With Thanksgiving and winter break fast approaching, many USC students are looking to purchase tickets home to spend time with their families. However, rising airfares are making holiday travel increasingly expensive.
According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, airfares rose 22.4% from September 2025 to September 2026. The increase in jet fuel prices could be a contributing factor to the rise in flight prices, as fuel costs are expected to rise by nearly 40% from $252 billion in 2025 to $350 billion in 2026, according to the International Air Transport Association.
Another contributing factor is the war in Iran, which has driven up the price of oil. According to the Bipartisan Policy Center, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz during the U.S. war with Iran has disrupted a significant share of the world’s oil supply. In 2025, about 20% of global oil trade transited the strait, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. This has affected jet fuel more than gasoline and diesel, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.
Spirit Airlines shut down in May, after previously serving many local airports, including LAX, Orange County and Burbank. Spirit offered discounted fares that provided an affordable travel option, which students no longer have.
With the holidays approaching, Annenberg Media spoke with students about how their plans have changed.
Sophia Franchetti, a third-year design major, said she bought her tickets home to New York in advance.
“100% [buy] earlier,” Franchetti said. “Tickets are so much more expensive if you wait [until the] last minute, around the holiday specifically.”
She said she tries to plan flights as early as possible, but changes to her class schedule sometimes prevent her from doing so.
“I usually try to do it as soon as I know my final schedule, however, I do feel like professors tend to cancel classes, within two or three weeks before the class, so I usually click that option to change your flight, for $40 or $50.”
Many international students are also experiencing rising prices, often on a larger scale. Cindy Zhu, a graduate student majoring in digital social media, plans to fly back to China this holiday break.
“Everything got more expensive, I think because I’m literally landing on Christmas Eve,” Zhu said. “Budgeting is always a big problem when it comes to which airline you’re going to take. Do you want to fly business class, economy class, those kinds of stuff are always a big factor.”
Zhu said she will still be able to travel back home but acknowledged that not everybody can afford to do so with these rising costs.
“I do realize with the prices going up, sometimes it’s harder for people to reunite with their families on holidays,” Zhu said.
Laila Kerr, a sophomore majoring in public relations and advertising and cognitive science, frequently travels from California back to Washington D.C., to see her family and friends. This year, Thanksgiving break and winter break are only two and a half weeks apart, which Kerr said makes it harder to justify paying for multiple flights.
“Prices are exponentially higher than I remember them being,” Kerr said. “It makes traveling really difficult because tickets are expensive, and to go home twice for the holidays within such a short time period is really hard.”
Kerr loves to travel, but the recent rise in prices has hindered some of these plans.
“I was trying to go home a few weeks ago because all my friends and roommates were out of town, but I couldn’t because flights were too expensive,” Kerr said. “I’ve booked a lot of red eyes, which obviously aren’t ideal, and I’ve even gone for airlines that I find that I won’t travel on as often, just because they’re cheaper.”
Even if oil prices decline, airfares may not follow.
In an interview with CNN, Delta CEO Ed Bastian said that despite the increase in ticket prices, people are still buying them, suggesting that airfares may remain elevated even if jet fuel prices decline.
Edited by Nina Kremer and Zayane El Solh