Fewer Labor Day flyers; higher Thanksgiving fares

The outlook for travel over upcoming holiday periods has some good news and some bad news. On the good news side, the Air Transport Association, a trade group of the nation’s airlines, is forecasting that the number of domestic air travelers over the Labor Day weekend period (August 27-September 3) will show a 6.5 percent decline from the same period a year ago. “Economic uncertainty and the heavy hit from sky-high energy prices mean that many vacation and business travelers are choosing to stay closer to home – if they go at all,” said ATA president James May. On the negative side, researchers at Live Search Farecast (http://farecast.live.com) who are studying air fares for the year’s later holidays suggest that if you’re planning to take the spouse and kids to Grandma’s house, it might be a lot cheaper to fly Grandma to your place instead. The researchers said they foresee “a grim outlook for consumers hoping to travel on peak dates” over Thanksgiving and the Christmas/New Year’s holiday periods. They said fares currently available for the Thanksgiving holiday period are up 35 percent from what they were last year, while Christmas/New Year’s fares are up 31 percent. The site’s self-proclaimed “fareologists” recommend traveling on off-peak days around the holidays, and waiting for anticipated reductions in holiday fares that they say should be coming out during October, especially in major markets.