Everyone wants to travel in the summer. And while flight prices typically rise precipitously during those peak summer months, there are some types of flight deals that are still reliably cheap for a summer 2026 trip.
Everyone is off school and the weather is at its best … and airlines know that's exactly when people want to fly. Flight prices often reflect that, getting up to three or four times the price of shoulder season or off-season travel. That demand can make booking cheap flights for a trip in peak summer tough, especially for sought-after destinations like Europe.
There are, however, some tried-and-true sweet spots for booking summer flights. We usually tell people to aim for August for the best rates, use their points and miles, and focus on business class for the best value. Many of those sweet spots are lingering (and maybe even fortifying) for a flight this summer. Here's what we're seeing out there for travel this summer.
Domestic Flights: Alaska, Lake Tahoe, AA Biz Class & More
Travelers save up for those big, expensive international vacations during the peak summer months. So while they're galavanting around Europe paying peak season prices, sometimes the domestic flights to take you around the U.S. are the ones that get cheap.
There are countless examples of this, but a few destinations have made themselves known for 2026 already. The first, is Lake Tahoe!
This list of fares to Reno (RNO) is the perfect way to put yourself within an hour's drive of one of the most scenic spots in the U.S. When we sent this flight deal alert to our Thrifty Traveler Premium members a few weeks ago, it included some Fourth of July availability from several cities, too!
If Lake Tahoe over the Fourth sounds pretty good to you, I think I can do you one better: Alaska!
These peak summer fares to Anchorage, Alaska (ANC) also included some June, July, and August availability – meaning you could be in Alaska when there's 19+ hours of daylight if you can visit close to the summer equinox in late June.
If the Chugach Mountains outside of Alaska are still a flight too far, consider the smaller, but still beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of Asheville, North Carolina!
Asheville (AVL) flights often stay cheap thanks to some frequent service from several U.S. airlines. The latest Asheville flight deal featured this list of U.S. cities with flights under $200 roundtrip for a trip this summer.
Finally, the domestic flight deals can also be booked up in the front of the plane using your points and miles! This American Airlines deal flying their brand new A321 airplanes with fresh business class suites was a perfect example.
You could criss-cross the U.S. between Boston (BOS) and New York (JFK) and Los Angeles (LAX) and San Francisco (SFO) in one of these suites from just 27,000 points each way if you have Finnair Avios (or the many credit card points that transfer to Avios) or just 35,000 Alaska miles.
If you want to stay closer to home and stick around the U.S. this summer, the flight deals are there to get you to where you want to go.
Lie-Flat Business Class with Points & Miles: Tokyo & Europe
If summer is the peak season to fly to Europe, then why is summer also one of the best times to find business class seats to Europe? It's one of the weirder trends in airfare that usually holds true, including this summer.
Here's why: While more people are traveling in the summer months, there are fewer people traveling for business … and that leaves those expensive seats open during the summer months. Without plump expense accounts helping them book, most travelers opt for economy in the summer.
And that means these business class seats are easier to snag with points and miles. Here's what I mean:
One of the our favorite redemptions in points and miles is using 60,000 American Airlines AAdvantage miles to fly Japan Airlines Business Class from North America to Tokyo, and just a few days ago, we found availability from San Diego (SAN) and Vancouver (YVR) to do just that!
And that availability…included dates in June, July, and August, too!
But that's not all: You can also fly American Airlines business class across the pond to Budapest (BUD) and Prague (PRG) nonstop using your Alaska miles, Cathay Pacific miles, or your AA miles, too.
This deal included availability starting in June when these seasonal routes start for the year, giving you a great chance to explore these eastern European cities, or use them to start a bigger Europe trip in style!
So far, for 2026, there's been a clear winner when it comes to business class availability to Europe: Condor Airlines.
Condor might not be the first airline you think about when it comes to Europe flights, but Condor Airlines Business Class is one of our favorite ways to fly to Europe, period.
This summer, you can find availability from just 70,000 points each way to Frankfurt (FRA) and beyond from places as far off as San Francisco (SFO) and Portland (PDX)!
And just a few weeks before that, we found availability from Boston (BOS), Los Angeles (LAX), New York (JFK), and Toronto (YYZ), too!
Finally, if you don't have a stash of points saved up, I'd consider spending cash to fly La Compagnie Business Class. But “La Compagnie Business Class” might be redundant, because La Compagnie is a business class-only airline! That's right! The French airline has 76 business class seats on every plane and that's it.
The blue-themed airline flies nonstop from Newark (EWR) to Milan (MXP) and Paris-Orly (ORY), and if you book before Valentine's Day, you can snag summer seats on these planes from just $2501 roundtrip!
Bottom Line
While summer travel can be expensive, it doesn't have to be if you know where to look. Some destinations (or cabins!) are cheaper than others – especially in 2026.
Thrifty Traveler Premium members have been getting summer 2026 flight deals for months now, and we are searching every day to find more so you can book that summer getaway this year.
As a resident of Hawaii or anyone not living in the continental United States, would we benefit from receiving your alerts?
We do monitor airfare and send deals departing from the Hawaiian airports. OGG / KOA see fewer deals than HNL, but over the past 30 days we’ve sent out 8 deals that involved HNL.