Air Travelers May Encounter Higher Prices and Fewer Seats in Coming Months

The past several months, affordable airfares and package travel deals have been popping up around every corner for travelers, but the AP reported yesterday that this may be changing come late August and early September. Reductions are being seen in corporate travel, premium seats are producing lower ticket sales and overall demand is down while fuel prices are rising again. Swine flu scares reduced ticket sales and caused cancellation of travel plans, especially to Mexico.

All these factors are resulting in the need for airlines to raise fares or cut capacity to cover their costs. While experts predict that fare sales won’t be going anywhere anytime soon, airlines are preparing for upcoming changes. In addition to job cuts, most major airlines will be reducing the number of seats in the sky. This means cancelling routes, reducing the number of flights to a specific destination or flying smaller planes.

For example, by the year’s end, American Airlines is expected to cut capacity by 7.5% while Delta plans to cut international capacity by 15%. For the traveler this may result in higher priced fares and fewer seats available. Not to mention less itinerary options and convenient schedules to choose from for getting where you need to go.

Of course, no one can predict exactly what will happen in the coming months when it comes to availability of flights or if travelers will be left without fare sales to take advantage of. However, if you’ve been planning to postpone that trip a few months you might reconsider and take advantage of the great travel deals that are still floating around at the moment.

Photo by alancleaver_2000

____________________________

Lori Rice is a Galavanting Travel News & Reviews correspondent and features contributor, she keeps two blogs at Blondie in Braziland Fake Food Free. You can also follow Lori on twitter.