US: Say goodbye to $30 plane tickets. The era of dirt-cheap flights is ending

Millions of Americans, many cooped up for a year, are hitting the road and taking to the skies, as more people get vaccinated against Covid-19. President Joe Biden last week said all American adults will be eligible for a vaccine by May. As more people grow confident that the threat of Covid-19 is fading, it’s becoming harder to find the rock-bottom fares, some in the double-digits, that airlines offered when they were more desperate to fill planes. Hotel rates are also ticking up. Travel-search site Kayak, said searches for summer travel have been up 27% each week since Biden’s announcement and said that airfares for top 100 most-searched U.S. destinations are up 7% month-over-month. “Domestic airfares are rising. While discounts can still be found, they’re no longer falling into consumers’ laps,” said Jamie Baker, JP Morgan airline analyst. “Discounted fares increasingly require a hunt, and for many consumers that have been locked up for a year, they’re probably not up to the effort.” The cheapest domestic leisure airfares, which include those promotional fares that airlines send to your inbox, were $59.48 as of March 15, still 26% lower than a similar week in 2019 but up more than 6% on the week, according to Harrell Associates, a firm that tracks airfares. Average leisure fares were nearly $187, up close to 5% on the week and close to 9% higher than a similar point in 2019.<br/>