In travel-industry jargon, the year is divided into three seasons: peak season (roughly mid-June through August), shoulder season (April through mid-June and September through October), and off-season (November through March). Each has its pros and cons.
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June to August is a very popular season with travellers since the days are warm across the country. During these months, the southern states like Texas and Florida are hot and even slightly tropical, while the northern states like New York and Washington experience warm days and cooler evenings.
It's often much cheaper to travel from May to early June and September through mid-October. The weather is still relatively warm during the shoulder season, and you'll beat the crazy summer crowds. This is when we find the best international flight deals!
With a lot of American families traveling in June, you can still find some better priced days if you can fly mid-week. Jun 7 June is not quite as expensive as July, historically. You can get the best deals by flying mid-week and avoiding more typically expensive travel days like Sundays.
Airfare will be volatile but still low during this time, so you should monitor prices using a flight tracker. KAYAK gives a few more days, suggesting that travelers should buy by Oct.24 – this is when prices were the cheapest in 2023.
As expected, August is the most popular and most expensive time to travel outside of term time. But according to Which? and Skyscanner, the cheapest weeks to go abroad over the summer holidays are the last 2 weeks.
Why not try a different season? As a general rule, flying in quiet months between holidays is your best bet to get a cheap, less crowded flight. You should definitely try the second half of January, the first days of February, early May, or the most part of September and October.
TSA is projecting to screen 2.6 million passengers on Tuesday, Nov. 21; 2.7 million passengers on Wednesday, Nov. 22 and 2.9 million passengers on Sunday, Nov. 26, which will likely be the busiest travel day.