Travelers Face Big Jump in Airfares as Holidays Approach
Summary from the AllSides News Team
Travel booking app Hopper says that holiday-season airfares will be 43% higher than last year. By comparison, consumer inflation was up 7.7% in October from a year before. So why are airfares rising more steeply?
For Context: The combination of rising energy costs, rebounding travel from the early COVID-19 pandemic, and an ongoing pilot shortage is causing problems for the airline industry. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), jet fuel prices in North America are up 48.5% from a year ago. According to TSA, 2,263,943 people crossed through checkpoints on Monday, a 12.6% jump from the same day last year and a 156% rise from the same day in 2020. And the Regional Airline Association (RAA) says that 76% of U.S. airports have had diminished or lost air service due to the pilot shortage.
Key Quotes: "More than half of Americans plan to travel for one or both of the holidays this year, with 70% of travelers planning to visit friends and family," according to Hopper's 2022 Holiday Travel Outlook.
How the Media Covered It: News sources across the spectrum covered the rising airfares similarly, with many highlighting the Hopper data and quoting voices who cited inflation and higher fuel prices as reasons for higher fares.
Featured Coverage of this Story
From the Center
The best deals for 2022 airfares and hotels are already gone—and heading home for the holidays is going to cost you a lot more this year
People still looking to book trips home to visit family or take a vacation during the holidays need to act fast and prepare for sticker shock.
Airline executives say that based on bookings, they expect huge demand for flights over Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s. Travel experts say the best deals for airfares and hotels are already gone.
On social media, plenty of travelers think they are being gouged. It’s an understandable sentiment when government data shows that airfares in October were up 43% from a year earlier, and U.S. airlines reported a...
From the Right
Holiday Travelers Will Be Hit With Skyrocketing Airfares
Americans are expected to head to airports during the winter holiday season in numbers not seen since before the coronavirus pandemic.
But their wallets are going to be hit hard as airline prices, backed by consumer demand, a 40-year-high inflation rate, fewer scheduled flights and higher fuel costs, are skyrocketing.
Travel booking app Hopper said airfares will be 22% higher than in 2019, and 43% higher than last year. It said fares for Thanksgiving peaked at more than $400 in August but fell 9% in September, which it said happens every year....
From the Left
Yes, plane tickets are pricier. Here’s how much more you’re paying, according to Adobe.
If you've booked a flight recently, this will not shock you: airline ticket prices are up. What might surprise you, however, is just how much they've risen since before the COVID era.
A new study out Thursday by Adobe shows that airfares increased 24% from Oct. 2019 to Oct. 2022.
"After record spending on physical goods in the first two years of the pandemic, we see consumers shifting more significantly towards services such as air travel," Adobe Digital Insights lead analyst Vivek Pandya said in a statement. "We expect the momentum to carry through the...
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