| | |  Travel & Outdoors | September 2008 
Trip Tips
 Associated Press
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| | Fees for baggage, food and other extras that used to be free may send your travel costs even higher. | | |
Expect to spend more to fly home for the holidays this year, say the experts at Live Search Farecast.
Fares for Thanksgiving 2008 are up 31 percent from 2007, while Christmas and New Year's fares are up 30 percent, according to the website.
"The combination of high fuel prices, airline capacity and route cuts means holiday travelers may easily spend upwards of $100 more per ticket than last year," said Joel Grus, spokesman for Farecast.
Farecast's data found that nationally, average costs for the most popular Thanksgiving itinerary, a Wednesday departure, Sunday return, is $490, up $66 from last year. Travelers returning on Monday or Tuesday can save more than $90 per ticket.
The website found Christmas and New Year's fares averaging a little less than Thanksgiving fares, at $420.
Grus noted that fees for baggage, food and other extras that used to be free may send your travel costs even higher.
Tips from Farecast for finding bargains:
• Farecast data suggests there are more price drops for the holidays than other times of the year; sign up for airline alerts to catch deals.
• Travelers flying to and from major airports may see price drops this fall, but those using smaller regional airports are more affected by airline capacity cuts and should not wait as prices are unlikely to go down.
• If you're staying in a hotel rather than with your family, you may be able to offset airfare increases with cheaper hotels. |
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