Why Are Flights So Expensive? Holiday Airfare Hits 10-Year High

If the fare for your trip home looked like a typo, it probably wasn't. Holiday flights this year are the most expensive in a decade, according to the travel app Hopper, and the usual tricks for finding a deal are working less well than they used to.

Hopper's 2026 Holiday Travel Index puts the average domestic round trip over Thanksgiving at $402, up 31% from 2025, Fortune reported on Sunday. Christmas round trips average $452, up 23%. Local TV stations from New York to Kansas City and Raleigh have spent the past week chasing the same story, and "Thanksgiving flights expensive" has become one of the top Google suggestions for anyone searching for holiday fares.

Holiday airfare 2026 by the numbers

Hotel and flight figures come from Hopper via Fortune; the award-ticket figure is from Seats.aero, as reported by CNBC.

The exact percentage depends on when someone checks. Hopper economist Hayley Berg told WABC in New York that Thanksgiving prices were running 39% above the same point last year when she spoke to the station. Either way, it's a big break from normal. In a typical year, Berg told WRAL, holiday fares move somewhere between a 5% rise and a 3% drop.

Federal data shows the same thing on a wider scale. The airline fares index in the Bureau of Labor Statistics' consumer price index stood at 315.9 in September, up 22.4% from 258.0 a year earlier.

Why are flights so expensive this year?

Jet fuel

Fuel is usually an airline's second-biggest cost after labor, and it has soared since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, CNBC noted. Delta said its jet fuel costs in the third quarter rose 60%, or $1.6 billion, from a year earlier. CEO Ed Bastian had said in July that he expected the airline to pass close to all of that higher cost on to customers, and its revenue per seat mile rose 15%.

Bastian's comments on the earnings call are worth reading closely. He said the market "has accepted these price points" and that the airline's earnings power would really show once fuel eases. Fortune read that as a sign fares could stay high even after fuel gets cheaper, as long as people keep buying tickets.

That matters because oil has started to fall. Crude had its steepest weekly drop since 2020 last week, which pushed gas prices below $4 a gallon. Holiday tickets, though, are priced on demand that's already locked in, so a few weeks of cheaper oil isn't likely to show up in Thanksgiving fares.

Fewer seats, same crowds

American, United and Southwest have cut less profitable routes, according to Fortune, and airlines are scheduling about 3% fewer domestic seats for the holidays, Scripps News reported. Demand hasn't dropped. Kansas City International expects 3.8% more travelers than last year over the Thanksgiving window, KSHB reported, with the Sunday after the holiday its busiest day.

Fewer seats and steady crowds give airlines little reason to discount.

Cheapest days to fly for Thanksgiving and Christmas

Thanksgiving falls on Thursday, Nov. 26, this year. The dates matter more than almost anything else:

• Cheapest: Thanksgiving Day itself. Kayak says it's tracking as the quietest travel day, with fares up to 19% lower than Nov. 20, the priciest day to depart, per WRAL. Hopper says Black Friday and Cyber Monday flights are also cheaper.
• Most expensive: Wednesday, Nov. 25, and Sunday, Nov. 29, according to Hopper. Fares on that Sunday can top $600, Fortune reported.
• Christmas: Avoid leaving Dec. 18 through 20 if you can. Departing Dec. 21 or 22 could save up to 18%, according to Kayak figures cited by Scripps.

Berg's advice to WRAL was to fly early in the week before the holiday or on the day itself, then return on the Monday or Tuesday after, or on Saturday if you have to be back for the weekend. Kansas City travel advisor Kathy Sudeikis has given clients the same tip for years: take an early flight on Thanksgiving morning.

Will flight prices go down if I wait?

For holiday dates, almost certainly not. Hopper had advised booking before Halloween, and Berg expects prices for holiday departures to climb $10 to $30 a day from here. Kayak found that last year the average domestic fare rose more than $80 between two weeks before Thanksgiving and the week of the holiday.

"Do not wait for a sale," Lisa Gill of Consumer Reports told WRAL.

The shopping holidays aren't much help either. Black Friday is Nov. 27, Cyber Monday is Nov. 30 and Travel Tuesday is Dec. 1. Travel agent DaShawna Carpenter told Fortune that most Travel Tuesday deals come bundled into packages, which makes the true airfare hard to see. Some airline discounts also leave fuel charges, taxes and fees unchanged, she said. With Christmas hotel rooms up 18%, a 15% Black Friday room discount brings the average back to about $167 a night, roughly what it cost a year ago.

Ways to cut the cost of a holiday flight

• Price each leg separately. Gill suggests comparing two one-way tickets, possibly on different airlines, with a round trip.
• Check a smaller airport. On Long Island, MacArthur Airport in Islip charges about $20 a day for parking, compared with about $80 at JFK, WABC reported, and connections through Baltimore can open routes west.
• Do the math on points. Award prices are up too, so compare the miles cost with the cash fare before redeeming.
• Pack light. Skipping a checked bag avoids fees that add up fast on a family trip.

None of this will get fares back to 2025 levels. Shifting your flight by a day or two is still the most reliable way to save, and it's worth doing now, while there are still seats on the cheaper flights.