Book Smarter: Holiday Travel Tips for Stress-Free Trips

NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast

NerdWallet Personal Finance

Business, Education, Investing, How To

4.2 • 665 Ratings

🗓️ 5 September 2024

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Get insider tips for stress-free holiday travel, from booking strategies to maximizing credit card points and more. What’s the best way to avoid stress when traveling during the holidays? Is it better to book with points when you’re traveling for the holidays? Hosts Sean Pyles and Meghan Coyle discuss the challenges of holiday travel and share effective booking strategies to help you understand how to navigate the busiest travel days with ease and efficiency. Travel Nerd Sally French joins them to discuss common holiday travel hurdles, including the benefits of early morning flights, the advantages of extending holiday trips to avoid peak travel days, and strategies for using travel points and rewards effectively during the holidays. They also explore the perks of lounge access, the efficiency of TSA PreCheck, and clever ways to use travel points during peak seasons. Check out NerdWallet’s roundup of the 16 Best Travel Credit Cards of September 2024: https://www.nerdwallet.com/best/credit-cards/travel In their conversation, the Nerds discuss: holiday travel tips, stress-free holiday travel, best time to book flights, maximize credit card points, TSA PreCheck benefits, lounge access perks, avoid flight cancellations, early morning flights, busiest travel days, holiday staycation, travel strategies, Southwest flight credits, holiday travel chaos, extend holiday trips, travel trends 2024, holiday travel season, travel points usage, travel delays, layover tips, airline reliability, Google Flights alerts, avoiding holiday crowds, booking smarter, record-breaking travel, holiday flight booking, travel tips and tricks, avoiding holiday rush, sentimental holiday travel, Thanksgiving travel tips, Christmas travel tips, booking refundable flights, holiday travel planning, navigating TSA lines, airport lounge benefits, travel rewards strategies, flying on holidays, travel stories, and 2024 holiday travel outlook. To send the Nerds your money questions, call or text the Nerd hotline at 901-730-6373 or email [email protected]. Like what you hear? Please leave us a review and tell a friend. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Tell me if this sounds familiar. Walking a mile from the parking lot, forgetting a piece of
0:06.4	luggage in the car, long lines to check in and tag your bags, even longer lines to get
0:11.8	through security, and then a freak snowstorm hits the airport and your flight is canceled.
0:18.3	Welcome to holiday travel, where Murphy's law seems to rule. Well, friends,
0:23.5	this is one law that we are hoping to help you break. Book that first flight out if possible.
0:28.4	The reason being is that the number one cause of delay is actually the incoming aircraft was late.
0:36.7	If you're booking that first flight out, then that
0:39.3	incoming aircraft is probably already going to be there because it landed from the night
0:43.2	before. It's just been parked there.
0:49.2	Welcome to NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast. I'm Sean Piles. And I'm Megan Coyle. And this episode kicks off
0:55.7	our nerdy deep dive into holiday travel, the most wonderful and exasperating time of the year.
1:01.6	Happy Thanksgiving, Megan, in September, but hey, why not? Pumpkin spice lattes are out,
1:06.4	and that means Thanksgiving is what next week? Oh, Sean, just think about all the fun times you're
1:11.3	going to have with friends and family. Who cares if it takes you 22 hours to get from Portland to,
1:16.5	I don't know, Seattle? 22 if you're lucky. Honestly, it's gotten to the point where I avoid
1:21.5	traveling during the holidays at all costs if I can. I mean, don't get me wrong. I love my
1:25.7	families, but that's not the only time of year I can see them. And you know what? They do sell turkeys outside of late November, cranberries too. The whole thing has just gotten to be a bit much. So we find other ways and times to celebrate, at least if it means getting on a plane. I'm so with you, Sean. But yet, I still wouldn't miss the holidays
1:45.3	with my family. A lot, a lot, a lot of people do travel for these special once-a-year gathering,
1:50.8	so we are here to help you make it as easy and smooth as possible, even if the fates conspire
1:56.2	against you and your well-laid plans. So, Megan, what prompted you to bring the series to us?
2:01.2	I'm reporting and editing stories on travel all year, but I feel like the holidays are a time when,
2:06.7	one, all the normal advice to save money goes out the window. And two, a lot of people are
	...

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