Flying home for Thanksgiving? You’ll find cheaper fares to and from Philly this year

As the holiday season inches closer, there is some good news for Philadelphia travelers: Airfare for domestic flights over Thanksgiving and Christmas is down more than 20% on average compared to last year and more than 30% compared to 2019, according to the travel site Hopper.

Hayley Berg, lead economist at Hopper, crunched some numbers for The Inquirer and found that potential PHL passengers are currently seeing the following prices on average:

In all cases, those numbers are $66 to $163 less than flight prices out of New York City airports.

The price drops come as the number of people flying to and from Philadelphia International Airport has increased slightly since last year. The airport is projecting an 11% bump in passenger volume this Thanksgiving compared to last year, spokesperson Heather Redfern said, based on the number of seats made available by the airlines.

According to Berg, the best deals are to the following destinations:

No, according to Robert Mann, an industry analyst and former airline executive.

“We’re still several weeks out from the Thanksgiving period and seven weeks out from Christmas,” he said. “There is no real science to” when airfare prices are the least expensive.

For domestic flights, some airlines have recently done away with change fees for some fares. That provides some extra comfort to consumers as well, Mann said: If plans change, you should be able to apply the money to another flight for no additional charge, or save it for a future flight.

And if your flight seems too expensive, don’t feel pressured to purchase it by a certain date.

“Always remember the prices that are being offered are the asked prices,” by the airlines. Mann said. “They aren’t necessarily what you need to accept. There will be cases where the prices will go down.”

Not necessarily, Mann said, though that is a common refrain among customers who live in cities that are hubs for specific airlines.

Philadelphia is a hub for American Airlines, which he said has grown its capacity the least of the four major airlines — a group that also includes Delta, Southwest, and United. Because of this, demand can more easily exceed capacity and result in higher prices during peak travel times.

But unlike at some other major airports, cheaper carriers such as Spirit and Frontier have no restrictions on how many flights they can offer out of Philadelphia, he added, so less costly options may be available on these airlines, depending on when and where you’re flying.

“Ultra low-cost carriers,” Redfern said, have recently grown their capacity out of Philadelphia: Spirit increased its total number of departing seats by nearly 70% between July 2019 and 2023, while Frontier increased its capacity 58% over the same period.

But yes, Mann said, there are situations when it is cheaper to fly out of another nearby airport, such as Baltimore/Washington, Newark, Wilmington, or Trenton.

Danielle Ballantine said she hardly ever flies out of Philadelphia, despite the airport being only a half-hour drive down I-95.

Instead, she heads the opposite way on the highway, doubling her drive time.

“Nine times out of 10, I’m choosing Newark because it’s just that much cheaper,” said Ballantine, 28, a business analyst who lives in Bensalem. In the past year, she’s flown to New Orleans, Phoenix, and Houston from the North Jersey airport, and found flights to be up to $200 cheaper there.

Still, she said, she has to weigh whether she will still be saving after paying for parking — and whether she wants to deal with traffic and other hassles that come with the longer drive.

“It’s frustrating that you have to go through all that to save money,” she said. But “I’m going to take the best deal I can get.”