- November 2009
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Several major U.S. carriers add surcharge for busiest travel days
The most expensive travel days just became more costly. Several major U.S. airlines recently announced a USD $10 each-way surcharge for busy travel days around holidays—and then many subsequently increased that number to USD $20 each way.
The fee applies to many flights scheduled for the peak travel days surrounding the Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s holidays.
Sources: msnbc.msn.com, The Associated Press
Business-class fares drop in both price and demand
Some airlines have reduced business-class fares to foreign cities in an effort to fill those more expensive seats. Many business-class airfares from the United States to Europe are 33 percent to 66 percent cheaper than a year ago, according to an analysis initiated by USA TODAY.
The study analyzed “every business-class airfare for non-stop, round-trip flights in late October between five U.S. cities with the most departing international passengers and five cities outside North America with the most passengers from the USA.”
Key findings from the analysis included the following:
- From New York, Miami, Chicago, and Atlanta to London, nearly all airlines' business-class fares are 25 percent to 55 percent cheaper than in late October 2008. From Los Angeles to London, all airlines' business-class fares are about 35 percent cheaper.
- Business-class fares to Paris from Miami, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Atlanta are about 30 percent less than last October on most airlines.
- From New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Atlanta, business-class tickets on all airlines are about 35 percent cheaper to Amsterdam and 25 percent cheaper to Tokyo.
Despite these trends, the cheaper fares are still a tough sell. The economy has forced some companies to direct employees to buy only coach tickets, which traditionally are one-fourth to one-eighth the price of business-class tickets.
Airlines rely on premium fliers for 25 percent to 30 percent of revenue, but the number of those fliers fell 20 percent during the first seven months of this year according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
The number of people traveling in first and business class worldwide was down 12 percent in August compared with the same period a year earlier, according to the IATA. Businesses are expected to keep a close eye on travel expenses for the foreseeable future.
Sources: ABC News, USA TODAY, North Jersey.com, iata.org
