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Reports

Going State of Travel 2025

Going

Going

January 15, 2025

15 min read

Table of Contents

Every year since 2020, we’ve done a deep dive into the landscape of travel. For 2025, we surveyed more than 3,000 Going members to learn about their previous year of travel and uncover where they dream of going next. We also looked at our own data—the deals we’ve sent and the average prices we’ve found—to make predictions about trending prices and places for the year to come. Here’s what we found. 


For years, we hoped for travel to return to some semblance of normalcy. Heading into 2025, it appears that we’ve made it. Travel demand and airfares are leveling out; capacity is increasing to top destinations, such as Asia; and flight cancellations are dwindling. 

While things are returning to “normal” in many cases, our understanding of what’s “normal” is also shifting. Revenge travel as we’ve known it for years is beginning to look different. Interest in travel to regions around the world other than Europe is growing. And more travelers are interested in adding a bit of luxury to their travels, whether by opting for a fancier flight class or choosing boutique experiences in their destination. 

In spite of these changes, one thing remains constant: People are still traveling. Travel just looks a little different than in years past. 

Key takeaways: 

  • Chapter 1: “Revenge travel” is beginning to look different. People continue to hit the road in record numbers, but how they do it is shifting. You’ll learn that they’re separating work from travel, and in subsequent chapters, you’ll also learn that they’re flying more luxuriously and opting for slower-paced adventures. 
  • Chapter 2: Interest in European travel, while still high, is waning. Travel throughout Asia, the US, national parks, and the countryside are evergrowing. Gen Z, in particular, is open to traveling to more destinations and for more various reasons than older generations. 
  • Chapter 3: There are five major things that travelers are getting wrong right now. When it comes to the cost of airfare, the prevalence of flight disruptions, how much they should pay for a flight to Paris, how to use points, and how much they can actually travel throughout the year, many travelers are off the mark.
  • Chapter 4: The Golden Age of Cheap Flights is here to stay. While official data shows the average cost of airfare increased modestly from August to November 2024, it has actually decreased over the long term, currently near all-time lows. For now, as average fares are getting pricier, the cheapest fares are getting cheaper, according to Going data. Deals to some regions, including Europe, North America, and Latin America, are lower than in 2023, while deals to other regions—largely Asia—are higher.
  • Chapter 5: Two-thirds of members redeemed points and miles in 2024, with many of them redeeming for economy-class seats (though they might have chosen a higher class had they been sitting on more points). For most people, a card’s signup bonus is the deciding factor when choosing which card to open. 
  • Chapter 6: When it comes to travel preferences, some things—like which seat travelers prefer on the plane, when they like to fly, their biggest pet peeves, and their distaste for checked bag fees—never change. Other things—like which class they like to fly in and how they feel about budget airlines—are beginning to shift. 

Chapter 1: The calm after the storm

1.1 The rise and fall of “revenge travel” 

Following Covid, travelers scrambled to make up for lost time, filling their passports with stamps, worried something would come along to put travel as we knew it on hold once again. 

In 2024, we saw TSA records smashed seemingly holiday after holiday.

  • The Sunday after July 4th and the Sunday after Thanksgiving were two of the biggest travel days of the year. 
  • The top ten busiest days in TSA history were in 2024 alone. 

Despite facing obstacles, primarily due to lack of time off work/school and lack of money, people continued to travel. And in many cases, they took even more trips than they expected they would. 

Gen Z, in particular, had more obstacles to travel than the rest of the population:

  • 39% of Gen Z reported lack of time off work/school as a barrier (vs. 29% everyone else)
  • 38% of Gen Z reported lack of money as a barrier (vs. 23% everyone else)
  • Despite this, 50% of Gen Z took more trips than they expected (vs. 40% everyone else) 
2024 travel compared to expectations
Barriers to travel in 2024 and 2025

In 2025, like any other year, travel won’t come without its challenges. Travelers expect lack of money and lack of time off work/school to be their biggest barriers. Concerns about political and social safety show the biggest increase, and concerns about Covid have shrunk to almost nothing. 

