Priceline.com Tells People to expect Increased Prices During the Holidays

Priceline.com has now joined the long list of companies that are telling people to expect higher prices this holiday season. They note that airfare will be on its way up as airlines hope to gain some ground on their mountain of debt. Priceline.com went on to say that the average holiday airfares for Thanksgiving and the December holiday season are likely to increase a lot. However, the exact increase will depend on what day the traveler chooses to fly.

As of early November, the average published price for a round trip airline ticket home for Thanksgiving was about $387. This is about 12 percent higher than what it was a year ago. Priceline.com went on to say that the average price of a round trip ticket for December’s holiday season will likely be around $435. This is an increase of 10 percent compared to a year ago.

The average fares are based on all published price round trip tickets booked the first week of November by Priceline.com. A spokesman for Priceline.com, Brain Ek, said that in October, when they first looked at the holiday airfares, they found that they were averaging about 10 percent lower than what was seen a year ago. However now, with the big reduced seat capacity at many major airlines, the holiday ticket demand has started to spike, and fares are moving up fast.

Thus, customers who have been waiting to get their holiday tickets hoping the prices would go back down should act now before they go up anymore. It is not likely that the prices are going to go back down anytime soon.