You might be in for a surprise if you haven’t booked your flights for the winter holidays. Airfare ticket prices are the highest they’ve been in five years. That’s according to the latest projections from travel booking group Hopper.
If you plan on traveling, book your flights as soon as possible, says Wall Street Journal travel reporter Allison Pohle. But, she does have a workaround that could help save money down the road.
“Don't hope that prices will go down. They probably won't,” Pohle says. “What you can do is book your ticket and then keep tracking after you book. So a lot of airlines have kept in place the policies that they have around canceling tickets. So that means if the fare for your trip goes down, you can cancel your ticket and use a portion of the credit to rebook your trip.”
On average, the price for traveling domestically during Christmas week was $574 per ticket. For thanksgiving, tickets cost about $468. Pohle says the prices are up by at least 50% in comparison to this time last year.
She credits the high cost to pilot shortages, high fuel prices, and inflation. Airlines are also grappling with the aftermath of the chaotic flight delays and cancellations from earlier this year.
“The airlines pared back their schedules, and they decided to fly fewer routes. And that has been the case now and will continue through the holidays. So if there are fewer routes, that means fewer seats and more expensive tickets as well.”
To save money, Pohle also recommends looking at international destinations for Thanksgiving. She adds that flights on Sundays are typically cheaper. Traveling on actual holidays, such as Thanksgiving and Christmas Day can also be less expensive.
Flying this holiday season might also be more chaotic than usual, Pohle says.
“Anyone who has taken a trip in recent months will know that flights are still very full. Leisure travel has not slowed down through the fall,” she says. “There's a lot of nerves and anxiety around air travel in general, let alone around the holidays. So it could be a tense time for people.”