Holiday Flight Could Cost 43% MORE This Year. Here's How to Still Save.

The holiday season means lots of treats and decorations, last-minute shopping trips, and travel to visit family and friends. If you’re heading out of town for a holiday trip, you’ll want to know about a major update on this year’s travel trends.

Airplane

Travel has been a little bit weird over the last few years as the COVID-19 pandemic has thrown the industry for a loop. Restrictions, policy changes, staffing problems, and drastic changes in demand have meant that both airlines and passengers experienced a more difficult time than before the pandemic. So what’s going to happen with this year’s holiday travel surge?

The holidays are traditionally a busy time for travel with so many people heading out of town to visit family and friends. According to CNBC, though, more people are planning to stay home this year.

Not as many people are traveling this year

Data from Adobe showed that “Thanksgiving flight bookings are down from 2019.” Although we’ve previously seen travel statistics return to pre-pandemic levels, this year “consumers have booked fewer flights for Thanksgiving week than they did three years ago, before the Covid pandemic.”

Orlando International Airport

Specifically, the number of domestic flight bookings is down 7% compared to the same time in 2019. So does this mean that airlines are losing money? Not exactly.

AIrplane

Although booking numbers are down, airfare prices have increased. Those higher prices for plane tickets have resulted in a 3% increase in revenue despite fewer bookings. As demand for air travel has “been resilient this year,” airlines have been able to charge more for tickets and thus combat rising prices for fuel and other costs.

Airfare is more expensive now

In fact, CNBC reports that “airfare was up nearly 43% from last year.” The high prices might be part of the reason we’re seeing fewer Thanksgiving flight sales — consumers may be looking for alternative options for travel in order to save money.

People might drive instead

Looking at the full year, Adobe’s report shared that “consumers have spent $76 billion on flights online this year, up 17% from 2019.” However, bookings only rose by 5%, which means that a major factor impacting the revenue increase was the price increases (not an increase in sales).

Orlando International Airport

If you’re flying to Disney World soon, you may be able to save money by watching for deals — we often see flash sales on tickets to Orlando by airlines like Frontier and Spirit. Before you fly, check out these posts to learn more travel tips:

Keep following AllEars to learn more about current travel trends and changes!