Airfare Prices Rising

airfare prices rising
Cost of airfares tougher to pin down
Fees for baggage and other services do not surface right away

what’s going on with airfares between nyc and lax?

i used to be able to fly round trip, nonstop for approx $250 before june of this year. now, i’ve noticed that there are no r/t priced under $433 nonstop, and even 1-stops are no lower than $350. i thought maybe it was just overall rise in costs of fuel, operation, etc, but trips to cities in europe haven’t gone up as much. what’s going on?
i paid $270 for r/t in mar 2010, and in may 2010. will it go down once the high season ends (in sept?) i’ve been searching for dates in october, still no difference.

Prices in the summer starting June 1st are usually higher as travel picks up for summer vacation and a lot of foreign tourists coming in.

There is also a trend to higher ticket prices as airlines are still not very profitable.

Answer to your comment:

some of the airlines use a mathematical model to define their prices, it works like this: from past data and others (e.g. reduced aircraft space by theme elf or competitors) they make an assumption how many tickets should be sold at a certain day before the departure. If the amount sold until this day is lower then expected they decrease the price until sales have catched up, so prices can fluctuate ! Two month in advance the sold amount should be low so they keep the price, but it may change in the next weeks. If you travel this route very often – check the sites every 2 – 3 days you get a feeling who plays this game and how the prices fluctuate.