Saturday, May 29, 2010
Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS
Just as family summer travel is taking off, so are ticket prices.
Fares for the June-to- August period are up 24 percent from last summer to an average $321 round trip, according to fare-tracking website Bing Travel. Memorial Day fares are up 18 percent to an average of $332.
Travel demand is picking up as the economy improves. At the same time, airlines haven’t rushed to bring back the planes and available seats they took out of service during the recession.
That allows them to push fares higher. So, travelers will be hard-pressed to find deals like last summer, when fares dropped to their lowest levels since 2004.
Shifting travel dates around has always been one way to find better fares. That’s even more important this summer, said Joel Grus, who tracks fares for Bing.
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