Expect Holiday Airfare to Hit 5-Year High As Air Travel Chaos Persists

If you are planning to fly anywhere this holiday season, you may have to pay through the teeth for that plane ticket.

Unfortunately, it appears the cost of a boarding pass this winter will reach a five-year high. Experts advise that the exorbitant airfare rates have been affected by a number of factors like supply shortages and higher prices for jet fuel combined with fewer available flights: thanks to fuel costs, of course, as well as a shortage of personnel like pilots and flight crew. Of course, pent-up demand from passengers who have not been able to travel much the past three years will certainly will contribute to higher prices as well, between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

All of this combined will led to the highest airfare prices in at least the last 5 years.

Anyone who may have tried to travel over the summer of 2022 probably saw a hint of this as plane ticket prices have skyrocketed in the past few months. The industry disruptions were certainly felt by many travelers during the busiest weekends of the summer travel season—Fourth of July and Labor Day—whether or not travelers were acutely aware of the issues. Unless, of course, their flights were canceled because of the recent complications.

Looking ahead, then, analysts expect to see domestic flights over the four-day Thanksgiving weekend around an average round-trip ticket price of $350. This is a nearly upsetting increase of 43 percent over last year’s holiday prices; though only about 22 percent higher than the same routes before the pandemic.

Unfortunately, international flights are not faring much better. While the 41 percent markup over last year is not as big as that of domestic fares, it does make the average international ticket price, this year, just shy of $800.

Similarly, tickets for sale over the Christmas holiday are selling, on average, 39 percent higher than last year, at an average price of around $463. Of course, these are the prices tracked through the middle of September, so we can expect to see these fares continue to increase as the holiday approaches. That means, much to the dismay of most travelers, these prices will only continue to increase. And those who hoped to cross an ocean for Christmas this year can expect to shell out $1,300 per seat, on average.