Air fares go up

No more discounting - the average price for markets tracked on Bing Travel is $281, up from $259 three week ago. I started noticing the change a week or so back when making reservations for a trip back east (quite frustrating when news stories were still talking about the desperate airlines dropping their fares on many routes). A couple of things are happening: Leisure travel has revived somewhat, as some economists had expected at this point, and airlines keep cutting capacity, leaving fewer seats to sell. From the WSJ:

As late as Memorial Day, the cheapest round-trip fare offered between New York and Honolulu was $353, according to FareCompare, which offers historical pricing information. But Wednesday the lowest price offered in that market had risen to $758. Washington-San Francisco was offered as low as $138 round-trip in May, but now the cheapest price offered in that market is $239, according to FareCompare.