Major Airlines Add Up To $30 Holiday Or Peak Travel Airfare Surcharges Through April 25, 2011. One Airline Is Even Charging A $50 Peak Surcharge!

We have seen Delta Airlines, Northwest Airlines, United Airlines, Continental Airlines, American Airlines, US Airways, Midwest Airlines, Frontier Airlines and other carriers adding more holiday and peak travel airfare surcharges that will cost you more to travel this year and into next spring.

The writing is on the wall it's going to cost you more to travel on and after Memorial Day weekend 2010 Travelers should make every attempt to avoid flying on the peak travel days if they expect to fly on the Bestfares.

Some airlines are adding surcharges throughout the entire summer of 2010 so be prepared to pay more this upcoming summer. Airlines give you a break once the kids go back to school but, then kick in the surcharges for peak Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's holiday travel season.

We are also seeing Delta and US Airways throw a curve ball and charge a 5% surcharge per fare component for select flights regardless of the day you travel for all flights traveling after March 11 on US Airways and March 12 on Delta regardless of your domestic travel route. We are seeing these surcharges on routes where the legacy airlines have no direct competition with the low cost carriers. Last week this 5% surcharge kicked in on January 8, 2011 however, this week these two airlines have moved the date to mid March and both airlines do not disclose an end date to this surcharge so it could be now until forever with the way the current terms read.

What we are finding is that on dates after March 11, 2001 where US Airways is charging a $10-$30 surcharge they are also charging a 5% per component surcharge as well, making the surcharges as much as $50 per each way. When we checked April 22 from Los Angeles to West Palm Beach we found a $30 peak surcharge and a 5% surcharge of $20. That means you could spend $100 in surcharges roundtrip and $135 in baggage fees for two checked bags so you are already at $235 just in fees plus the airfare.

Midwest has snuck in a very sly $2.79 per fare component fuel surcharge which no other domestic airline is doing, we are finding this to be on select routes, and or dates that they are not charging a peak surcharge they are adding on a $2.79 fuel surcharge. All the legacy airlines such as America, Continental and United stop their holiday and peak surcharges on January 3, 2010. Remember, after January 8 Delta will added a 5% surcharge to all tickets.

US Airways is capitalizing on the Super Bowl in Dallas and will be charging a $50 surcharge on flights from Dallas on February 7, 2010, the day after the Super Bowl ends. We may see airlines across the board add this surcharge to their Dallas flights as the date gets closer.

We have noticed that the low cost airlines such as Southwest, AirTran, Virgin America and jetBlue are not charging any peak surcharges. However, they have imposed blackout dates around the holidays where their sale fares will be no good and you will have to pay a higher price.

When we checked AirTran for a February 16 departure date we found a one-way airfare of $84 from Dallas to Atlanta, AirTran does not charge surcharge fees. However, when we wanted to book February 18, which is a peak travel day in the industry, we found that the one-way airfare had increased from $84 to $142. So essentially if you do the math the roundtrip fare increased by $58, making the total cost $226 so you are only saving $2 by flying the low cost carrier as the legacy airlines would have charged you the $84 each way or $168 roundtrip and then added a $30 each way surcharge making the total $228.

Most of the legacy airlines currently do away with surcharges after January 3, 2011 but, as the year continues we may see these surcharges creep into next spring break and summer travel!

*Please note that the below surcharges may not be on every route the airlines fly, or may be different depending on destination and day of the week.

Listed below are the current holiday and peak surcharge dates.

Currently JetBlue, Southwest, Virgin and AirTran do not have peak travel surcharges. We have said this once and we will say it again Southwest is looking like a big winner here with no change fees, no baggage fees, and no surcharges you may want to think twice about booking that legacy airline when Southwest can get you there for less.

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$10 surcharge all airlines including US Airways

$20 surcharge all airlines including US Airways

$30 surcharge all airlines including US Airways

$10-$50 US Airways Only