1.2 Revenge travel stabilizes in 2025

This time last year, heading into 2024, more than half of travelers (54%) reported wanting to take more international trips. Revenge travel at its finest. 

This year, that number saw an 8% decrease, with more travelers reporting they’ll take fewer international trips in 2025. Most people (66%) plan to take 1–2 international trips in 2025, and nearly half (49%) plan to take 2–3 domestic trips. 

In the second half of 2024, TSA numbers (outside of major holidays) reflected this shift in traveler urgency. While records were consistently broken earlier in the year, passenger numbers started leveling out in September, signaling a slowdown in air travel demand. At the very least, “revenge travel,” as we’ve known it for years, seems to have been exhausted. 

Plans for 2025 travel compared to 2024

Following the pandemic, remote work enabled people to travel farther and more frequently. In 2025, more than 60% of travelers will have the option to work remotely, but only about half of them (32%) plan to—far fewer than the 54% who planned to work remotely in 2024. 

While remote work comes with its advantages, it also comes with challenges. Toting work gear from destination to destination, finding a comfortable space with reliable wifi, adjusting to time changes: All of it has contributed to travelers realizing that working while traveling may just not be worth the hype.

1.3 Going all out: 48% of travelers ready to increase spending for more trips in 2025

Travel demand may be leveling out, but it’s far from “down.” Not only will people continue to travel in 2025, they’ll spend more money doing it. 

The most vocal cohort of people (48%) say they’ll spend more on travel in 2025 because they plan to take more trips—not a far cry from what travelers have said in the past. 

Money spent on travel in 2025 compared to 2024

The difference is that there is a rise in other reasons for why people plan to spend more in 2025. Luxury travel is on the rise, as 11% of people report planning to spend more on each trip next year in order to travel more lavishly, compared to 8% who said the same last year. Inflation also appears to be increasingly impacting how much people plan to spend in the coming year.

Reason for spending more on travel in 2025

Chapter 2: Where we’re going

Europe, the West Coast, big cities, and the Great Outdoors 

It comes as no surprise that Europe topped the list for where people are hoping to travel in 2025. What may come as a slight surprise: the amount of people who are hoping to travel there is dwindling. 

Interest in Europe travel is declining

Similar to 2024, interest in Asia, the US, and the Caribbean is also high. Interest in US travel is significantly higher than last year’s report, while interest in Asia travel is higher but less so. 

The decreased interest in historically popular destinations, especially throughout Europe, and the increased interest in up-and-coming regions, such as Asia, can largely be attributed to Gen Z travel preferences. Gen Z is more interested in traveling throughout nearly every region—the US, Caribbean, Asia, Central and South America, Oceania, Africa, and the Middle East—than the rest of the population. (There’s less urgency among Gen Z to travel to Europe and Canada.)

Need some inspo on where to go? Check out our list of 12 places to go in 2025 if you love cheap flights. 

Where do travelers want to go around the world in 2025?

Zooming in on the states, the West wins by a landslide, with California, Hawaiʻi, Washington, Oregon, and Alaska all ranking in the top 10 states that people want to travel in 2025. New York, Florida, Colorado, Arizona, and Maine also topped the list.  

Where travelers want to go around the US in 2025

Within all of these destinations, people are still gravitating toward big cities and beaches, but national parks and the countryside are growing in popularity. 

Types of places travelers want to visit

The Great Outdoors is having its moment, with the majority of people (58%) interested in traveling for the outdoors, trailed by people traveling for arts and culture, food, and to visit family and friends. 

Notably, Gen Z is more likely to travel for food (61%) and specific attractions or events (55%) than the rest of the population.

What people are traveling for in 2025

Chapter 3: 5 things travelers are getting wrong

3.1 The cost of airfare right now

The majority of travelers (60%) think that flight prices have gone up since February 2020. Airfare is very volatile, and while airfares increased from August to November 2024, the truth is that airfare at the moment is near all-time lows—and that’s adjusted for inflation. Airfare is currently 1% cheaper than February 2020. More impressively, it’s about 35% cheaper than it was a decade ago. 

