Five myths about Christmas travel

8:10 p.m. EST December 22, 2017 Five myths about Christmas travel

 1. Christmas Day is always the cheapest day to fly during the holidays.

That might have been true a decade ago but it's not any longer.

"It was, historically, less expensive," says Jamie Bachrach, owner of Wandering Puffin, a Tripology travel agency in Minneapolis. "But not any more. Prices tend to jump a week before the holidays and stay that way for a week after holidays. The airlines know that people don't go home on Jan. 1 so they keep the fares high for a few days after that."

2. The TSA will not let you travel with wrapped packages.

The TSA has relaxed its rules and now permits travelers to bring wrapped packages through security checkpoints. But it also reserves the right to unwrap any present and subject it to further scanning or inspection if they find it suspicious. So wrap packages beforehand if you must, but do so with the knowledge that it might slow you down at security checkpoints, during a season when the lines are already typically long and slow.

But those packages aren't the main culprit for the lengthy lines.

"They're long because it's amateur hour," says Heather Poole, a flight attendant and author of Cruising Attitude: Tales of Crashpads, Crew Drama, and Crazy Passengers at 30,000 Feet. "People who normally don't travel aren't familiar with the rules. They're unprepared to walk when the agent waves them through. They don't even think about undressing to go through security until it's their turn. Then they forget all about the change in their pocket! The computer in their bag! That gigantic bottle of shampoo! So now they're going through not once, not twice, but three times. And the line just keeps getting longer."

3. You can never find last-minute airfare deals during the Christmas holidays.

Well, never say never. The fact is that you can find last minute airfare deals, says George Hobica, president of Airfarewatchdog, but you'd better be flexible about where to go.

"It's usually on routes where the non-holiday airfares have been reduced to fire-sale levels," says Hobica. "For example, right now Delta has fares from Los Angeles to Hong Kong for January and February travel at $589 roundtrip. That route is often much higher, maybe $800 or more. But because Delta has lowered non-holiday fares, the holiday fares are lower than you'd imagine. You can fly Los Angeles to Hong Kong leaving Dec. 23 and returning a week later for $1,159 round-trip. Singapore on those dates is more like $1,700 round-trip. Prague is $2,000 round-trip. So Hong Kong looks like a relative bargain because Delta is having a sale on the route that trickles down even to holiday travel. "

4. Air travelers are in a better mood during the holidays.

"Oh, how I want to say yes," says Heather Poole. "But I think it's half and half. The nice half are extra jolly, which is wonderful because the miserable half are on the edge of a nervous breakdown trying to find space for all that luggage they think they need. Some of them have brought on board gifts they had to unwrap at security. By the time it's their turn to board the airplane, those gifts no longer fit inside a bin."

Poole, an 18-year veteran of holiday flights, sums up her advice for holiday travelers in three words: allow extra time.

"The worst thing holiday travelers can do is not give themselves extra time to get through security," she says. "Because that stress just snowballs. After that everything goes from bad to worse. Now you're running late and you're starving and there's no time to stop because you're sprinting to the gate with all those bags and maybe a few unwrapped gifts. You're still sweating by the time I get to your row with the snack cart. Never mind the kid kicking your seat or the crying baby two rows ahead of you. By now, I've run out of the overpriced turkey sandwich."

5. If you haven't booked a holiday getaway by Dec. 20, you're out of luck.

If you can forsake the sun and beach, a less costly option for last-minute holiday getaways are big city hotels. Whether it's Boston, New York, Chicago or San Francisco, urban hotels rely on business travelers, who are largely absent for the week or ten days surrounding Christmas. That leaves rooms for leisure travelers, who can often find pretty good deals on popular booking sites, often at upscale properties. Can't afford to take the family to the Caribbean? Maybe a Chicago hotel with a swimming pool would be the perfect place to watch a snowstorm over Lake Michigan.

Travel agents say your dream destination may also still be in reach.

"If you're willing to spend money and you really want to get away, I will never ever say no," says Ellie Colin, President of the Elite Team at Ovation Travel Group, A Virtuoso Agency in New York. "I can always get something because there are always cancellations. Kids get sick, things happen, people can't travel. I know someone is going to cancel."

Colin's approach is one of polite persistence.

"The key is having a contact," she says." Maybe it's the reservations manager or the sales rep. For example, I just got a family into Parrot Cay in Turks & Caicos two weeks before the holidays. It's a two-bedroom beach villa and I was told three times that it was not available. I have three families going to Paris last-minute. You have to be persistent but you can't be obnoxious."

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