That the early bird catches the worm couldn’t be truer for 2020 airfares. The sooner you book, the better the deals will be, and those deals are looking pretty great for this month and next, according to data released by travel booking app Hopper.
Flight prices are projected to be down 5.8 percent in February compared to 2019 levels and are expected to be the lowest February airfares since 2013 (for travel throughout the year). That’s thanks to heavy competition among airlines, low-cost carriers, and favorable jet fuel prices, Hopper reported.
So, what kind of deals are we talking about?
Domestic airfare deals
Hopper predicts that these are the domestic destinations where you’ll see the biggest savings—if you book now and into February for travel throughout the year:
- New York City
- Austin
- Atlanta
- Fort Lauderdale, Florida
- Charleston, South Carolina
- San Diego, California
- Lihue, Hawaii
- Detroit
- Louisville, Kentucky
- Charlotte, North Carolina
We did some price checks to see what kind of deals are out there, and we found several round-trip flights from San Francisco or Los Angeles to New York from $197 (on American Airlines, JetBlue, and Alaska Airlines). Round-trip flights from New York to Fort Lauderdale are going for as low as $100 on United. Round-trip flights from Los Angeles to Lihue in Kauai are starting at $300 on Hawaiian Airlines. And you can get to Austin from Chicago for $97 round-trip on United.
International airfare deals
On the global travel front, if it’s a warm island destination or a cool northern European spot you seek, you’ll be happy with the international cities that Hopper predicts will offer the best savings during the month of February:
- Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
- Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic
- Reykjavík, Iceland
- London
- Tokyo
- Oranjestad, Aruba
- Panama City, Panama
- Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
- Madrid
- Bali, Indonesia
Gone are the days of the $99 flights to Iceland on Wow Air, but we found round-trip flights from New York to Reykjavík for as low as $374 with Icelandair. You can get to Madrid and back from San Francisco for $450 with Norwegian Air. And you can take round-trip flights from New York to Trinidad and Tobago on American for $362 or to Aruba for $319 on either American or United (JetBlue has a nonstop starting at $369 round-trip).
The key is to commit soon. Hopper’s six-month forecast predicts that airfares will steadily rise until July. In fact, despite the historic lows for February, airfares are already expected to be about 6.2 percent greater next month than flights purchased in January 2020.
>> Next: Where to Go in 2020