3.2 The prevalence of flight disruptions

Nearly half of travelers (47%) think that flight disruptions stayed the same in 2024 as 2023. Largely, disruptions improved. Data is only available for the first nine months of 2024, but it indicates that 1.6% of flights were canceled last year, about a 20% improvement from the historical average of 2%. 

One reason why: Airlines have gotten better at turning cancellations into delays, thanks to improved resources and technology. This then means that, while cancellations have improved, delays have become slightly more prevalent. Data shows that about 25% of flights were delayed in 2024, compared to the historical average of 20%. 

Mind you, this data includes two events that caused significant disruptions in 2024: the Boeing 737 Max 9 door plug debacle in January and the CrowdStrike outage in July. Without these high-profile incidents, cancellations likely would have been significantly lower.

3.3 How much they should pay for a flight to Paris

When asked what they considered a “cheap” flight to Paris, 42% of travelers said they’d pay $500 or more roundtrip. By Going’s standards, that’s too much. 

Our typical threshold for flights to Europe is anywhere in the $400s roundtrip from larger airports (though we occasionally stretch into the $500s for smaller airports). In the past six months, we’ve sent out tons of deals even lower than this threshold: 

  • Nonstop Newark to Paris for $277 roundtrip
  • Boston and NYC to Paris for $362 roundtrip over Valentine’s Day 
  • Nonstop Miami to Paris for $363 roundtrip
  • Detroit, Houston, Cincinnati, Minneapolis, Atlanta, Raleigh, Denver, Phoenix, and Salt Lake City to Paris for $386 roundtrip (some routes included Thanksgiving travel dates) 

Now, if you plan to travel to Paris during a peak season, like over the summer or during the winter holidays, you can expect to pay more. Think in the $600s roundtrip. And the premium price is almost always going to be paid by travelers who don’t keep the Goldilocks Window in mind and instead book way too close to departure. 

If you have a bit of flexibility and cheap flights are a priority, don’t discount Paris in the shoulder seasons. That’s when the deals—and the city—really shine. 

3.4 How to use points

In the world of travel, credit card points are like the fortune cookie after a meal at a Chinese takeout restaurant. Most restaurants offer the cookies. You likely ordered takeout because you needed to eat—the fortune cookie was just a bonus. The restaurant will give you one whether you plan to eat it or not. And if you do eat it, it makes your experience that much sweeter. 

According to our study, not enough travelers are eating the fortune cookie—aka they’re not taking advantage of their points. 17% of travelers report they don’t collect credit card points because they don’t know how to use them. And of the travelers who do collect points, their confidence in redeeming them is relatively low—rated an average of 6 out of 10. 

Like in the fortune cookie scenario, many people probably began their credit card journey because they needed a credit card. The points are just a bonus. And many issuers are giving them points on their everyday purchases whether they spend those points or not. 

At the end of the day, points are like free money. Travelers can redeem them for free or discounted airline tickets, hotel stays, rental cars, and more. The key is to know how to use them. 

With Going’s three-part Intro to Points email series, travelers learn the basics to get started with points and miles, choose the right card, and redeem their points for the most value. Then, they’ll be perfectly equipped to take advantage of all of the stellar points deals available in the Going app. Here are some sample points deals that we’ve found in the past year: 

  • Mistake fare from LA to Helsinki for 19k points roundtrip in business class 
  • NYC, Chicago, DC, and several other US cities to Zürich for 40k–55k points roundtrip during ski season
  • Nonstop LA to Tahiti for 55k–56k points roundtrip
  • 11 US cities to Italy for 100k points roundtrip over the summer in business class

Learn more about how travelers used their points throughout 2024 in Chapter 5 below. 

3.5 How much they can travel

In early 2024, travelers expressed a strong desire to travel more. By the end of the year, it became clear that financial and time constraints were significant hindrances to those plans.

Perhaps this signals a turning point in post-Covid travel. Workplaces are insisting that people come back into the office, so employees aren’t getting the time off work that they want. Financial restrictions are restricting enough to make people say “I’ll have to pass on the trip this time” instead of “I’ll make it work.”

Looking ahead, 46% of travelers say they’ll take more international trips in 2025 and 33% say they’ll take more domestic trips. However, travelers are anticipating the same barriers to travel in the coming year. 

