Flying home for the holidays is about to take a much bigger bite out of Americans’ budgets this year.
Holiday airfare for Thanksgiving and Christmas is reaching a 10-year high, with domestic travelers facing sharply higher ticket prices just as millions of families begin locking in their end-of-year plans. According to Hopper’s 2026 Holiday Travel Index, months of elevated jet fuel costs have helped push the 2026 holiday travel season toward becoming the most expensive in a decade.
A domestic round trip for Thanksgiving is currently averaging $402, according to Hopper, which is 31 percent, or roughly $95, more than last year. Christmas flights are even more expensive, averaging $452 for a domestic round trip, a 23 percent increase of about $85 from 2025.
The increase is not limited to holiday searches. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that its airline fare index was 23.4 percent higher in August 2026 than it was a year earlier. Airline fares also increased 2.7 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from July to August.
One of the biggest forces behind the surge is fuel.
Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration shows Gulf Coast jet fuel spot prices climbed back above $4 per gallon in early September and exceeded $4.50 on multiple days in the middle of the month. Hopper directly attributes part of the holiday airfare increase to months of elevated jet fuel prices connected to the conflict involving Iran.
Fuel is one of an airline’s largest operating expenses, meaning prolonged increases can put pressure on carriers to raise fares, reduce less profitable service, or both.
But fuel does not tell the entire story. Travelers are also heading into their first holiday season without Spirit Airlines, removing a major source of low-fare competition from the domestic market.
Spirit announced on May 2 that it was winding down operations after years of financial trouble and a sharp increase in oil prices further damaged its outlook. In Spirit’s announcement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said the “recent material increase in oil prices and other pressures on the business” significantly affected its financial position.
Spirit’s disappearance matters even to travelers who never intended to fly on one of its planes.
A federal court decision in the JetBlue and Spirit antitrust case documented what became known as the “Spirit Effect.” Evidence presented in that case showed that when Spirit entered a market, competing airlines reduced prices by an average of between 7 and 11 percent.
That competitive pressure is now missing from the marketplace.
“Flyers are going to not just combat higher prices this year, but also the reality of fewer affordable options,” Katy Nastro, aviation and travel correspondent at Flighty, told ABC News.
“Even with Spirit only serving a fraction of the domestic market, it still means there is one fewer budget airlines to put pressure on the larger carriers,” she added.
The combination of higher operating expenses and less low-fare competition arrives at the worst possible time for travelers who have limited flexibility. Thanksgiving and Christmas concentrate millions of passengers onto the same handful of travel days, allowing prices to rise quickly as cheaper seats disappear.
Hopper says Sunday, November 29, is expected to be one of the most expensive travel days of the year, with domestic round-trip fares averaging $604. Travelers who can wait until Monday or Tuesday to return could see average fares closer to $350.
Christmas travelers face a similar squeeze. Hopper says departures between December 18 and December 20 are already averaging just below $500. Travelers returning after Christmas could also face another surge, with average fares climbing above $560 around January 2.
That makes the airfare spike particularly difficult for workers who cannot freely change vacation days, parents traveling around school schedules, and families who need to reach a specific destination on specific dates.
The pressure is also hitting households unevenly.
September research from Future Partners found a growing income divide in Americans’ ability to spend on travel. Travelers earning under $49,000 reported average annual travel budgets of $2,164, while those earning at least $200,000 budgeted $14,068. The research also found 60.5 percent of travelers earning less than $49,000 said they were being careful with money because of recession concerns, compared with 35.3 percent of travelers earning $200,000 or more.
For those households, a $95 year-over-year increase in the average Thanksgiving ticket becomes considerably larger when multiplied across a family.
A family of four paying the current $402 Thanksgiving average would spend about $1,608 on airfare alone before baggage charges, airport transportation, food, or accommodations. At Christmas, four average $452 tickets would total about $1,808.
International travelers are not completely escaping the increases either. According to Hopper, Christmas airfare to Mexico and Central America is running 23 percent higher than last year, while fares to Europe are up 15 percent. Travelers heading to Asia, Oceania and parts of the long-haul international market are seeing prices closer to 2025 levels or slightly lower.
The unusual pricing environment means some international trips could even compete with expensive domestic routes.
“If you’re only taking one trip, it may be worth looking abroad,” Nastro told ABC News. “In some cases, a Thanksgiving flight to Paris at $595 could be more memorable than a rinse and repeat flight to Salt Lake City for $526.”
Travelers who cannot skip the holidays entirely still have some ways to limit the damage. Hopper recommends booking holiday travel before Halloween rather than waiting for traditional last-minute deals. The company says people with flexible schedules can potentially save hundreds by avoiding the busiest departure and return dates.
The booking window is especially important this year because travelers appear to have gotten the message. Hopper says Thanksgiving and Christmas bookings are already running ahead of the same point in previous years as consumers try to secure seats before prices move higher.
For Thanksgiving, Hopper identifies Monday, November 23, as the most affordable departure day, with average fares around $370. Flying on Thanksgiving Day itself is averaging about $371. Returning Monday or Tuesday after the holiday could save as much as $250 compared with returning on the peak Sunday.
Christmas travelers may find better prices by leaving on the Monday or Tuesday before the holiday, when Hopper says tickets average about $440.
Those savings matter in a year when travel costs are rising alongside other household expenses. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported overall consumer prices were 3.4 percent higher in August than a year earlier, while energy prices were up 16.3 percent. Airline fares, meanwhile, increased much faster at 23.4 percent.
For travelers trying to reunite with family, the result is a holiday season where flexibility is increasingly valuable and affordable seats are increasingly scarce. The cheapest ticket is no longer simply about which airline a traveler chooses. In 2026, when they can leave, where they live, how early they can book, and how much flexibility their job or family schedule allows could determine whether flying home for the holidays remains within reach.
