As US Airfares Continue to Rise, Bookings Fall in Month of May

For the second consecutive month, U.S. airline bookings fell as airfares continue to soar past pre-pandemic levels.

The dreaded combination of rising, unstable fuel costs being passed along to passengers, and a pilot shortage that has caused nearly every airline to cancel numerous flights – giving carriers more leverage with pricing since they have fewer seats to offer – has led to the odd situation of fewer bookings but higher income.

According to San Jose, Calif.-based Adobe Analytics, bookings were down 2.3 percent in May from the previous month of April, creating back-to-back months of fewer bookings.

Yet Adobe noted that domestic flight bookings in May 2022 drove $8.3 billion in online spending, a 6.2 percent increase from April and equivalent to $500 million more in consumer spending.

Adobe measures direct consumer transactions from six of the top 10 U.S. airlines and more than 150 billion web visits.

Overall, airfares were 30 percent higher in the month of May than they were in May of 2019 prior to the pandemic, and up 47 percent in total this year alone since January.

“We are beginning to see a more notable shift from goods to services, with consumers spending over half a billion dollars more on domestic flights in May,” said Vivek Pandya, lead analyst, Adobe Digital Insights. “While some consumers have been able to stomach the higher fares, especially for those who delayed travel plans during the pandemic, the dip in bookings shows that some are rethinking their appetite for getting on a plane.”

But several surveys have shown that some consumers are still hell-bent on taking that summer vacation no matter what the cost.

Adobe reported that although bookings were up just 4.4 percent last month compared to May of 2019, online spending was up 29 percent versus 2019 levels.