HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) — Airfares rose 25% in the last year alone, according to the Consumer Price Index.

A key factor pushing prices up: demand for travel is high.

For the first time, passengers screened at TSA checkpoints across the United States have reached about 90% of pre-pandemic levels.

In April alone, prices rose nearly 20%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics

The high cost of fuel and the shortage of pilots also increase the price of a ticket.

Jerry Agrusa, professor of travel industry management at UH, said if you see a decent price for a trip, you need to grab it right away — before it goes up.

“What’s happening is they’re tracking your IP address,” Agrusa said. “So you go to the website, you see the theft for, say, $400. You go back to that site, they know you, and they might raise it 10%. Or they might raise it up to 40 % because they know you’re interested.

He said now was a good time to use miles or look into airline credit cards. You can also hire a travel consultant.

“Travel counselors have their own resources for booking and selling airline tickets,” said Wendy Goodenow, owner of HNL Travel Associates. “And we also use all the other sources just to compare, just to make sure we’re not out of line.”

Goodenow said there really isn’t a specific day you should buy or steal.

The best thing to do is to book your ticket early. The more seats occupied, the higher the cost of the ticket on that plane.

“It changes, seconds by seconds,” she said. “Each seat on each plane has at least 15-20 prices based on the full picture.”

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