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Students save by staying put for Thanksgiving

By Ray Segebrecht

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

For the second straight year, Ryan Fazio, Sedona, Ariz., sophomore, is spending Thanksgiving hundreds of miles from her family. But she said the nervousness she felt exactly one year ago tomorrow, when all her roommates left Lawrence, wouldn’t return. Those friends who would normally fly home, Fazio said, have decided to be more frugal and stay in town.

“It’s a money thing,” Fazio said. “They decided it's better to just stay here and not travel home.”

Americans nationwide have been finding airfare prices too expensive this fall, Elizabeth Merida, communications manager for the Air Transport Association, said. Rick Seaney, CEO of Farecompare.com, said tight times combined with higher airline ticket prices around Thanksgiving have made traveling home for the holiday especially difficult.

Seany said those who had waited to see if ticket prices might drop would be worse off than those who planned ahead this holiday season.

“The average ticket price for midweek Thanksgiving are probably running in the high $300s right now instead of the high $200s a week ago,” Seaney said.

Last year, when oil prices reached $145 a barrel in July, the airline industry falsely predicted a continued increase to $200 and kept ticket prices high, he said.

By the time the holidays arrived, oil had gone back down to $75 per barrel, Seaney said. The procrastinators ended up holding cheaper tickets.

He said this year, the exact opposite has happened — the recession hit its lowest point at the end of May, and since October, ticket prices have only increased.

“If you haven’t purchased your ticket yet, the price tends to increase by $25 to $40 dollars a day,” Seaney said. “Procrastinators aren’t going to win this year. They won last year but not this year.”

Merida said the U.S. airplane industry lost $3.1 billion between July and September, and airlines worldwide likely lost about $11 billion. She said that U.S. airlines this fall lowered ticket prices by an average of 13 percent in an effort to boost passenger numbers, but that ticket prices would still remain high for Thanksgiving.

“This is sadly part of a larger trend that we’re seeing,” Merida said. “Twelve moths in a row now, a whole year, the airlines have lost money.”

Seaney said the relatively higher prices at Thanksgiving resulted from more people than usual trying to purchase tickets for this week.

“The week after Thanksgiving, the ticket prices drop,” Seaney said. “It’s supply and demand. The product is more heavily in demand.”

A few airlines, such as Southwest, Midwest and United, have offered some relatively cheaper continental flight deals recently, according to the Farecompare.com Web site. The Southwest deal expired yesterday, but the United deals close today and the Midwest deals end Wednesday. Graeme Wallace, chief technology officer of Farecompare.com, said he did not see any way to avoid the typical sky-high airline prices once these ticket deals disappeared.

“Unless the airlines are going to file special last-minute sales, you’re going to be looking at paying the most expensive coach fares to get a seat on the plane,” Wallace said. “The chances are you’ll pay hundreds of dollars if not more than you would if you bought a sale fare or three weeks in advance.”

Merida said she hoped the economy would improve for both the sake of struggling airlines and the travelers who would like to fly but can not afford it. However, she said she could not see any signs that it would happen soon.

McCollum and the Jayhawker Towers will remain open over break for students who live on campus but cannot afford to travel home, said Jennifer Wamelink, associate director of student housing. She said more than 150 students have requested to stay in smaller unused rooms in McCollum, and other students can still sign up.

As a student who lived alone off-campus for the first part of Thanksgiving break last year, Fazio said she couldn’t have been more grateful to have friends close to Lawrence who invited her to their homes to celebrate the holiday.

“Last break and this break friends really came through,” Fazio said.

— Edited by Nick Gerik

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