All About Christmas Myth Number 1
All About Christmas Myth #1 is that it is always the cheapest day to fly during the holidays.
That might have been true a decade ago but it’s not any longer. The airlines are just keeping up with the times and like every other industry, they are squeezing out all the profit they can.
Historically, Christmas travel has been less expensive. But not any more. Prices tend to jump a week before the holidays and stay that way for a week after holidays. The airlines know that people don’t go home on Jan. 1 so they keep the fares high for a few days after that.
All About Christmas Myth Number 2
TSA Will Not Let You Travel with Wrapped Packages.
TSA has lightened up the rules and now allows travelers to bring wrapped packages through security checkpoints. But just wait a second, before you get to excited. We are dealing with security here. So remember, they still have the right to unwrap any present and subject it to further scanning or inspection if they find it suspicious. So wrap packages beforehand if you must, but do so with the knowledge that it might slow you down at security checkpoints, during a season when the lines are already typically long and slow.
All About Christmas Myth Number 3
You can never find last-minute airfare deals during the Christmas holidays.
You know what they say. Never say never. The fact is that you can find last minute airfare deals, says George Hobica, president of Airfarewatchdog, but you’d better be flexible about where to go.
“It’s usually on routes where the non-holiday airfares have been reduced to fire-sale levels,” says Hobica. “For example, right now Delta has fares from Los Angeles toHong Kong for January and February travel at $589 roundtrip. That route is often much higher, maybe $800 or more. But because Delta has lowered non-holiday fares, the holiday fares are lower than you’d imagine. You can fly Los Angeles to Hong Kong leaving Dec. 23 and returning a week later for $1,159 round-trip. Singapore on those dates is more like $1,700 round-trip. Prague is $2,000 round-trip. So Hong Kong looks like a relative bargain because Delta is having a sale on the route that trickles down even to holiday travel. ”
All About Christmas Myth Number 4
Air travelers are in a better mood just because it is Christmas.
Wouldn’t that be nice. Although some may be, many are not. Just look around in the airport. The only advise I can give is “allow extra time”
All About Christmas Myth Number 5
If you haven’t booked a holiday getaway by Dec. 20, you’re out of luck.
If you don’t have to go to the beach, a less costly option for last-minute holiday getaways are big city hotels. Whether it’s Boston, New York, Chicago or San Francisco, urban hotels rely on business travelers, who are at home with their families for the week or ten days surrounding Christmas. That leaves rooms for leisure travelers, who can often find pretty good deals on popular booking sites, So you can’t afford to take the family to the Caribbean? Maybe a Chicago hotel with a swimming pool would be the perfect place to watch a snowstorm over Lake Michigan.
Now that some of these Myths have been exposed, I hope if you have the chance you can take advantage of them!
Have a Merry Christmas!
Steve
PS. If you are looking for any last minute vacation condos, let me know and I can help you.
