Did you feel some pain in your wallet when you booked a flight home for the holidays? You’re not the only one.
A new analysis from Upgraded Points, an Austin-based travel company, found that domestic airfare around the holiday season this year is much more expensive than usual. The company reviewed over 40,000 one-way flights across the 10 busiest U.S. domestic routes across two periods: one control week in early November, plus the 10-day windows around Thanksgiving and Christmas.
During the Thanksgiving window, the report found the average one-way fare jumped from about $178 in early November to roughly $276, which reflects a 55% increase.
But not all travel days are created equal. Flights on Sunday, Nov. 23 and Monday, Nov. 24 were slightly cheaper than the early-November baseline. Fares surged sharply in the weekend after Thanksgiving — Saturday, Nov. 29 saw a 167% increase over the baseline, and Sunday, Nov. 30 rose 115%.
For the Christmas travel window, average one-way fares sat around $282, or 58% above the baseline. Increases are widespread during the holiday week, and the data suggests some of the steepest price increases cluster around the days immediately following Christmas.
Airline prices fluctuated too, with Frontier prices rising most noticeably during both holidays. Spirit and JetBlue, other budget airlines, also saw spikes in prices due to increased demand for budget flights.
Southwest saw a price increase of just 28%, while United, Delta and Alaska Airlines were holding a stable surcharge at 40-60%.