Shoulder Season Slips Away 9/29/26

With us CNBC, your money minute. I'm Jessica Ettinger. Remember the good old days when travel got cheap after Labor Day and before Thanksgiving? >> Shoulder season for travel is not quite the off season, but it's a a period where there's not as much demand for travel. You're paying lower prices historically. >> Keyword, historically. That's CNBC personal finance reporter Greg Iacurci. >> The shoulder season for travel is shrinking. It's harder to find savings during those months when historically it was a period when prices were down for things like airfare. >> Greg says you can still find a few cheaper flights or hotel rooms, but don't expect big discounts. >> Most areas you can still find price savings relative to travel during the summer. It's just that the savings are not quite what they used to be. >> For example, Hopper says in the fall of 2023, you could expect to pay 20% less for round-trip domestic flights during the fall shoulder season compared to the summer. But not this year. Hopper says depending on the route, the savings is likely gone and some flights are even more expensive than back in the summer. Jet fuel has bounced higher. Here are a couple of tips from Greg. >> Fly midweek instead of the weekends. You can always look for the so-called dupe. If you want to go to Paris or Rome, maybe you look at another big city within France or within Italy that is sort of similar. You get a similar cultural experience, but you know, it's it's a lower price place to travel. >> You can read Greg's whole piece at cnbc.com. I'm Jessica Ettinger, CNBC.