Travel experts identify cheapest dates to fly this holiday season

If you're traveling over the holidays, now's the time to book, say travel experts at a bargain airfare website. (istock.com/Manuel Faba Ortega)

If you're planning to travel over Thanksgiving and Christmas, now's the time to book your flight.

After tracking more than 3.6 million airfares and more than 11,000 itineraries per day during the holiday season, analysts at bargain airfare website CheapAir.com have compiled their annual Holiday Cheap Flights Report for consumers looking for flight deals.

According to their stats, the longer they wait, the more flyers will pay for their holiday flight.

Travelers who haven't yet booked their flight for Thanksgiving will pay an average of US$41 more on their airfare purchased in October, for instance, compared to September.

Wait until November, and that average spikes to $102.

Same goes for Christmas and New Year's: airfares are estimated to rise a modest $5 in October, compared to $56 and $143 in November and December respectively.

If you must fly on the premium-priced days, CheapAir experts recommend buying tickets as early as possible to try and score a better price.

Here are a few key dates on the most expensive and inexpensive days to fly:

Cheapest days to fly for Thanksgiving: Nov. 19-20, Nov. 24-25

Most expensive dates to fly: Nov. 17 and 26

Cheapest days to fly over Christmas and New Year's: Dec. 19, 20, 24

Most expensive dates to fly: Dec. 22, 26 31, Jan. 1