Sunday, December 29, 2013

Airfares Rising Again Before Sluggish Time Of Year

By Cornelius Nunev


In the past couple of years, seldom is it ever the situation that airfares are decreasing. Fees and increased costs of fuel make traveling a more costly proposition each year. A new round of airfares rising has just been reported, as the airlines are at least consistent.

Not the first price spike

Fares were increased by United Air carriers recently, according to CBS. After that, JetBlue, Virgin and Southwest Air carriers also all increased their base flight rates, according to USA Today. Delta, US Airways and American Air carriers also all increased their prices. FareCompare.com explained that United Airlines raised its charges by $4 to $10 dependent upon the route. Every person seems to be increasing rates recently.

This is the fourth time this year that airfare has increased. It is only the fourth time it has been successful though airlines have tried to increase charges seven times this year.

Increase not too bad

Fares increase nine times last year, which was a big deal. Even though $4 to $10 is not that big of a deal, it is big when added up over the year.

Some people will find that it is actually not that bad since airlines such as Southwest are not increasing prices on flights under 500 miles. A lot of people could save cash by traveling in the off-season too, which is fall since fewer people travel in the fall. Airlines will cut ticket prices by 10 to 20 percent in the fall typically because it is so slow.

Some increased fees may come in the form of airline fuel surcharges, though. According to the Los Angeles Times, a study by Cason Wagonlit Travel found that fuel surcharges have not diminished across almost the entire industry over the past couple of years, regardless of fuel costs dropping at times. In fact, fuel surcharges have increased 53 percent since April 2011, though fuel costs increased only 24 percent in the same period.

Airlines for America are a trade group for U.S. air carriers that explained fuel costs were only $3.00 per gallon in 2010. It really has not increased that much since now it is about $3.05 per gallon.

Profits not that high

Despite the belief that air carriers make billions of dollars off of additional charges such as baggage fees, you would be surprised to see how much those air carriers really take home after paying all of their own fees. The Huffington Post points out that airline charges are really decreasing right now, and fuel surcharges have to be revealed under federal laws for ticket costs now.

If you want to be able to fly in the skies, you have to deal with the fuel costs. A 2010 CNN article explained that on average, a flight from LA to New York was, at the time, about $506.62, and only $33.34 of it was profit, or about 6.6 percent. About $200 goes into labor and fuel costs, $97.85 percent of which goes into fuel. The profit margin decreases to 4.8 percent with a 10 percent increase in fuel costs to $23.67.




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