Last-minute summer travelers are finding the best deals in years

After paying steep rates for years, consumers are finally snagging cheaper flights and hotels toward the end of the season. But it helps to be flexible.

Held off on taking a summer vacation? You may still be able to squeeze in one on the cheap.

Record numbers of travelers have been flooding airports since the pandemic, but U.S. airlines now face a surplus of empty seats after racing to add capacity. Many are slashing prices to fill them, making bargain flights more readily available than they have been in years, travel agents and industry experts say.

Tourists near Monastiraki Square in Athens, Greece, on July 31, 2024. Nikolas Kokovlis / NurPhoto via Getty Images“Deals are easier to find this summer since prices are already so low,” said Hayley Berg, lead economist at the travel booking site Hopper.

Flights overall were at least 5% cheaper as of June than the year before, government inflation data shows. Hopper estimated domestic airfares for August are down about 6% since a year ago, and it flagged supercheap domestic round-trip deals this month — like $69 for Chicago to Baltimore and $82 for New York to Nashville.

And it’s not just airfares — costs are cooling off for car rentals and hotel rooms too. They were down roughly 6% and 3% year over year, respectively, in the federal data and are now about flat in most cities on Priceline.

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/travel/budget-summer-travel-flights-hotels-rcna163868

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