To book or not to book? Fares edge up as US travellers make plans

Experts who track travel deals and consumer interest say demand for plane seats is likely to increase, driving prices back up.

The cost of travel will slowly rebound from historic lows as more people receive COVID-19 vaccinations and book long-deferred trips, according to industry experts. This time last year, air traffic in the United States plummeted, with 95 percent fewer travellers passing through Transportation Security Administration checkpoints in April 2020 compared with April 2019. This reduced demand led to a corresponding decrease in airfare prices. The average cost of a domestic round-trip ticket in the second quarter of 2020 dropped 28 percent from the same period in 2019, down to $259, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Few travellers were monitoring these prices at the time since so few were booking flights. But now, with COVID-19 vaccinations opening the possibility of travel to millions more Americans each week, prices are once again set to change.