CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The holiday travel season is right around the corner. Have you bought your plane ticket over the river and through the woods to grandmother’s house yet?
If not, you might want to start looking now.
"The truth is demand is up," says Bobbi Rebell, a personal finance expert at Tally, adding "even though people have started traveling, a lot of people haven't traveled for the holidays in a couple of years."
This holiday season may look different for people though.
A new Bankrate survey shows that 79% of Americans plan on changing their plans due to inflation. Roughly a quarter say they'll travel fewer days and shorter distances, drive instead of fly and select less-expensive destinations or hotels.
"What they might consider though, is airline prices are still high. Hotel prices are still high. Gasoline prices have come down. And there are also some statistics showing that car rental prices are becoming a little bit more reasonable. So you may want to tweak your plans depending on how far you're going and what your time is and how flexible you are," says Rebell.
That same Bankrate survey shows that 32% of people say holiday travel plans will strain their budgets.
Rebell says to make a budget now and stick to it.
"So if you look first at what you have to spend, organize your debt, organize your payment plans...Then you can go and do your planning without a 'FOMO' without feeling like oh I really want to go on that trip but I can't afford it. This way you have your budget set ahead of time."
The busiest travel days around Thanksgiving will be the Wednesday before and the Sunday after.
As far as Christmas goes, it will be the Thursday and Friday before and the Monday and Tuesday after.
If you need to fly on these days, experts say to book the earliest flight of the day. That way you have less of a chance of it getting canceled or delayed.