If travelers plan to take more trips, something will need to give. Either they’ll need more time off work (or they’ll need to know how to spend their PTO more wisely), or they’ll need to adjust their spending habits in other aspects of their life in order to travel as much as they hope.  


Chapter 4: 2025 Going deal report

4.1 The Golden Age of Cheap Flights is here to stay

For years, we've sounded like a broken record, declaring that we're in the Golden Age of Cheap Flights. Sorry, but you'll have to hear us say it again: The Golden Age of Cheap Flights is here to stay. 

While official data shows the average cost of airfare increased modestly in the second half of 2024, it’s actually been decreasing over the long term. The average cost of airfare is cheaper now than it was before the pandemic, and adjusted for inflation, it’s near all-time lows. 

As most consumer goods have gotten more expensive, airfare has done the opposite.

As we know, you can't book average fares—you can only book available fares, which may fall above or below the average fare. At Going, we draw attention to those fares below—the deals—in the sea of average airfares. And what we’re seeing is that, even though the average airfare has crept up over the past several months, the cheapest fares are getting cheaper.  

According to Going data, the average cost of our deals to Europe in 2024 was $512 roundtrip, about 4% cheaper than 2023. North America and Latin America deals were both about 10% cheaper, at $261 roundtrip and $343 roundtrip respectively.

Other regions have not been so lucky. Competition helps keep fares down, so in the absence of competition, you’re likely to see fewer and more expensive deals. Asia is a great example. It’s been slower to bounce back after the pandemic, meaning deals findable by our Travel Experts have lagged as well. 

However, we still saw plenty of Asia deals in the $600–$700s roundtrip last year, and if Asia capacity is to improve in 2025 as we predict, more deals will follow. 

When we say we’re still in the Golden Age of Cheap Flights, that’s no lie. Several regions are seeing airfares on par with (or lower than) what we saw in 2019. In 2024, we even saw a ton of “lowest-price-ever” fares, including: 

  • Miami and Orlando to London for $207 roundtrip
  • Boston to Costa Rica for $224 roundtrip
  • Newark to Crete for $429 roundtrip
  • NYC to the Galapagos Islands for $574 roundtrip
  • Atlanta, Detroit, and Minneapolis to Brisbane for $685 roundtrip
  • Dallas to New Delhi for $745 roundtrip

See more of the best deals that we found in 2024—including those coveted mistake fares!

What's a great flight price in 2025?

4.2 Premium classes are getting more accessible

For a while following the pandemic, airlines saw the opportunity to capitalize on rising interest in premium-class fares. But now, the number of premium seats on planes is growing faster than economy seats. 

More availability means more—and cheaper—deals.

Travelers, even ones who are traveling for leisure, are in a unique position to take advantage of incredible premium-class deals to popular destinations:

  • Places like Europe and Latin America often see premium economy deals in the $800–$1,200 range, occasionally dipping into the $600s roundtrip on select routes. 
  • In 2024, we even sent a few sub-$1,000 roundtrip business-class deals to Africa and South America.
Average price of premium deals found by Going

4.3 Don’t sleep on hot award flights

If ever there was a time to listen up to what we have to say about points, it’s now. What we said in 2024 holds true: There are plenty of economy-class seats available for redemption if you act fast. However, quite a bit has changed in the world of points over the past year:

  • There were a number of devaluations in 2024. Alaska hiked up award rates to Hawaiʻi and on several of its partner airlines; United raised rates to destinations in Europe and Asia; ANA raised rates on international flights; Qatar increased fees on awards flights; and the list goes on. 
  • Virgin Atlantic also switched to dynamic pricing, meaning award rates now vary based on demand rather than being fixed by destination as they were before. While this means some seats will be cheaper, other seats will be much more expensive. Basically, knowing the “sweet spot” when award rates are especially good becomes more difficult. Our prediction: More airlines will follow suit with dynamic pricing.
If you're holding on to points and miles, it's wise to spend them than save them right now—as long as you spend them wisely.

Of course, Going can help with that! Become an Elite member today, and we’ll alert you when the best points deals drop.

