Some good news for travelers: Airfares are cheaper than they were this time last year.
Last month, airfares were down 6.1% versus the same month in 2023, and they are even slightly lower than what they were in February 2020, before the pandemic. That’s according to the latest set of Consumer Price Index data released in March 2024 from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which is based on February 2024 prices.
Car rentals price are also lower — down 10% versus February 2023. Hotel prices barely budged since last year, down a nominal 0.9%.
Falling travel prices is a bright spot for customers, considering that the price of pretty much everything else is going up. In fact, average consumer prices across all items rose 3.2% year-over-year through February.
According to NerdWallet’s Travel Price Index, the overall cost of travel is down 1% from the same month in 2023 and up 12% compared with February 2020. In short, expect the same trip taken this year to cost slightly less than it did this…