Nov 2, 2009 11:22 pm US/Eastern
Holiday Travel Will Likely Be More Expensive
BALTIMORE (WJZ/AP) ―
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The holiday season is fast approaching. If you're planning on traveling out of town, get ready to spend big bucks.
WJZ
The holiday season is fast approaching. If you're planning on traveling out of town, get ready to spend big bucks. From rising gas prices to added airline charges, getting out of town is getting more expensive.
Kai Jackson explains whether you're driving or flying, you're going to pay more this year.
Most of the largest U.S. airlines have increased a surcharge for travel on the busiest travel days to $20 each way, up from $10. The surcharges apply to a large number of flights within the U.S. on more than a dozen peak days around holidays, including Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's.
Delta, American, United, US Airways and Northwest all boosted their surcharge on some routes, said Tom Parsons, who runs the discount travel site Bestfares.com.
Tim Smith, spokesman for Fort Worth-based American Airlines, confirmed the higher surcharges Monday. He said that although airlines are filing the increases as a surcharge this time, "fares on those peak days have always tended to be higher. It's a matter of supply and demand."
Smith said the increases started late last week with US Airways, and "most other airlines, including American, have matched."
US Airways spokesman Morgan Durrant confirmed the higher peak-day surcharges, but he said his airline did so only "to match moves by our competitors."
Delta, its Northwest subsidiary, and United also raised the surcharges to $20 each way on many U.S. routes, according to representatives.
Parsons, the travel Web site operator, said the increases were part of a clear trend in airline pricing.
"With airlines downsizing, fuel going up and airlines still losing money," he said, "we're going to pay more for family vacations going into 2010."
The airlines' busiest days tend to fall right before or after a major holiday -- Thanksgiving and Christmas themselves are often slow travel days.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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