Tips for buying last-minute travel

Just a few tips that should work no matter where you plan to travel:

1. If you plan to travel on Christmas Day or New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day, you’ll probably find space, but nothing at great bargains.

2. Getting flights back on the weekend of Jan 5-6 will be difficult—it’s the busiest weekend in the season. If you can return after Jan. 5–6, it opens a lot more possibilities.

3. Broaden your horizons. Destinations like Argentina are sold out completely, but Chile is not as popular, so the chances are better to get space down to Santiago than to Buenos Aires.

4. Try to find travel companies that offer daily departures on their packages (versus ones that only have weekly flights). This gives you a better shot at finding a good airfare.

travel on Christmas Day