If you want a cheap vacation this summer, go see the Liberty Bell. But if you want to listen to Big Ben, that other famous bell cast at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, airfares are going to be steep.
It\'s shaping up to be a very busy travel season this summer, and airlines, for a change, are jumping on the chance to bank higher airfares. Unlike in past years, when deep-discount sales covered the summer season, early sales this year have often excluded travel between mid-June and mid-August. Peak-season tickets to some regions, especially Europe, are likely to be more expensive than they have been in three or four years. A Chicago-Rome round trip over the Fourth of July weekend was priced Tuesday at a whopping $1,720 for nonstop flights on AMR Corp.\'s American Airlines.
But don\'t despair; there will still be lots of cheap flights available - domestically, at least.
With lots of competition in transcontinental markets, trips from one coast to another will be a bargain. Florida and the Caribbean, which can be popular destinations year-round, have lots of capacity and competition, which should yield low fares all summer.
Overall, airlines say, traffic picked up measurably in the second half of March, and bookings have remained strong. You can see that strength in how they are currently pricing summer-season tickets. A Chicago-London round trip leaving May 20 is $497 on American Airlines. Leaving June 20 will cost at least 83 percent more - the lowest price on the same round trip is $909. On Delta Air Lines, the summer price more than doubles for a Boston-Paris round trip, to $1,247 for a June 20 departure, compared with $614 for a May 20 departure.
The upshot for travelers is that it probably is best to buy early this year rather than hope for last-minute fare sales. Prices domestically are already attractive. And on trans-Atlantic flights, carriers seem determined to stick with their high summer fares, fare watchers say. \"They can always have a late sale and blow it out if tickets don\'t sell. But so far, they\'re protecting the summer seats. They\'re hoping to make big bucks this year,\" said Tom Parsons of Bestfares.com.
One example of that: In January and February, Continental Airlines offered no seats at all in its five lowest-fare categories between Newark, N.J., and Paris for travel in June, July and August, Parsons says.
U.S. airlines desperately need a profitable summer. Most have suffered huge losses for the past three years and are saddled this year with high fuel prices. J.P. Morgan just widened its estimate of first-quarter operating losses for the airline industry to $900million from $300million. For some carriers, any chance of earning profits for the full year rests on flying full planes at high prices this summer.