PORTLAND, Maine — Hoping to get away this summer and find a good deal on travel? “It’s probably too late,” says Christopher Elliott, who writes about travel for USA Today and The Washington Post.
Prices for hotels, rental cars, airline tickets and more fell dramatically as business and leisure travel got crushed by the pandemic. Now they’re recovering, and the rebound has surprised a lot of consumers who hoped they’d find bargains this summer. “For airlines, we’re talking anywhere from five to eight percent [fare hikes] just this month,” Elliott told me. “That’s a fairly dramatic increase.”
The steeper fares from airlines—Elliott has heard about some recently that are eight times higher than normal--may be especially galling, given that the federal government (which is to say you, the taxpayer) gave the airline industry a $59 billion bailout. “If your airline takes billions in aid and then offers you an outrageous fare, you bet you should complain,” Elliott writes. He recommends lodging complaints with your members of Congress and the Department of Transportation.
Are there any pockets of the travel industry where you might still find some good deals? There are, and you can hear Elliott talk about them in our interview. Watch it and—fingers crossed—maybe you’ll save some money.