As the holiday grows closer, people looking to book flights home really need to start buying their tickets before prices jump even higher.
Executives working with airlines have stated that based on bookings, there will likely be a big demand for flights during Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s. The best deals that could have been purchased have passed.
According to Rochester First, many travelers feel as if they’re being taken advantage of. Data reveals that airfares in October were up 43% from the previous year and that airline profits were over $2.4 billion dollars for the third quarter. Another reason for higher costs is that there are still fewer flights than there were in 2019. While there are fewer flights, the number of passengers are back up to what they were before the pandemic.
Holly Berg, chief economist for travel-data provider Hopper, believes that less flights and more passengers are a recipe for higher costs and flights selling out quickly.
While this year’s costs appear to be historically high, prices rising ahead of the holidays is not new. In addition to the rising costs for flights, hotels are seeing sharp increases as well. Many travelers are simply taking shorter vacations as a way to decrease their overall costs. Hotels are another part of the industry currently suffering with a shortage of workers. This adds to the rising cost of hotel stays. Some hotel rooms aren’t even able to fill their rooms because there aren’t enough staff to handle a full hotel.
While rental car rates aren’t as high as other things necessary for travel, getting a car is harder. Rental companies aren’t able to increase the number of vehicles they have on hand as the cost of new vehicles rises.
There are a few ways to help yourself if you’re forced to travel for the holidays. First, be flexible about dates of travel and destinations. This isn’t always possible, but it can help. Another option is to look at discount airlines and other airports. The issue with this is if a flight is canceled, finding a new one will be a lot harder. If you can leave a day earlier, you may be able to better prepare for if something goes wrong, including a canceled flight.
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