It’s no secret that the air travel industry has been a bit of a mess lately.
Flights are getting delayed or canceled left and right, airlines are mishandling bags at higher rates than they were a year ago, and this summer saw plane ticket prices through the roof. But as the busy summer travel season comes to an end, there could be a light at the end of the tunnel. Now could be the ideal time to purchase airfare, according to experts. Let’s take a look at why.
Summer is traditionally one of the busiest times of the year when it comes to travel. The kids are off from school, the weather is nice, and lots of people choose to hit the road (or the skies) and head on vacation.
This summer, we also saw demand increase as many Americans were “revenge traveling” — a phenomenon that came from people being unable to travel for the past few years due to the global pandemic. As restrictions eased all over the world, lots of people took vacations, meaning that the demand for flights was very high, resulting in an increase in the price of airfare.
But now that we’ve hit September and the kids are back in school, we’ve seen a huge drop in that travel demand, and the Disney World parks are experiencing incredibly low crowds and wait times as a result. All of these trends mean one thing to travel experts: now is the time to book your flights and airfare. According to an article on CNN, travel will be “optimal” in September and October.
This is due to the drop in demand that we mentioned above. With less demand, there is less pressure on airlines, which results in fewer flight delays and cancellations. Domestic airfare is also expected to drop 37% in price compared to this summer, according to Hopper, an app that tracks flights and other travel-related expenses.
Hayley Berg, an economist at Hopper, says that the best time to book your flight is 3-6 weeks before your desired departure date and that costs will increase rapidly in the three weeks leading up to your departure. Airfare is expected to rise fast as we head into the holiday season. So the moral of the story is this: if you plan to travel this fall, book your airfare now. Many airlines have offered fall deals and discounts, and ticket prices are just generally lower for travel now than they were a few months ago.
Airlines are also reducing their number of flights as we head into fall, with more than 52,000 flights dropped from airlines’ fall schedules (31,000 of which are American Airlines flights) as demand dips. By dropping flights, airlines are able to be more reliable and will need to cancel or delay fewer flights.
We’ll be sure to keep an eye on the air travel situation as we get deeper into the fall season. In the meantime, you can take a look at the most and least reliable airlines in the United States, and the airlines you should avoid if you don’t want to get bumped from your flight.
We’ve also rounded up some air travel tips that could seriously change your life and some of our best tips for traveling through Orlando International Airport. We’re always on the lookout for more travel-related news, so make sure to stay tuned to DFB for all the latest.
Click here to see how much it will cost to fly to Disney World in October!
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