Cheap Air Fares for Vacationers Are Hard to Land

The jets of the big airlines are as full as they’ve been since the half-off sales of two summers ago, making it a challenge for some vacationers to get the cheap seats they were counting on.

With airplanes averaging more than two-thirds full, the least expensive tickets are hard to come by on flights to popular tourist spots, travel agents say.

The reasons for this range from improvements in the economy to airline cutbacks.

Earlier this year, airlines offered discounts for summer trips as high as 40% and many of these cheap seats filled quickly. Many who figured they could hold out for the next promotion are disappointed.

American Airlines spokesman Tim Smith says travelers shouldn’t despair. If passengers are willing to be flexible on the flight time or whether they make a connection, cheap seats are available, he said.

Many airline watchers expect that another sale will be launched in August for fall travel, but that prices won’t be much cheaper for the rest of the summer.

The seat shortage is the result of a recovering economy colliding with a shrinking industry, said Helane Becker, airline analyst at Lehman Brothers, a New York investment firm. Since the half-off discounts of two years ago packed jets at money-losing fares, airlines have been grounding aircraft and canceling orders for new planes.