Airfares Climbed 17 Percent In 2012

By Author: Steve Robinson
Total Articles: 468
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Knowing how to find cheap travel options such as cheap airplane tickets, cheap vacation packages, and discount travel packages has become more important than ever after last year's increase in airline ticket prices.

The cost of airline tickets to some of the most frequented American and overseas destinations increased by 25 percent and more in 2012. June proved to be the costliest month of the year to travel.

The price of flights from North America to Lima were up 33 percent, London fares increased 30 percent, and airline tickets to New Orleans, Madrid, Munich, and Sydney rose 38 percent.

Tickets to Paris, Beijing, Hong Kong, and Key West Florida jumped 35 percent. Toronto was the only popular destination of Americans where airfares dropped, falling an average of 3 percent.

London, which was home to the Olympics and celebrated Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012 was the top overseas destination for North American travelers, followed by San Juan, Cancun, Paris, and Rome.

Las Vegas was the most popular U.S. destination followed by New York, Los Angeles, Orlando and San Francisco.

Destinations ...
... who experienced increased visitor count in 2012 and did not witness significant increases in airfares included Punta Cana and Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, Mumbai, Tokyo, and Nashville.

Cheap airplane tickets were most readily available last year in January, February, September and October for domestic flights and February and March for overseas flights. January was the slowest month of the year to travel.

The least expensive average ticket prices for domestic flights of up to one week were for flights departing on Saturdays and returning on Mondays. Trips in excess of a week were cheapest departing on Tuesdays and returning on Wednesdays, with average savings of 10 percent.

On international flights prices last year were 21 percent below average on short trips of up to eight days with departures on Tuesday returning on Wednesday. Over a week prices tended to be 9 percent less with Saturday departures and Sunday returns.

Travelers savvy in the way of finding cheap fares continue to frequent major travel Internet sites such as Cheapfares, Expedia, and Orbitz. Airlines are encouraging customers to purchase from their own websites, but travel sites which show airfares across a wide group of airlines continue to consistently show the cheapest fares and best selection of travel times.
www.cheapfares.com