School is in session. Trees are turning on their autumn show. The sun is dipping below the horizon earlier each night. All that makes me think, "Happy holidays!" It's time to book your Thanksgiving and Christmas trips (unless you've cleverly done so already). While you're at it, get on that spring break trip, too.
When it comes to peak travel seasons, bargains just don't exist. Booking early is your best defense against sky-high prices.
Late last week I asked Phil Oleisky, of Travel Leaders in Bloomington, when people should buy their holiday flights. His blunt reply: "It's too late."
The travel agent said that flights between Christmas and New Year's to Mexico and the Caribbean are already pricey, and some require double connections. "I booked the Caribbean as early as May for the holidays and prices were much better then," he said.
Travelers who simply want to visit family in some U.S. city rather than hit a warm-weather destination could be OK for now.
You can get late December round-trip tickets to Seattle on Sun Country for around $370, for instance. Flights to Phoenix on a range of airlines cost about the same. Where multiple airlines fly, competitive pressure should keep prices in check. But all bets are off as the holidays approach.
"Airlines have rooms as big as a Target store and they are filled with people checking algorithms and setting the fares," Oleisky explained.
Unless you want to open presents in mid-January, book now. And consider this: Oleisky is helping clients with a holiday trip to Patagonia -- for December 2013.
