Why did flights just double in price?

According to IATA, the price of jet fuel has increased nearly 150% in the last year. Airlines are also facing the reality of not having enough pilots and flight attendants to run their flights, as well as higher labor costs. All of these forces have combined to create rising ticket prices.



In 2026, the sudden doubling of flight prices is driven by a "perfect storm" of geopolitical fuel costs and capacity constraints. Ongoing tensions in the Middle East and Eastern Europe have made jet fuel highly volatile, forcing airlines to pass those costs to travelers. Simultaneously, the "Pilot Shortage" and supply chain delays for new aircraft parts have limited the number of planes in the sky. When supply is low and demand for travel remains at record highs, prices skyrocket. A supportive peer insight: airlines also use "Dynamic Pricing" algorithms that track your search history and local demand; if you are looking at a popular route during a holiday or major event (like the World Cup or a solar eclipse), the price can double overnight simply because seats are selling fast. For 2026, the "Golden Rule" is to book at least 3–6 months in advance to avoid these last-minute price surges.

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Can you get cheaper flights with VPN? Yes, you can get cheaper flights with a VPN. A robust VPN, like NordVPN, will disguise your actual IP address and will give you a new one of the preferred location. This way, you can connect to a country with the lowest flight prices.

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Demand (yield management): There may not be an industry that is more influenced by supply and demand laws than the Airline industry. As demand increases, supply decreases and the airline revenue management algorithm automatically increases the ticket prices of the remaining seats on the aircraft.

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There's no sugarcoating it: Airfare is expensive. And while waiting until the last minute might sound like a good idea, it typically is cheaper to book your flights in advance. We are seeing fewer last-minute deals than in years past, especially when it comes to flights, a Kayak spokesperson tells Travel + Leisure.

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Time your booking right
“For domestic flights, if you're talking peak season, it's about three to seven months in advance,” he says. “For international flights — [it's] four to 10 months.”

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It mostly comes down to supply and demand. Demand is contributing to higher prices as travel continues to surge post-pandemic, Berg said. Sustained strong demand in 2023 continues to put additional pressure on prices, especially to and within regions where travel has only recently reopened like parts of Asia.

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Tuesday Around Midnight is the Cheapest Time to Book
In general, flights were slightly cheaper at midnight earlier in the week (Monday through Wednesday). However, this is only applicable to about 1.6% of U.S. markets, meaning that it's not likely you'll find the same savings on your specific route.

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The closer to the departure date, the more expensive the price. More seats tend to fill the closer to the departure date. As more tickets sell for any given flight, the demand increases creating a jump in ticket prices.

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A new report has crowned Malaysia the world's cheapest country for air fares. The annual Flight Price Index, published by Kiwi.com, claims the south-east Asian nation offers the best opportunities for affordable air travel.

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There are a number of reasons why airline prices fluctuate. These factors include booking and flight seasons, holidays, seasonal changes, and overall volatility. For instance, the travel restrictions put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic pushed prices down as demand for travel waned.

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Is there a cheapest month to fly? If you're looking for a bargain month to travel, February is your best bet. Flights in January closely follow February for being most affordable. At the other end of the spectrum, December and July are the first and second most expensive months to travel, on average.

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So why are flight prices so high right now? It's a concept you're already familiar with: Supply and demand. After it nearly evaporated in 2020, demand for travel is fully back in 2023 and isn't going anywhere. In fact, it might be higher than ever.

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The cheapest day to book your ticket is Saturday and Sunday, but the cheapest day to actually fly on is Tuesday. And the cheapest time of day to physically book your ticket is between 6AM and 12PM.

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The process is largely controlled by computer software and is increasingly being bolstered by AI, so price changes can happen at any second. That's why there's no specific time of day — or even a specific day of the week, for that matter — that's best for booking cheap flights.

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