Finding cheap airplane tickets and/or cheap vacation packages to Europe is becoming more challenging as airlines increase their ticket prices. Ostensibly one excuse for raising ticket prices is that the airlines are charging much larger surcharges for fuel than a year ago.
These fuel surcharges are supposed to be helping the airlines offset higher oil prices and are adding as much as $100 and more to round trip ticket costs. In some cases ticket prices to Europe are double last year prices.
Fuel charges were added to ticket prices for flights on international routes two years ago as the price of oil exploded. These charges were reduced when oil prices fell at the end of 08 in response to a worldwide recession. Oil prices in early May hit an 18 month high, peaking at over $87 per barrel. Prices have since dropped for July delivery to about $70 per barrel of crude oil.
The real culprit behind rising airline ticket prices is supply and demand. Over the last two years airlines have significantly cut the number of seats they are flying because of lower demand. American and Delta have reduced the number of seats they flew this April by 14 percent and 21 percent, respectively, compared to April of 08.
With the economy improving, more people are flying again and U.S. airlines report that the number of leisure passengers is almost equal to 08 levels. Business passenger traffic is also on the upswing, but not to the pre-recession level.
All this means that airlines can successfully charge more for their tickets. This in turn means that savvy travelers need to search for airfares on major travel internet sites such as Cheapfares, Expedia, and Orbitz, to find the cheapest fares available.
www.cheapfares.com