If you think holding off on buying airline tickets for the holidays will help you score a last-minute deal, think again. Flights for Thanksgiving travel already are about 49% more expensive than the rest of the year, says CheapAir.com CEO Jeff Klee. And fares will almost certainly rise from this point until Thanksgiving and Christmas. So how do avoid paying an outrageous amount to get home for the holidays? Follow these strategies.
SEE ALSO: When to Book Flights to Get the Lowest FaresBook flights by October 1. Airfare for holiday travel has been edging up slightly since Labor Day, says Anne Banas, executive editor of SmarterTravel.com. But prices will likely jump by as much as 20% in October. So buy your tickets by September 30 to save money. Because you have a few more days until the end of the month, set up a fare alert with a site such as Airfarewatchdog.com or Kayak.com to be notified if the price drops on a flight you want to take. Typically airlines have sales on Tuesdays, so you might see a slight drop the last day of September, which falls on a Tuesday, she says. Be ready to buy if you see any drop in price. But be prepared to purchase tickets by September 30 even if a deal doesn't surface because prices in all likelihood will only increase.
Consider alternate travel dates. The busiest travel day of the year is the Sunday after Thanksgiving, Banas and Klee say. The next busiest is the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Because demand for airplane seats is so high on those days, the prices are much higher than on other days. So you can save a lot by flying the Monday or Tuesday before Thanksgiving and returning Friday or Saturday. For both Thanksgiving and Christmas, you can save hundreds of dollars by flying on the actual holidays, Banas says. Another option is to plan your gathering during the first two weeks of December or the first week of January, which are the slowest weeks of the year for air travel, Banas says. See the CheapAir.com calendar for the best days to fly for the holidays. And you can use a flexible search option on travel booking sites, such as the one at Bing Travel, to see which days have the best fares.
Consider alternate airports. Check fares on flights to all the airports near your destination because you might find it's significantly cheaper to fly to one than another, Klee says. A search on Kayak.com showed that the average price of a roundtrip flight from New York's LaGuardia Airport to Los Angeles International Airport was $512 leaving November 25 and returning November 29 versus $560, on average, for the same route departing from New Jersey's Newark Liberty International Airport.
Buy tickets for family members separately. Unlike other industries that give you a discount for buying in bulk, airlines don't cut you a deal if you buy several tickets for the same flight at one time. In fact, you might pay more if you're traveling with several family members or friends and purchase all of your tickets during one transaction, Klee says. Airlines typically quote prices based on the lowest fare available for your entire party. So if you're a party of five, for example, and there are only three seats available at a $200 price level but five seats are available for $300, you'll be quoted the $300 fare for all five tickets, he says. Book each ticket separately to take advantage of the seats that might be available at a lower price.
Don't rush to book a hotel room. Although flights fill up quickly around the holidays, hotels do not because travelers tend to stay with family over Thanksgiving and Christmas, Banas says. As a result, hotels are more likely to offer last-minute discounts to fill rooms around the holidays. You can use a mobile app, such as Last Minute Travel, to get a deal on a room. Or if you don't like the idea of waiting until the last minute, book your room using Tingo, which will automatically re-book your room at a lower rate if the hotel drops its price. Then you'll get a refund for the difference.
Getty Images By Juliette Fairley In the pursuit of the Hollywood dream at age 25, Shequeta Smith moved from North Carolina to Los Angeles in 2004. She rented a room from a friend and began visualizing a place to call her own. "I wrote down exactly what I wanted on a piece of paper, and I still have that paper," Smith told MainStreet. The screenwriter and director imagined paying only $600 for a rental with a parking spot in Sherman Oaks, one of the wealthier enclaves in the sprawling city. But now a decade later she is looking to relocate to become a homeowner. Smith is one of the 48 percent of millennials who plan to move so they can own in the next five years, according to a study by The Demand Institute. "Most millennials want to own a home," said Louise Keely, president of TDI and senior vice president with Nielsen (NLSN). "But those who are currently renting may have trouble saving money for a down payment, because apartment rents have increased more quickly than their income." "It's hard to save money for a down payment, because of the cost of living," Smith said. "But once I make it in the film industry, I will buy a house outright in Charlotte and travel back and forth to Los Angeles for filmmaking." The Dream of Homeownership with a Twist TDI's "Millennials and Their Homes: Still Seeking the American Dream" found that the average millennial has $5,000 in debt and only $3,000 in savings outside of retirement. "Their net debt doesn't look like they are in a position to put a sizable down payment on a house, so saving money is an issue for millennials," Keely told MainStreet. As a result, more millennials are looking to alternative approaches to home ownership, with 69 percent saying they'd consider lease-to-own as one way. "Many are open to alternative approaches to housing finance, including single-family rentals and hybrid contracts such as lease-to-own," said Jeremy Burbank, vice president with TDI and Nielsen. A Different Job Market That's partly because the job market that millennials face differs