air fare increase?
 

have all air fares gone up a lot over the weekend? i was looking into flying to detroit in october and the lowest fare was $282. Now they all are $350-$425 for the same flights. I have checked with american, united and continental and they all have shot up. why the big hike in rates?

My crystal ball says.........Big Convention!!!

Seriously, who knows? It could be anything.

Is there a big sporting activity or city wide convention during those dates?

Where are you flying out of? Is there something major going on in your hometown that would drive up airfare?

Ok, this is not carved in stone, but; airfares have been known to go up on the weekends and back down on Wednesdays or Thursdays. This is not every fare, every airline, every week, but it happens.

Have you tried Northwest? Detroit is one of their hubs so they may be cheaper?

What airlines are you checking? The best deals for Detroit are usually Northwest and Spirit. I've gotten some great deals on Spirit they just don't fly to as many cities as NW. Maybe the flights you are looking into are getting booked so price is going up?

Don't know exactly where you are flying from but assuming it's one of these three, Dallas, Austin or Houston, The fares are ranging from ~$225-$275 all in.

It would help if you posted the departure city and the dates.

Good luck.

They have gone up. I was checking Pittsburgh to Detroit in November to get my son home from college and the price jumped from $207 last week to $262 this morning on NW. I'm going to wait and see if they go back down.

YIKES!

On any given day fares can double. When you see a fare for your date, jump on it. As for the hub cities being cheaper, just the opposite.

I was looking at one way MCO-Spokane and it was $158, then 2 days later $290...I waited 2 weeks and it went back down to $158 and I grabbed it...

I'm looking for SFO-PSP for at least a month... sigh... still looking...

No so sure about that, Gretchen. There was a long report on local news last night in Minneapolis (Northwest hub) and industry and airline analysts predicted fare hikes if Northwest were to go under.

Oil is over $63 a barrel now. My crystal ball says "more fuel surcharges" any day now. It'll eventually get to the point where surcharges and government fees and taxes are higher than the fare.

Up, Up, and UP I'd guess.

Just on the Southwest Ding specials from Albany to BWI -- were running $25, eased up to $27, $29 during last week, and are $35 today.

Remember that competition for oil next time you "save" money on some imported clothing, car, or electronics device!