Font Resize
If you plan to travel around the upcoming holidays, prepare to pay a little more -- again.
Most of the largest U.S. airlines have increased a surcharge for travel on the busiest travel days to $20 each way, up from $10.
The surcharges apply to a large number of flights within the U.S. on more than a dozen peak days around holidays including Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's.
Delta, American, United, US Airways and Northwest all boosted their surcharge on some routes, said Tom Parsons, who runs the discount travel site Bestfares.com.
Delta, its Northwest subsidiary, and United also raised the surcharges to $20 each way on many U.S. routes, according to representatives.
Parsons said the increases were part of a clear trend in airline pricing. "With airlines downsizing, fuel going up and airlines still losing money, we're going to pay more for family vacations going into 2010," he said.
The airlines' busiest days tend to fall right before or after a major holiday -- Thanksgiving and Christmas themselves are often slow travel days.
As examples of the new $20 one-way surcharge -- it's usually folded into the price of a ticket you buy online -- Parsons cited several itineraries for Dec. 27, the Sunday after Christmas.
On that day, you'll pay a $20 each-way surcharge to take American from Dallas to Los Angeles, United from Chicago to New Orleans, Delta from New York to Albuquerque, N.M., and US Airways
