‘It hurts the budget’: Eppley travelers react to sky-high ticket prices

OMAHA, Neb. —

Planes aren’t the only thing soaring at the airport — ticket prices are now sky-high.

“I’ve never paid that much for plane tickets ever. It was horrible,” Johnathan Kreutz said.

Our Get the Facts Data Team found the average cost of a U.S. domestic flight is nearly 8% higher than a year ago. That does not include any increases since the U.S.-Iran war began.

“I’m learning how to budget right now, and it’s a process,” Kenzie Cimpl said.

Cimpl flew from Dallas to visit family and her ticket didn’t come cheap.

“Oh, thousands! No, I’m kidding. Maybe around $300-400?” Cimpl said.

A flight to the nation’s capital set Kreutz back $900.

“In June, I flew about four times, and none of them were as expensive as that,” Kreutz said.

But with work trips as his livelihood, Kreutz can’t stop traveling.

“You got to pay the bills, got to feed the kids, got to provide for my family as the good Lord wants,” Kreutz said.

Cimpl travels every couple of months, and a flight is always her first choice.

“I don’t love being in cars,” Cimpl said. “I get carsick pretty fast, so I feel like flights are still my number one priority.”

She tries to save money where she can, and that starts with keeping an eye on prices.

“I turn on Google Flights to monitor and be like, ‘OK, prices are low, or prices are high,’ and then I try to base it off of that,” Cimpl said.

Cimpl also signs up for rewards programs to cut down on those costs.

“Honestly, I feel like I try to do the credit cards so we can get the points, and then you can just use those more often,” Cimpl said.

With vacations on the horizon, both plan to keep flying no matter the price.

“You have to live your life and have to make it work, but I feel like it’s just being smart about it,” Cimpl said.

“The expenses are rough, especially when, you know, it hurts the budget a little bit there, but you get through it, like gas prices, and hope that they’ll go down,” Kreutz said.

Related coverage: Get the Facts: Are domestic flights getting more expensive?

The Get the Facts Data team also broke down the average fare you’ll pay at airports in the United States. Fares at Omaha’s Eppley Airfield average about $469. The highest fare is around $1,100, while the lowest is $60, and both of those are at airports in Alaska.

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