One way or return? Book now or wait? Fly on the holiday itself or the weekend before? Those are the questions on travelers’ minds right now.

The good news: KAYAK’s latest 2026 Holiday Travel Check-In has the answers. Travel expert KAYAK dug into its search data from 2025 and 2026 to provide actionable tips and tricks on how to get the best-priced flight tickets, when fares historically come down, and which travel dates deliver the best value for this year’s holiday season.

Rethinking the traditional round trip could pay off when it comes to ways to save this holiday season. Piecing together two one-way tickets could cut airfare by as much as 30% internationally and 29% domestically.

The biggest potential savings when booking two one-way trips include Simpson Bay, St. Maarten, at 30%, Liberia, Costa Rica, at 23%, and Lima, Peru, at 20%. Domestically, Washington, D.C. leads at 29%, followed by Chicago at 28% and San Diego at 22%.

Patience could pay off, but it’s got a deadline.…