have actual vacation days and don’t have to worry about skipping classes or making time to study for the finals. What about us poor students who have to endure the wrath of our professors if we were, gasp, absent from class?

The good news is, and by now, most of you would have figured it out, most professors give you one or two free passes. This means that you do get to be absent from class and not be penalized for it. Do I encourage it? Nope. But sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. If your family is the kind who values Thanksgiving more than it does Christmas, then maybe its something you want to consider doing.

If you decide that you’re going to skip the Christmas feast, or it Christmas isn’t a big thing at your family, then you’re in luck. Assuming you have no other obligations for you during the winter break like work, then you’re free to go home anytime you want after finals and not have to worry about finding the best air fares, or dealing with the holiday crowd.

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