Summer airfares double, triple, quadruple

The law of supply and demand is kicking in for airline passengers this summer


This week, six (American, United, Delta, Northwest, Continental, US Airways) raised prices again for flights on many domestic routes where there’s no non-stop competition from low-fare carriers. The result, says travel price guru Tom Parsons of BestFares.com, is that the cheapest tickets available on many routes in July are 100% to 300% higher than a year ago.

The biggest year-over-year price jump that Parsons has found: Detroit-Providence, where the cheapest ticket today sells for $595 round trip, or 365% more than the $128 price for the same ticket last June.

…Airlines are raising prices and reducing capacity in response to record oil prices. ATA spokesman David Castelveter noted that while average fares are way up, the price of crude oil is 217% higher than in 2000, and the cost of refining a gallon of jet fuel is up sixfold.

“These are historic rates for fare increases, but even with that, airlines are failing to keep up with their rising fuel costs,” he says.

USA Today