Going with Points deals that Going sent in 2024

Chapter 5: Traveling with points & miles

Points and miles are in for 2025. Nine out of 10 members shared they earn some sort of points or miles. 

And to the one in 10 who don’t: Check out Going’s Intro to Points series. Our three-part email series demystifies how to earn and use points* to travel for less. 

*For simplicity’s sake, we use “points” throughout to refer to both points and miles.

5.1 Two-thirds of members redeemed points in 2024

Not only are members earning points, but they’re putting them to work, too. Two out of three members redeemed points and miles in 2024, with 67% of travelers going for economy flights and only about 3% (thankfully) opting for cashback. 

The other third of respondents are saving their points for future travel. 

How travelers spent their points in 2024

5.2 Economy flights were the most common redemption…but not what everyone wanted 

While the majority of points-earning members redeemed for economy-class seats, only about half wanted to fly in an economy cabin. About 2 out of 5 people said they wanted to fly in a premium cabin seat but didn’t have enough points. 

This 40% shouldn’t lose hope. Often the best way to get more points is from a new card’s signup bonus. When you combine the points earned from a card’s new signup bonus with your existing points, you may have enough for that premium seat.

A much smaller group—7% of respondents—had enough points for a premium-class seat, but they just couldn’t find availability. If this sounds like your situation, then Going Elite is for you. Elite members get business and first-class points deals to book.  

5.3 Top destinations to fly with points 

The world is your oyster when it comes to points, but there are a few places that really appeal to travelers when they’re considering where to spend them. 

Where do travelers want to go around the world with points in 2025?

5.4 Travelers love a signup bonus

Many people opened a new credit card last year, and 2 out of 3 said the biggest factor that motivated opening the new card was its signup bonus. 

This is no surprise. A card’s signup offer can get you close to the points you need to redeem for one full ticket—sometimes even two! 

After that, the next most common reason (16%) for opening a card was its ongoing bonus earning rates, like 2x points per dollar on travel, for example. 

About 10% picked a new card for the extra perks (like an application fee credit to Global Entry and lounge access), and 5% picked a card for its airline-specific perks, like a free checked bag.

Looking for your next card? Check out our picks.


Chapter 6: Travel preferences & pet peeves

6.1 What people love: traveling—by the window, in the morning, in comfort

No surprise: The vast majority of travelers prefer flying in the window or aisle seats. 

We’re also pleased that a solid half of travelers prefer taking early-morning flights. It’s not always possible to fly early. However, early-morning flights have a 20-percentage-point higher on-time performance rate than later flights of the day. Maybe that’ll change your mind on which flight to buy next time.

One of the biggest shifts in traveler preferences since last year's report: flight class. Many travelers (46%) are still booking economy tickets, but there’s a clear shift to more premium seats. Far fewer travelers are opting for basic economy, and travelers booking premium economy, business, and first-class seats is 4 percentage points higher than last year. 

Traveler preferences

Regardless of seat, flight time, or class, one thing is certain: People love traveling. And they’d give up a whole lot in order to do it. Only 1% of people said they’d rather give up traveling than any of those other things.

Things people would give up before they stopped traveling

6.2 Biggest passenger pet peeves (cough, cough)

Covid isn’t keeping people from traveling anymore, but if another passenger is openly sick with cold symptoms and not wearing a mask, 27% of people say it’s the worst offense you can commit in air travel right now. Kicking or pulling on the back of your seat, not using headphones for music or phone calls, and crowding the boarding area before their group is called are also criminal. Maybe American Airlines is onto something with its crackdown on “gate lice.”

The recent increase in checked bag fees is also a point of frustration for about half of travelers. Among them, 21% still plan to check a bag next year, but 24% say they’ll try to avoid it so as not to pay the fee.

Budget airlines have always been a hot topic among travelers—you’re either with them or you’re against them. This survey showed a dead-split for who’s willing to fly budget and who’s not. Because a number of budget airlines recently got rid of change fees, more than a quarter of travelers (28%) say they would now consider flying budget. Next year, will budget airlines be promoted to “what travelers love”? Time will tell!


Published January 15, 2025

Last updated January 15, 2025

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