Thanksgiving airfare at BWI takes off

The price of a round-trip plane ticket may keep some budget-conscious people from traveling this Thanksgiving.

In a new trend this year, several major airlines are adding a fee to the basic price of airfare for the most sought-after flight dates, including both Thanksgiving and Christmas.

And the relatively new addition of luggage-checking fees just adds to the high cost of flying these days.

Delta Air Lines, American Airlines and other commercial airlines recently raised the prices of round-trip domestic flights by about $10 - the sixth industrywide price increase of the year, according to industry watcher FareCompare.com.

And some of those price adjustments will affect flights during the Thanksgiving holiday.

In last year's holiday travel season, the scenario was different. The economic downturn caused many travelers to save money by staying closer to home.

According to BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport statistics, in November 2008 slightly fewer than 734,000 domestic commercial passengers boarded planes at the airport, down 13 percent from November one year before.

Because airlines had a vast number of empty seats to fill last year, many holiday fliers caught some last-minute deals.

Jonathan Dean, a spokesman for BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport and the Maryland Aviation Administration, said that passenger traffic at the airport has grown in recent months.

That's "in direct contrast to many markets across the nation," he said. Dean said that he believes the availability of lower fares from BWI's carriers is "an important factor in this recent growth."

But opinions vary. AAA Mid-Atlantic spokeswoman Christine Delise said that, as Thanksgiving nears, fares in general are going to increase.

"For this year's holiday, although the U.S. is not yet out of its economic doldrums, there seems to be more consumer confidence, and there are fewer flights available as airlines have scaled down their schedules in order to manage costs," Delise said in an e-mail.

But AAA Mid-Atlantic officials believe travelers can still find deals if they're flexible.

Hedy Walker, the retail office manager at AAA Mid-Atlantic's Arnold office, last week cited an example: A holiday traveler who wants to go to Atlanta from BWI could pay $219 for a round trip - if he or she was willing to leave in the middle of the day on Thanksgiving and return the next day to Baltimore.

A plane ticket at that price is quite a deal compared to flying the day before Thanksgiving and returning Sunday afternoon. She said that, when she checked earlier last week, those fares were about $548, including taxes and fees.

The down side to the lower fare "is that the traveler would only have 24 hours to celebrate Thanksgiving," Delise said. But maybe one day with family is enough for some people," Delise said. "And there are other options for those who can be flexible about their travel schedule."

Lynda Hawkins, a travel counselor at Best Connection Travel Inc., an Annapolis travel agency on West Street, said that in her experience the most flexible travelers are the ones who will score the best deals as the holiday approaches.

She recommends not only flexibility in travel dates, but flexibility in the number of layovers between the departure and destination.

"The flights that sold out fastest are the nonstops, and there are so many more hops now because airlines have consolidated and merged and the nonstops are fewer and far between," Hawkins said. "You're going to pay more for those nonstops."

Hawkins said flexibility on the airport of departure is also key, especially with Dulles International and Ronald Reagan Washington National airports close by.

"So many insist on leaving from BWI," she said. "But many times, I find a cheaper flight out of Dulles or National."

To grab the lowest fares, travelers should consider booking their flights six months in advance next time around, Hawkins said. But she advises travelers who are stuck with red-eye flights and several layovers to just take a deep breath and relax.

"Patience is a huge virtue. During the holidays, there are flight delays due to weather and there are crowds, and tempers can get frayed," she said. "It's supposed to be happy times."

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FINDING A PLANE TICKET

Airfarewatchdog.com, an airfare deal site owned and operated by Smarter Travel Media LLC, offers some tips for travelers looking for lower fares:

• Check fares every day, several times a day; as soon as you see something in a reasonable price range, grab it.
• Don't hesitate to book a fare. Any long haul route under $400 (with tax) round-trip, and any short round-trip flight under $300, is considered a bargain. 
• Fly airlines that give full 'fare drop' refunds. Three airlines — Southwest, JetBlue and Alaska — will refund the difference in full if a fare goes down between the time you buy and the time you fly. Refunds come in the form of a credit on future flights. Other airlines offer refunds but deduct up to $150 from the money you're due, usually detracting from any savings.
• Check the airlines' Web sites because airlines don't always share their entire seat inventory with third-party search and aggregator sites.