BALTIMORE — Herb and Latasha Williams flew from Dallas to Baltimore/Washington International Airport this week for a quick vacation to celebrate his birthday.But their plane tickets cost hundreds of dollars more than they expected.And Latasha Williams is now wondering if they can afford to travel for the holidays."I kind of wanted to go somewhere warm.
Florida, I'm thinking," she said.Then she looked at airfares.
"Maybe next year.Maybe," she said with a laugh.
"Fingers crossed."Those planning to fly this holiday season, should be prepared to pay more than they did last year.Experts expect airfares for this holiday travel season will be the highest in years as airlines scramble to cover the rising cost of jet fuel, which is one of their biggest expenses.The average price of jet fuel in the U.S.
topped $4.75 per gallon this week, according to the tracking firm Argus.That's close to an all-time high, and almost twice what it was a year ago."Airfares right now are at what we see as a 10-year high because of the high cost of jet fuel," said Hayley Berg, the lead economist at Hopper, a travel tech company.
"Airlines have to pass on these super high jet fuel prices in the form of higher fares to consumers."Airfares for Thanksgiving are up about 30% compared to last year, according to Berg.Tickets for the Christmas holiday are up more than 20%.But so far, Berg said, travelers seem willing to pay, at least for their big holiday trips."We're at the time of year where travel is really sticky.
Even with higher prices, travelers are unlikely to make major changes to their traditional holiday home for the holiday trips," Berg said in an interview with NPR.U.S.airlines say demand is holding steady even as fares have gone up.
In an earnings call this month, Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said consumers have put up a "limited amount of resistance" and still view airfare as "reasonably affordable" even after fare increases."I think that's a very good sign for the future," B...