Report: Airline Ticket Prices Expected to Surge as Holidays Approach

With the holiday season fast approaching, Americans should expect to see a surge in airline ticket prices, according to a Wednesday report.

The Hill reports:

Travel site Hopper says tickets will cost nearly 20 percent more compared to last year, with the average domestic round-trip ticket costing $274.

The pressure is on as airlines look to avoid a service meltdown during the busiest travel season of the year (like the one seen this summer).

In an interview with NewsNation’s Rush Hour, travel expert Sandra McLemore suggested booking flights as soon as possible in order to avoid paying higher prices set in the coming weeks.

McLemore told the program:

Flight prices are at an all-time high. We haven’t seen flights this expensive in five years. So if you haven’t booked your holiday flights, now is the time to do it. I do think that we’re not going to see any relief for 2022, and perhaps into 2023. So it’s no surprise that travelers are looking for alternative ways to spend their holidays and to travel.

Concerns over airfare costs come as a key barometer of inflation showed how prices paid to American companies increased more than anticipated in September.

As Breitbart News reported:

The producer price index, which tracks prices paid to U.S. businesses for the goods and services they produce, rose 0.4 percent in September, the Department of Labor said. That was twice the monthly gain expected by forecasters.

On a 12-month basis, prices are up 8.5 percent. That’s one-tenth of a point more than what economists surveyed by Econoday expected.

On Wednesday, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development highlighted how the U.S. faces economic challenges as the Federal Reserve boosts interests as part of its battle against inflation.

“Risks and uncertainties are larger than usual and tilted to the downside,” the OECD said.

“Inflation may prove surprisingly persistent, prompting more aggressive tightening of monetary policy,” organization added. “Further disturbances to global markets in response to the war in Ukraine or other factors could also have a substantial negative impact on real GDP growth and cause even higher inflation.”