Thanksgiving and Christmas airfares are at their highest in a decade, and the TSA is warning that festive clothing can trigger extra screening. Getting home for the holidays now takes more money, more planning and a little less sparkle.
Airlines are charging more to get families home this year, and the numbers are steep. According to Hopper’s 2026 Holiday Travel Index, reported by FOX Television Stations’ Catherine Stoddard, the average domestic Thanksgiving flight costs $402, up 31% from last year. Christmas fares average $452, up 23%. Both are the highest holiday airfares in a decade. Hotels add a mixed picture: Thanksgiving room rates are holding at about $170 a night, while Christmas rates have climbed 18% to $197.
2026 HOLIDAY AIRFARE SNAPSHOT
Thanksgiving: $402 average flight, up 31% vs. 2025
Christmas: $452 average flight, up 23% vs. 2025
Source: Hopper 2026 Holiday Travel Index
Fuel set the price, but airline strategy decided who pays it. Jet fuel costs have stayed high for months, driven largely by conflict in the Middle East. Airlines responded the way they usually do under cost pressure: they cut less profitable flights, which shrinks the number of seats, and raised fares and baggage fees to cover the gap. Fewer seats on the busiest travel days of the year gives carriers pricing power, and holiday travelers are the least able to walk away. Someone booking a beach trip can pick another week. Someone going home for Thanksgiving can’t move the holiday.
Federal data shows the same pressure across the year, not just at the holidays. Airfares rose roughly 22% from September 2025 to September 2026 in the government’s consumer price index, while overall prices rose 3.7%. A family of four flying at the average Thanksgiving fare will pay about $380 more for tickets alone than it did last year, before bags, a hotel or a rental car. For households already stretched by higher grocery and housing bills, that number decides whether everyone makes the trip or someone stays home.
The cost doesn’t stop at the ticket counter. The Transportation Security Administration is warning travelers that sparkly holiday sweaters can slow them down at security. In a social media post highlighted Oct. 21 by Yahoo’s Alesandra Dubin, the agency explained that metallic threads, sequins and rhinestones can set off body scanners, which leads to a pat-down. Festive clothing isn’t banned, and even TSA PreCheck members can be pulled aside when a scanner flags an outfit. Travelers responded with their own stories of surprise screenings, with one warning that sequins could earn you “the pat down of your life.”
There are ways to cut both costs and delays. Hopper recommends booking before Halloween and flying on off-peak days, such as Thanksgiving Day itself, Black Friday or Cyber Monday. It also suggests avoiding the Sunday after Thanksgiving, when fares can top $600. For Christmas, the cheapest departures tend to be the Monday or Tuesday before the holiday. At the airport, simple clothing, fewer metal accessories and an embellished layer that comes off easily will get you through the line faster.
The holiday premium is being charged for something families don’t treat as optional. Airlines have learned that travel tied to family obligations holds up even at higher prices, and this year’s fares test exactly how far that goes. If carriers keep capacity tight into 2027, the cost of going home will keep rising faster than wages. More families will choose which holidays they can afford to travel for, and more of those decisions will be made by the price of a seat rather than the people waiting at the other end.