Planning a Holiday Vacation? Here's Why You Absolutely Have To Book Your Travel ASAP

It's exciting to plan a holiday vacation. What's not so exciting is going to book it and seeing hardly any flights available, and high prices on whatever's left.

Because of how many people travel around the holidays, this can happen to anyone who waits too long. Nearly half (47%) of U.S. consumers are planning to travel this holiday season, according to PwC.

The good news is that there's still time left to book holiday travel -- but not much. Here's what the data says, plus other ways to save money, including paying with rewards from popular credit cards.

The best time to book a holiday vacation

Thanks to Google Flights, we have information about the sweet spots for booking holiday travel. Here's when to book for the lowest prices:

• For domestic Thanksgiving travel, the lowest prices are generally found 36 to 74 days before departure.
• For domestic flights around Christmas, the lowest prices are generally found 54 to 78 days before departure.
• For flights from the United States to Europe, average prices are lowest 72 days or more before departure.
• For flights to the United States to Mexico or the Caribbean, average prices are lowest 37 to 87 days before departure.

We're in those low price ranges, so there's still time to score a deal. But there's not a lot of time left, especially if you want to travel for Thanksgiving or go to Europe around Christmas.

Airfare prices depend on where you're going, as well. You can use a brand-new Google Flights feature to get more exact price insights based on where you want to go. Enter your departure city, destination, and travel dates. If Google Flights has reliable trend data, it will tell you when prices have typically been the lowest.

How to save money on your holiday travels

Besides booking when prices are lowest, there are a couple of other ways to cut your holiday travel costs.

Be flexible about your travel dates. This is what has consistently worked for me. To be honest, I often make plans and book travel at the last minute. If you're locked into traveling on a specific date, there might not be anything affordable available. But you can sometimes get a much cheaper flight if you're willing to change your travel dates by one or two days.

Pay for big travel expenses with travel rewards. This is another strategy I use all the time. Open a travel credit card so you can earn points on all your credit card spending. Then, use the points you've earned to pay for things like airfare and hotels. If you're interested in giving this a try, check out our list of the best travel credit cards.

Google Flights has also found that direct flights are about 20% more expensive than flights with layovers. However, there are downsides to saving money by booking a flight with a layover. You spend more time traveling, and adding another flight to your trip increases the likelihood of issues, such as delays. Considering those are already more common during the busy holiday travel season, I recommend avoiding flights with layovers whenever possible.

Last-minute holiday travel deals are rare, and not something you want to rely on. If you're planning to travel for the holidays, then now is the time to book.