JACKSONVILLE, Fla — Expect to pay about 40% more for your summer travel than you did last year. Travel company Hopper reports domestic airfare is up 40% from the beginning of the year.
It's not stopping people from traveling. Demand is high. TSA checkpoint data is close to pre-pandemic travel numbers.
Travel checklist: suitcase, phone, and definitely your wallet. Jennifer Nazaire’s family drove her down to her friend’s home in Ponte Vedra. She only needed a one way ticket back home.
“The one way is almost as much as two ways were in the past," Nazaire said.
The price didn’t stop her, or any of these travelers, but it did delay.
“Sue, my friend, has been on me to come visit for months and months but when I looked at the prices they were a little bit more than I wanted to pay," Nazaire said.
Despite the rise in cost, even travel agent Mary Fowler is taking flight.
“I currently am in Cancun, Mexico," Fowler said. " As you can see behind me, it is absolutely beautiful.”
She explains why the cost of traveling is not stopping people from forking over the cash.
“In 2020, the world shut down. At some point, almost every single American sat in their room and thought ‘this is it. I didn’t get to travel.’ 2021 came around. We had great hope for it," Fowler said. "It didn’t pan out quite like we wanted so everybody so everybody shifted to 2022.”
Here's her advice to get the best deal:
- Buy your tickets 3 to 6 months out.
- If you are flying for a holiday, buy 9 to 10 months out.
- Be flexible with your dates and destination. Use Google Flights explore tab to find a way to see the best deals around the world.
Fowler says she does not foresee prices going down this year.
"What I have found is everything that you knew and were told about buying on a certain date or certain time, throw it away. Forget it. It doesn’t work," Fowler said.
Why are plane tickets so expensive? Bloomberg reports the reasons are
- Fewer planes in the air
- Lack of staffing
- Rising gas prices
- Companies trying to make up for 2020 losses