Holiday flight costs soar

[thedrifter]

Holiday flight costs soar
By Matt Millham and Travis J. Tritten

Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Thursday, October 16, 2008

Petty Officer 2nd Class Bruce Guerra said he hasn’t traveled home to Mexico in six years.

Airfare "is too expensive out here, that’s why I haven’t been home," said Guerra, of Sasebo Naval Base in Japan.

This Christmas, the sailor will finally make the trip thanks to an airfare bargain — $2,300 for his wife and him — that will take the couple through Singapore and Texas.

But others might not be so lucky. Fares in the Pacific ballooned this holiday season because of airline fuel costs, which have turned off potential stateside travelers. Fuel surcharges, which are tacked onto ticket costs by airlines, almost equal the cost of a ticket in some instances, said Betty Nakamura, manager of the International Tours and Travel office at Camp Zama, Japan. For example, a $500 ticket to the States could incur about a $660 fuel surcharge — nearly double from last year.

Round-trip tickets priced on Wednesday from Tokyo and Seoul to major stateside destinations during the holidays were at least $1,200 per passenger, and often much higher.

"A majority of the people plan to do other things and wait for the summer," Nakamura said.

But higher prices to the States don’t mean folks — in Europe or Japan — plan on sitting at home this holiday season.

Holiday trips inside Asia are gaining popularity, such as a Thanksgiving trip to Beijing, Nakamura said.

The same is true in Europe, where more than 50 percent of those making Thanksgiving travel plans have booked trips within the continent, said Tina Turner, a travel consultant with SATO Travel at Kleber Kaserne in Kaiserslautern, Germany.

For Christmas, however, at least 80 percent of Europe-based troops who’ve made travel plans booked tickets for home; maybe 20 percent have made other plans, such as holiday cruises or weekend trips to Christmas markets, within Europe. As a result, flights to the U.S. from Europe are getting harder to come by as the days tick off the calendar, and many of the cheapest fares for the most popular travel dates have already sold out, Turner said.

"We have a lot of people booking right now for Christmas," Turner said. "The flights are already really, really booked."

The weekend before Christmas is considered high season for the airlines, and Europe travelers flying then can expect to pay top dollar, she said. Return flights during the first week of the New Year are selling out fast.

But there are still deals out there for flexible travelers.

Those leaving on or before Dec. 15 could pay less than those leaving Dec. 20. Dec. 20 rates can be more than twice as much as the cost of flying home for Thanksgiving.

For instance, the cost of flying Nov. 23 from Frankfurt, Germany, to Albany, N.Y., for Thanksgiving cost $467 Tuesday through off-base travel agent ABC Travel Service. The cheapest ticket to the same destination for Christmas leaving Dec. 15 was $551. You’ll be stuck paying $1,181 for the same ticket if you leave Dec. 20.

That’s big cash in a struggling economy, but at least some travelers are braced for the bill.

"When I checked online it was like $1,200, but I anticipated it being pretty expensive," said Sgt. 1st Class Joyce Thomas, a member of the 21st Theater Support Command, who on Tuesday stopped by the SATO office on Kleber Kaserne to find out how much it would cost to fly her sister in from the San Francisco Bay area.

She hoped for a better deal through SATO — and they delivered; $780 round trip flying in to Germany on Dec. 17 and leaving New Year’s Day.

That’s another key to holiday flying: Shop around. In a survey Tuesday of two agents popular with the military and two popular online ticket vendors, similar flights to Albany, N.Y., for Thanksgiving ranged from $467 to $823.

Also, don’t wait. Flights are getting more expensive by the day. The same Thanksgiving flight to Albany that cost $823 Tuesday was more than $100 less just a day earlier.

"I wouldn’t wait to the last minute," Turner said. "Definitely not."

Ellie