The 2026 Airfare Hikes Skipped Thanksgiving

Airfare rose sharply in 2026, but when we at RatePunk priced Thanksgiving flights from 10 major U.S. cities, they cost about the same as in 2025.

Flat fares are a surprise given what airlines have been paying to fly. Jet fuel prices nearly doubled after the Iran war began in February, and by September, airline fares were 22% higher than a year earlier, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Airlines have also said they plan to keep fares higher. American Airlines' chief financial officer said in October that fares would probably "stay largely where they're at right now."

Those higher fares do show up in our data, but for flights earlier in November. Some cities see much bigger Thanksgiving increases than others, and a few routes even cost less over Thanksgiving week.

Key Findings

• Fares earlier in November rose from 2025: On 278 domestic routes priced the same number of days ahead in both years, fares for November 1 to 20 rose 26%, while Thanksgiving fares stayed about the same.
• Flying from Denver costs more almost anywhere you go: The typical Denver destination costs 54% more over Thanksgiving week, the biggest increase of the 10 cities we compared. Of the 43 Denver destinations we priced, 41 saw higher price increases.
• Every city pays more, but some routes cost less: The typical Thanksgiving fare rose in all 10 cities, but 44 of the 338 destinations we priced cost less over Thanksgiving week than earlier in November.

Fares Earlier in November Rose 26% From 2025

We compared domestic round trips priced 30 to 90 days before departure. Fares earlier in November rose 26% from 2025, while Thanksgiving fares stayed about the same.

In terms of dollars, the typical Thanksgiving round trip cost $339, compared to $340 in 2025, and 155 of the 278 routes we researched cost less than in 2025.

Because fares earlier in November rose and Thanksgiving fares didn't, the domestic Thanksgiving premium narrowed from 127% in 2025 to 66% in 2026. 

Denver Pays the Biggest Thanksgiving Premium

Denver ranks highest of the 10 departure cities we priced, ahead of Seattle and Boston, and 41 of the 43 Denver destinations we priced cost more over Thanksgiving week.

At the other end, Washington and Chicago rise the least, likely due to the number of routes going abroad and slowing work travel.

Thanksgiving is a U.S. holiday, and the premium follows it. Domestic round trips cost 68% more over Thanksgiving week, while trips abroad cost 15% more.

The Thanksgiving premium, isn't driven by a handful of expensive routes. In every city, at least seven in 10 destinations cost more over Thanksgiving week, and in Boston, Denver, and San Francisco more than nine in 10 did.

What the Thanksgiving Premium Costs in Dollars

In terms of dollars, Boston and Atlanta have the largest increases. The typical round trip from either city costs about $230 more over Thanksgiving week.

Typical round-trip fare by departure city, Thanksgiving week vs. November 1 to 20, 2026, ranked by the typical destination's increase. "Destinations" is the number of destinations priced in both periods.

Fares on Popular Domestic Routes

On busy domestic routes, the Thanksgiving premium often more than doubles the cost of a flight. Dallas to New York LaGuardia rose from $152 to $392, and San Francisco to Las Vegas from $66 to $154.

A Few Domestic Routes Cost Less Over Thanksgiving

Of the 338 destinations we priced, 44 cost less over Thanksgiving week than earlier in November. These are the domestic routes where Thanksgiving week costs less.

Thanksgiving is a U.S. holiday, and most of the drops are on trips abroad. 31 of the 44 destinations that cost less are outside the country, 12 of them in Europe, where late November falls between the summer crowds and the Christmas peak.

The domestic drops include cities people fly to for work, like Washington and Philadelphia. Business travel to those cities likely slows over the holiday. The rest are mostly vacation spots like Orlando and New Orleans.

Typical round-trip fare, November 1 to 20 vs. Thanksgiving week, 2026. Domestic routes with prices recorded on at least three days in each period.

How to Pay Less for a Thanksgiving Flight

Three things cut the fare:

• Leave Sunday or Monday. A Sunday, November 22, or Monday, November 23, departure runs 7% to 13% below the week's typical fare, while leaving Wednesday costs about 20% more. Thanksgiving Day itself prices like an average day of the week.
• If your dates are loose, fly earlier in November. On the domestic routes we compared, Thanksgiving week cost about two-thirds more than November 1 to 20.
• Put your route on a price watch. Use a tool like RatePunk Flights to watch prices out of the airport you fly from and get alerts when a route drops well below what it normally costs.

For savings that aren't tied to the holiday, we tested 10 ways to find cheap flights against real fares.

Methodology

These figures come from RatePunk's own fare tracking. We used the cheapest economy round-trip fare seen each day for stays of 2 to 7 nights, recorded 30 to 90 days before departure: between August 3 and October 28, 2026, for this year, and between August 4 and October 29, 2025, for last year. Thanksgiving week is departures from November 21 to 27, 2026 (November 22 to 28, 2025), and the comparison period is departures from November 1 to 20, 2026 (November 1 to 21, 2025).

For each destination, we took the median fare in each period, using only days with at least five fares recorded and only destinations priced on at least three days in each period. A city's figure is the median change across its destinations, and a city is included when it has at least 10 destinations. A city's percentage is the typical destination's change, so it can differ from the change computed from the city's typical fares. For New York (Newark, JFK, and LaGuardia), Dallas (DFW and Love Field), Washington (Dulles and Reagan National), and Chicago (O'Hare and Midway), we used the cheapest fare from any of the city's airports each day. "Typical" refers to these medians throughout.

Two limits are worth noting. Domestic fares in October were higher than earlier in November, so measured against October, the Thanksgiving premium would be smaller. All figures are fares shown in searches, not prices travelers paid.

For the comparison with 2025, we used only fares from the data source we tracked in both years, recorded 30 to 90 days before departure, on 278 domestic routes from all U.S. airports priced on at least three days in each period of both years. To keep the timing equal, we split that window into three booking ranges (30 to 49, 50 to 69, and 70 to 90 days ahead) and compared each route only within the ranges where we had prices for both periods in both years. Flights earlier in November leave sooner than Thanksgiving flights, so this step checks that timing doesn't skew the comparison. On average, both periods in both years were priced 60 to 62 days before departure. Because that comparison covers a different set of routes, its 2026 figures differ from the city figures above. In 2025, we usually recorded one fare per search, so the five-fares-per-day rule doesn't apply to the year comparison.

For the departure-day comparison, we compared each day's typical fare with the same route's typical fare for the whole week, on 22 domestic routes priced on at least five of the seven days; the Friday figure rests on 11 routes.

Using This Data

You're welcome to use these figures with credit to RatePunk and a link to this article. For questions about the data or the method, contact hi@ratepunk.com.

About RatePunk

Reading fares and understanding what makes them move is our area of expertise, and the prices in this article come from our own flight data. We run RatePunk Flights, a paid membership that watches prices out of the airport you fly from. When a route drops well below what it normally costs, the deal shows up in your app and on your dashboard, so you can book it wherever you like, with the airline itself or a travel site you already use.