Major airlines like Delta and American Airlines are adding "peak travel" surcharge on flights this summer, reports USA Today. The "peak travel" fee ranges from $10 to $30, applied to both departure and return flights, and is included in the cost of the ticket.
Airfares on these routes are notification-based and do not require approval from the ministry. For flights to the U.S., Canada and Brazil, passengers could pay up to 5 percent more. Those traveling to France, Germany, the U.K., Australia and New Zealand could face fare increases of up to 10 percent. Korean Air officials told Yonhap News Agency that “recent increases in costs have not been reflected in flight fares, and we plan to renovate the airliners to enhance the convenience of our passengers.”
Delta Air Lines offered flights this spring to some European cities for as little as US$138 round trip, taxes included. The offer was gone within a few hours, leading some experts to think it was a pricing error. Delta declined to comment.
The curious revelation comes from airfare data analyzed by FareCompare.com for USA Today, which concluded that the five major airlines -- American, Delta, Continental, United, and US Airways -- have added this "peak travel" fee on almost every flight from mid-June through mid-August. This is akin to the airline industry "treating the entire summer like a holiday," says FareCompare.com CEO Rick Seaney.
Air fares rose last summer as demand for travel increased and airlines tightly controlled the number of flights and seats.
Last June, average fares were 18 per cent higher than the summer before, although increases were more modest after that.
Airlines are continuing to add surcharges of US$20 to US$60 per round trip on peak travel days, including spring break, holidays and summer.
Many flights last summer took off with 90 per cent or more of the seats filled, and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) forecasts that even more people will travel in 2011 than last year.
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