I’m a flight attendant – these are the best times to travel if you want to avoid price hikes AND delays

• Bernice Padilla, from Dallas, Texas, has been a flight attendant for six years
• The 29-year-old he traveled to more than 44 countries on flights
• She shared invaluable insight on both booking a vacation and packing it right

A flight attendant has revealed the best time of day to catch a plane – as well as the best months to travel to avoid delays and price hikes.

Bernice Padilla, 29, has been a flight attendant for six years and has traveled to 44 countries on thousands of flights.

The travel expert, from Dallas, Texashas now shared his invaluable insight into holiday booking and proper packing.

She started from recommending that people book holidays for the “back seasons” – which are May or September – to get the best deal.

Bernice explained: “May and September are great months to travel as they are before and after the peak of summer here in the US.

“You have less crowds and more affordable prices, but the weather is still great.

“Each country has its specific shoulder season, so I recommend doing your research before booking.”

She also urged vacationers to book the earliest possible flight because these are much less likely to encounter a delay.

“I always take the earliest possible flight so there are fewer delays. If there are any delays it ends up being a domino effect.

“Say there’s a delay in California because of the weather, so my flight here can’t take off until that flight.

“Everything flows, whereas if you fly early, your plane will be there from the night before.”

Elsewhere, the frequent flyer revealed that Europe is a hot destination for American travelers to the US, but said people should try to book holidays to places that are “overlooked”.

She said: “Everyone loves going to London, Rome, Paris and Barcelona.

“I think there are a lot of great places people can go that are overlooked.

“I’m going to Argentina in a few weeks, for example, I think it’s good to book places that are not so popular with tourists.

“Although people still want to visit Europe, there are so many places that are not as popular as Albania and the coastal countries.”

But Bernice’s advice doesn’t stop there, because when it comes to packing, she advised people to travel light with only hand luggage.

If that is not possible, Bernice lives with compression cubes.

She said: “I still have a problem with over-packing, but I try not to pack so much.

“What I recommend is to try to travel with a transport, especially in the summer.

“If that’s not possible, I always travel with compression cubes, so you can fit more in your suitcase.