Best time to book flights for Christmas and holiday travel?

For Christmas and holiday travel, the general rule is: book as early as possible. Holiday flights do not follow the normal pattern of last-minute deals. Here is what I recommend based on tracking flight prices for years: 1. Book by late September or October for Christmas travel. Prices start rising in November and peak in mid-December. 2. The cheapest days to fly during the holiday period are typically December 24 (Christmas Eve) and December 25 (Christmas Day). Most people do not want to travel on the holiday itself, so fares are lower. 3. Avoid December 22-23 and December 26-27 - these are the most expensive days. 4. For your New York to Florida route specifically, consider flying on Christmas Day itself. The savings can be $100-200 per ticket compared to December 22. 5. Set up price alerts on Google Flights for your route now. If you see a fare under $250 round trip for that route during Christmas, book it immediately - it will not get cheaper. 6. Consider flying into Fort Lauderdale instead of Miami - it is often $50-100 cheaper and only 30 minutes further. 7. Southwest, JetBlue, and Spirit all fly the NYC-Florida route competitively, so compare all three.