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Last year saw a significant uptick in travel. After being in lockdown mode for much of 2020, Americans were more than ready to get back to traveling and living their everyday lives.

However, as the demand for travel picked up last year, various problems arose. For starters, mass flight delays and cancellations happened during the middle of the year.

While some airlines blamed inclement weather, other reports indicated that airline workers were going to strike to protest against COVID vaccine mandates.

Then, around the Christmas holiday last year, flight delays and cancellations made a comeback. This happened due to airline workers calling off the job sick, claiming to have COVID.

As this year plays out, yet another change in the travel industry has emerged. This time, it deals with the increased prices for domestic airline tickets.

What to know about domestic air travel in 2022

At this time, $330 is the average price for a US domestic roundtrip. This is also 40% higher than where domestic air travel stood at just the beginning of this year.

A huge factor in such a notable uptick deals with the rises in jet fuel costs. Since the start of 2022, jet fuel prices have surged to the tune of 40%. Inflation has undoubtedly played a role in jet fuel prices as well.

Meanwhile, multiple airline companies have already gone on record, admitting they're raising prices in order to offset higher jet fuel costs.

Southwest Airlines, Delta Airlines, and United Airlines announced in March their decisions to pass higher jet fuel fees onto customers.

Finally, the surge in demand for travel amongst Americans is also believed to have played a role in higher prices for domestic flights.

A domino effect of inflation in America

As domestic air travel becomes more expensive, so is everything else in the United States.

This is unfortunately making travel and other opportunities less available to Americans with fewer economic resources. It also doesn't help matters that there's no telling when inflation or fuel prices will decrease.

At least for the foreseeable future, Americans everywhere should expect prices to be much higher than they've been in previous years.