New Years Travel Deals

Another week has gone by in our series of holiday travel tips, and this past week we’ve been talking about traveling over New Year’s. We talked about the best and worst days to travel, gave you tips for finding cheap airfare, and offering advice about the ways to minimize stress at the airport.

Because each article from the New Year’s series contains handy information, and because it was too much information to cram into one article, we’ve rounded up all the relevant articles into one place - this article - so that you don’t miss any of them. You can think of this article as the table of contents for the New Years series, but it also has links to other articles that weren’t part of the series but will be helpful in saving you money on your New Year’s trip.

Are you traveling over other holidays? Then don’t miss the round-ups of our Christmas travel tips and Thanksgiving travel tips, too.

How to Find Cheap New Year’s Airfare

The top thing most travelers - especially budget travelers - are concerned with when it comes to traveling during a particularly busy season isn’t the “busy” part. It’s the “more expensive flights” part. And there’s good reason for that. High season travel almost always means higher fares, and that’s true over the New Year’s holiday as well.

Although your options for finding a bargain on your New Year’s flight may not be as plentiful as they are for finding a cheap flight at another time of the year, there are still things you can do to avoid paying the highest prices for your airline ticket.

>> Read more about how to find cheap airfare at New Years

Best and Worst Days to Fly at New Year’s

The media always talks about how the worst day to travel in the whole year is around Thanksgiving, but that doesn’t mean that the rest of the year is without its problems. And despite the fact that so many people wrap their Christmas travel in with their New Year’s travel, there are still days around New Year’s which can challenge even the most patient person’s, well, patience.

So before you book your flight, be sure to find out which are the days you should avoid flying this year.

>> Read more about which are the best and worst days to travel at New Years

New Year’s Airport Travel Tips

Traveling over any holiday or any busy time can mean spending more time at the airport than you would ordinarily, which means that planning ahead can make your passage through the airport smooth and hassle-free. You can’t control weather delays, of course, but you can control how prepared you are to handle them.

Most of these tips apply regardless of the time of year, but they’re particularly important to pay attention to when you’re flying during the holidays.

>> Read more travel tips for New Year’s

Discount Airlines in the United States

This tip isn’t just going to save you money when you’re traveling at New Year’s - it can also save you money throughout the year. You may already be familiar with some of the budget carriers that serve the United States, but you may not realize that you’re not seeing their fares on the big booking websites.

Simply by visiting an airline’s website, whether it’s a discount carrier or not, could save you a little money on your ticket. It’s an extra click or two, but isn’t saving money worth it?

>> Read more about budget airlines in the U.S.

>> Going to Canada instead? Check out these budget airlines that fly to Canada, then.

Alternate Airports to U.S. Hub Airports

In addition to looking beyond the big airlines when you’re traveling, another good tip is to look beyond the big hub airports, too. In some cases, it’s the smaller airport serving a major city that the discount airlines use, so that’s why the tickets are less.

It’s often the case that the big hubs offer the better deals based on volume alone, but it’s always a good idea to check with other airports nearby just in case.

>> Read more about alternative airports to the big U.S. hubs

photo by ori2uru