from that of young adults in previous decades. "Unemployment is higher for millennials than older adults, which has slowed their household formation and their movement into homeownership," said Keely. Although the study further found that 44 percent of millennials think it's hard to qualify for a mortgage, most millennials are undeterred about long-term aspirations to own a home. About 51 percent of college grads aged 30 to 34 with debt own homes, compared to 67 percent of college graduates with no debt. The national average of homeownership is 65 percent. "The homeownership rate is lower for those who have student loan debt, but it's still higher than those who didn't go to college at all," said Keely. "Our findings indicate that student loan debt delays homeownership but does not cripple it." Multiple Alternatives One alternative to traditional home-buying is leasing-to-own, which locks a tenant in to the right to buy a home at a later date at a set price after putting down a non-refundable deposit. In some cases, part of the monthly rent goes toward the downpayment. Other alternatives to a mortgage include single family rentals, shared equity and long-term leases. Types of shared equity include cooperatives, private sector subsidies and land trusts. "An example of shared equity homeownership is when a municipality owns the land and builds the house while the homeowner owns the structure but not the land," Keely said. Long-term leases are another alternative to one- or two-year rentals by extending leases to 30 years, for example. "In the U.K., a leasehold is when you have a long-term lease as opposed to a freehold, where you own the property outright," said Keely. "With a long-term lease, the resident has the comfort of staying in the home a long time." Gen Y Housing Boost Despite their financial circumstances, the study found that millennials will spend $1.6 trillion on home purchases and $600 billion on rent in the next five years. "Millennials are an important factor in housing market activity," Keely said. "Their aspirations to own homes, move to the suburbs and drive a car are similar to [those of] older adults." Because many are still single with no children, millennials also contribute to the economy in a unique way. "They move more often than older adults, which creates turnover," said Keely. "Moving contributes to the economy quite a bit. It's a trigger for other types of consumption, creating income and revenue for various industries." 
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Getty Images Many retirees rely heavily on Social Security: The Social Security Administration reports that more than half of married couples and almost three-quarters of single retirees get at least half of their income from the program in retirement. For those who've been married previously, Social Security commonly pays two types of benefits: spousal benefits (for divorced spouses who qualify) and survivors benefits (for those whose spouses have passed away). But of course, being divorced or widowed doesn't mean you're destined to stay alone. New love may surprise you. But if that relationship grows, it could lead to a much less pleasant surprise: discontinued Social Security benefits. What Divorced Spouses Must Consider Social Security recognizes the potential financial damage a divorce can do, and so it provides many divorced spouses with the same benefits they'd be entitled to receive if they remained married. Specifically, if you were married for at least 10 years, then you can claim spousal benefits based on your ex-spouse's work history. Even if your ex-spouse remarries, you don't lose your Social Security benefits. That also doesn't reduce anyone's benefits; both you and your ex's new spouse both can claim spousal benefits if the necessary conditions are met. But once you remarry, you become entitled to take spousal benefits based on your new spouse's work history after a short waiting period. But you lose the ability to claim benefits based on your ex-spouse's work record. If your ex had a higher income than your new spouse, then you could see your benefit shrink as a result. For Surviving Spouses, Social Security Is More Complicated If your spouse dies, then you'll be entitled to receive survivors benefits. Those benefits typically equal your spouse's retirement benefit, which is usually substantially higher than spousal benefits. Like those who've divorced and whose ex-spouse is still living, widows and widowers face some potential pitfalls if they remarry. But with surviving spouses, Social Security's rules are more complex and seem almost arbitrary. For most surviving spouses, if you haven't yet reached age 60 and get remarried, then you won't be entitled to survivors benefits based on your deceased former spouse's work history. Instead, you'll have to claim spousal benefits from your new spouse and potentially get survivors benefits on your new spouse's work history in the future. Rules Change for Older People But if you're 60 or older, Social Security treats you differently. Even if you remarry, you're still entitled to survivors benefits on your deceased former spouse's work record. Again, you're not allowed to double-dip, as you'll only be entitled to additional benefits if they exceed what you're getting as a surviving spouse. Nevertheless, the rationale for putting people younger than 60 in jeopardy of losing benefits while those 60 or older face no such worries isn't entirely clear. As if that weren't enough, you can sometimes get back benefits even if you initially lost them. If a second marriage also ends in death or divorce, then you may be able to claim benefits based on your first spouse's work history. Understanding the intricacies of Social Security as a spouse can be tough. But given the potential for problems if you don't consider the financial implications of marital decisions, it's important to get a handle on the rules so you can make an informed choice. More from Dan Caplinger
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