Anyone shopping for airline tickets these days has likely experienced sticker shock, said Elaine Glusac in The New York Times. Airfares have “spiked,” with tickets now 24% higher on average than last year, the Consumer Price Index estimates, and holiday fares for Thanksgiving and Christmas approaching uncomfortable “new heights.” The question some consumers are asking is, Is the death of Spirit Airlines to blame? Possibly. Aviation analytics company Cirium looked at over 1,120 of the budget airline’s former routes and found that the “fares on more than 90% of those routes” have climbed since Spirit collapsed. “The median fare rose by 25.3%,” suggesting other airlines are feeling less pressure to keep a lid on their prices. “But price rises go beyond Spirit’s network” as well.
Fuel costs are the main factor, said Rio Yamat in the Associated Press. The price of “jet fuel has risen even faster than oil during the war” in Iran, since jet fuel competes with diesel for refinery space. But even if fuel prices suddenly drop, fliers might not see airfare reductions for months. Carriers “typically decide several months in advance how many flights to operate and seats to offer,” and they will try to lock in higher prices for as long as they can. Some blame can also be directed at what’s in your wallet, said Mark Kahan in The New York Times. The U.S. desperately needs more competition in air travel. But the legacy carriers get billions each year from banks that issue their popular reward cards. “These programs function as collateral, giving the biggest airlines access to inexpensive capital that their smaller rivals can’t match.” That is “the biggest barrier to another national carrier emerging” to keep fares in check.
There are still ways to find cheaper flights, said Megan Cerullo in CBS News. Flexibility with dates and times can lead to better deals, but it’s still best to book early. Google Flights recommends buying Thanksgiving flights in October, between 57 and 21 days before departure. For December holidays, look to book “56 days before departure” or around Halloween. Off-peak days are generally less expensive, especially Mondays and Tuesdays. Be careful if you want to ask AI for help, said Webb Wright in Gizmodo. I asked Meta’s new Muse AI agent for help “booking my holiday travel, something I have an annual habit of putting off until the last possible minute.” Bad idea. “I fell into a long and rather disorganized conversation” with my chatbot, which offered me “various flight itineraries” of questionable benefit. It’d be nice if Muse could simply search on Expedia, but AI agents aren’t allowed to access the site. For booking travel, AI “felt less like a seamless assistant than a slow and superfluous middleman.”