U.S. Holiday Airfares Jump $100 for Thanksgiving as Jet Fuel Costs Hit 10-Year High
Updated
Updated · WRAL News · Nov 6
U.S. Holiday Airfares Jump $100 for Thanksgiving as Jet Fuel Costs Hit 10-Year High
2 articles · Updated · WRAL News · Nov 6
Summary
$100 more than last year is now the average premium for U.S. domestic Thanksgiving flights, while Christmas fares are up 23%, according to Hopper and Kayak.
High jet fuel prices are driving the surge, which Hopper says is far beyond the usual 1% to 5% annual holiday fare increase and is instead producing double-digit gains.
Raleigh-Durham still has about 250 departures and arrivals scheduled for Nov. 26—matching 2025—but airlines are using larger aircraft, suggesting capacity has not risen enough to ease prices.
Kayak says waiting is likely to cost more: domestic fares rose more than $80 from two weeks before Thanksgiving to holiday week last year, and prices this season could climb another $10 to $30 a day.
Travelers can still trim costs by shifting departure or return dates by a day or two, flying on Thanksgiving itself—when fares can be 19% lower than Nov. 20—or booking two one-way tickets.
Since dynamic pricing algorithms now dictate award tickets, how can savvy travelers still outsmart the system to score affordable Thanksgiving flights?
With airlines quietly boosting holiday mileage costs by 32%, are your hard-earned loyalty points rapidly becoming a worthless digital currency?
Could the airline industry's aggressive shift to dynamic mileage pricing ultimately destroy the very customer loyalty these programs were built to create?