WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — It's been a year of rising airfares, and that trend is likely to continue as travelers look to book holiday trips.
Connor Collier, who flew into West Palm Beach on Friday to see family, says he was consulting ChatGPT for advice on holiday travel.
WATCH BELOW: Holiday airfares rising — experts say book now, not later
"I guess for holiday travel like Christmas, wait till October, they say," Collier told WPTV.
In past years that may have been true, but not this year, according to Sean Cudahy at The Points Guy travel website.
"I would not do that this year. I would just go ahead and book a ticket; you can change later if the price goes down," Cudahy said.
The latest data, according to Cudahy, shows that Thanksgiving travel is about 9% higher than last year, and Christmas week travel is up 11%.
He said looking at the last couple of years, waiting for a better airfare has backfired.
"The biggest spike we have seen in the last couple of years has come in the middle of September for Thanksgiving. We haven't seen a huge movement in price yet for Thanksgiving, but if you wait another couple of weeks you could be paying a lot more money," Cudahy said.
Travelers we spoke to are already thinking about how to save on their future trips.
"When you wait, I feel like the prices go up," says Ashley Wizard who flew in from Atlanta. "Traveling here, it was changing daily."
Travel experts say that even though summer is not yet over, now may be the time to book holiday travel to avoid paying significantly more later.
