Here's The Best Time To Book A Flight This Year & When Airline Prices Are Expected To Soar
✈️ 💸
Flight Prices on an app. Right: a passenger at an airport.
If you’ve been thinking about booking flights this summer for your holiday travel plans, consider this your personal invitation to get it done. As in, do it now.
Industry reports show that U.S. domestic and international flight prices have jumped significantly since the beginning of the year, and the cost of a ticket is only predicted to get higher as air travel bounces back from the pandemic.
Prices for domestic round-trip flights in the U.S. have gone up by an average of 40% since January 2022, according to a recent report released by Hopper, a popular travel website. The average price of a domestic ticket in April is US$330, but the site predicts that'll go up another $30 by May.
At the same time, Hopper's data also shows that international travel tickets have climbed back to their pre-pandemic prices, with round trips going for around $810.
Hopper also predicts that these prices, although high in comparison to recent months, are expected to jump another 10% by the end of May.
Similarly, the Adobe Digital Economy Index shows that domestic flight prices in the U.S. have jumped by 20% compared to pre-pandemic prices.
Adobe tracked data from six of the top 10 American airlines and over 150 billion web views to assemble its report.
The findings show that flight prices were still in a pandemic slump at the start of the year, with the average cost of a ticket down 3% form pre-pandemic times. But by March, tickets were 20% more expensive than at the same time in 2019.
Both reports expect the price of tickets to remain high for peak travel season in the summer, though they'll likely dip in time for the fall when travel traffic slows down again.
Although customer demand is one factor in the price increase, there are a few other issues affecting the cost of your ticket. Adobe and Hopper point out that jet fuel is currently at its highest price since early 2014, while ABC News reports that pilot shortages are also leading to higher prices and more flight cancellations.
So get out there and book your flight!