Round-trip Thanksgiving airfares costlier
Airlines are reducing seat availability to maintain pricing power this holiday season. (Nov. 17, 2011) Credit: Karim Sahib
Passengers are paying an average of 6 percent more this year for round-trip flights during the Thanksgiving holiday as airlines reduce seat availability to maintain pricing power.
Cutbacks in capacity mean that travelers will find jets about as full as in record-setting 2010, even as the trade group Air Transport Association projects fewer people will fly during the 12-day period bracketing the holiday, which falls on Nov. 24 this year.
Thanksgiving and Christmas bookings are bright spots for U.S. carriers in a quarter when leisure trips fall from summer peaks.
Domestic round-trip tickets for Thanksgiving rose to an average of $375, including taxes, fees and surcharges, according to Travelocity.com.
"It's such a drag how around the holidays you are at the mercy of the airlines," Adina Fleming, 25, a New York University nursing student, said in an email.
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