According to a new report by travel software company Hopper, holiday airfare is about to hit a five-year high.
The company found that the biggest contributing factors to the unprecedented prices include jet fuel prices, less flight availability, and pent-up holiday travel demand following the pandemic.
They also found that domestic flights over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend are selling for an average of $350 per ticket, which is a 43% increase from last year and a 22% jump from 2019, before the pandemic.
Unfortunately, the Christmas holiday doesn’t look much better. Those December flight prices are up 39% from last year and are selling at an average of $463 per domestic ticket.
Even though the Department of Transporation Secretary Pete Buttigieg promises that travel will “get better by the holidays,” if the past few holiday weekends this year have been an indication, it’d be wise to plan ahead and book early.
Our suggestion? Put in that PTO request and book your flights as soon as possible so you can avoid skyrocketing prices.
You should also consider traveling on the Friday after Thanksgiving and the Wednesday after Christmas to save up to $125 per ticket.
by travelers, for travelers.
