Tag: gifts

Attention, travelers: I have good news! Despite a record-setting summer for travel prices, winter isn’t looking so bad — if you know when to book.

Luckily, you have me. I’ve been to 36 countries, and I’m still itching to see the rest of the world. I’ve learned lots of ways to save over the years.

Best time to book for the holidays

Travel booking site Hopper predicts tickets will go up, up, up the later into fall we get. I checked Google’s most recent travel data, too, and it shows you’ll pay the lowest if you book 71 days before departure. Overall, the typical low-price range is 54 to 78 days before takeoff.

🦃 Thanksgiving Day: This year, Thanksgiving falls on Nov. 28, so you’ll need to buy your tickets between Sept. 11 and Oct. 5. If you want to go by Google’s data, purchasing on Sept. 18 will give you the lowest price.

🎄 Christmas: If you’re looking at a departure date of Dec. 20, for example, the ideal date range to buy your airline tickets is between Oct. 3 and Oct. 27. Google recommends booking on Oct. 10.

This is what the research says, but if you want to be sure you have a seat on the plane, go ahead and get those tickets ASAP. Another tip: Travel on Wednesdays for the lowest fares, and take the earliest flight you can; If it gets canceled, you have greater odds of catching another flight.

Google Flights’ lowest-price guarantee

This can help you get the best deal on your plane ticket. Here’s how it works: When you book a flight through Google Flights, they guarantee if the price of your ticket goes down after you buy it, they’ll pay you back the difference.

You can tell if a flight has Google’s Price guarantee on Google Flights by looking for a little badge or label that says “Price guarantee” when you’re browsing flights. Not all flights have this guarantee, so you’ll need to keep an eye out for it.

There are a few gotchas, of course. The guarantee only works if you book through Google Flights, and it only covers the difference if the price drops within a certain time after you book.

Get automatic price drop alerts

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What comes to mind when you think of someone getting scammed? A grandma on the phone with some jerk? If so, this will probably surprise you.

The total money lost by teens in online scams grew by nearly 2,500% between 2017 and 2022. Victims under the age of 20 lost a staggering $210 million in 2022 alone.

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Scammers draw from a bottomless bag of tricks to get you to hand over your money. They dramatically ramp up their actions when there’s a global event or an upcoming holiday. Not even Veterans Day is safe. Tap or click here for a story that proves criminals have no shame.

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