Round-trip Thanksgiving airfares costlier

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.