Rising fuel costs could make summer travel more expensive

Gas prices have surpassed $4 a gallon nationally. Jet fuel costs are rising, too, and will likely continue to climb if the war continues.

People tend to book plane tickets a month to three months in advance, so many had not yet booked summer travel when the war began in February. Since then, airfares have jumped, according to Henry Harteveldt, president and airline industry analyst at Atmosphere Research Group.

“It doesn't matter whether it's a budget airline or a global network airline, whether you're paying first class or in coach, you are seeing higher fares for every type of flight on every type of route,” he said.

Airlines have also increased fuel surcharges on international flights. “A London fare that I was looking at had a fuel surcharge of approximately $300 back in February,” Harteveldt said. “When I looked yesterday, the fuel surcharge was $800 on the round trip.”

As airlines’ costs have risen, Meghna Maharishi, airline reporter at the travel site Skift, said they’ve been finding a variety of ways to pass them on to consumers.

“We're not really getting too many indications that these increases are having a super strong effect on demand, but much of that demand is being propped up by premium travelers,” she said.

So far, those premium travelers airlines have increasingly been catering to seem undeterred by rising prices.