Cost of flying soaring for summer

VIEW SLIDESHOW
DENVER - If you've started looking at buying an airline ticket to travel somewhere this summer you probably know what we're about to tell you.

It's getting more and more expensive to fly.

"All of the airlines are hurting right now," said traveler Debbie Esteki at DIA on Thursday. "They need to collect money somehow."

Robert Polk, CEO of Polk Majestic Travel Group in Denver says he has seen the average price of a ticket rise by about 12 percent in the last year.

He says it could actually be worse however.

"Here in Denver we're fortunate in that the rate of increase is lower than the national rate of increase simply because of the competition," he said.

Polk is not so sure all of Denver's major carriers will be able to survive the current economic situation.

"If they raise fares too much then people will just stay home and not travel. If they lower them too much then they have no hope when it comes to making any money," he said.

Tom Parsons, chief executive of the discount travel site bestfares.com, looked at the lowest fares for nonstop travel in July – the kind of tickets that usually must be bought long in advance and therefore appeal mostly to vacationers, not business travelers.

Parsons said where major carriers offer nonstop flights and low-fare competitors offer only one-stop service, fares are up to 365 percent higher than a year ago.

Last summer, Parsons said, American Airlines offered fares as low as $238 for July travel between Phoenix and Miami. This year the lowest fare is $660, he said.

(the Associated Press contributed to this report)