Traveling soon? Passengers could see a rise in airline fares for upcoming holiday season

WASHINGTON, D.C. — If you’re about to book that flight for the holidays, you could be in for a shock.

Airfares are rising their fastest on record.

Channel 2′s Blair Miller takes a look at what you need to know before you book your flight.

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Looking to fly over the next three months?

The average domestic round-trip ticket: $274 dollars. Right now, travel agents say holiday flights cost 55% more than they did last year at this time because of a limited number of seats.

“This Thanksgiving will be a very expensive holiday to travel....especially for travelers who are booking late,” Hayley Berg of Hopper said.

According to the department of labor...airfares rose 42.9% from September of last year to the end of September of this year. That’s the fastest on record.

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The CEO of Delta Airlines said in a statement...they’re seeing all-time high revenue.

It comes at a time when lawmakers in Washington are already calling for more transparency by the airlines to show what fees passengers need to pay, upfront.

“This bilking by the airlines predates the pandemic, but too long, they have been allowed to blindside travelers with exorbitant charges and ancillary fees for basic services,” Senator Ed Markey said.

The summer travel season was a hot one for some passengers even before they got to their destination.

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55,000 flights were canceled either because of staffing issues or bad weather.

Some travelers could see something similar around the holidays.

“We’re expecting to see chaos at the airports over the holidays...but American travelers have shown that they’re resilient,” Berg said.

Experts say if you wait too long to buy a flight the price could be even higher.

Or the flight could be sold out.

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