Travel costs expected to be low for Thanksgiving

Gas prices usually rise around the holidays.

By Sangeeta Shastry

Published Nov. 17, 2008

The perpetual busyness of the holiday season brings with it one issue of concern: the cost of getting out of town.

With the economy in a slump, many travelers are wary about buying airline tickets, making cross-country escapades or booking time at that warm-weather resort.

However, falling gasoline prices and decreased rates for Columbia Regional Airport's new carriers are making holiday travel cheaper for area residents.

"In terms of gas prices, at least for the Thanksgiving period, this year is an anomaly," said Mike Right of the Missouri American Automobile Association.

Throughout the year, gas prices have been above 2007 prices. However, in recent weeks, prices have dropped below last year's costs, and AAA projects prices will stay low through Thanksgiving. 

Fluctuating gas and general travel prices generally have less of an impact on family travel, Right said, but this does not hold true for certain recreational holidays, citing Memorial Day, the Fourth of July and Labor Day as some examples.

Thanksgiving and Christmas, however, are a different story.

"Most folks congregate at a single point, and of course nowadays everybody is scattered, but during these holidays they usually return to the same home every year," Right said.

At this point, Christmas is too far off to tell whether or not this trend is expected to continue into this year, but Thanksgiving estimates have already begun. Right said a survey would be released next week before Thanksgiving.

The AAA Web site shows this inconsistency in gas prices from past holiday seasons.

In Columbia, the week's area average has stayed at about $1.905, a ten cent decrease from last week's price and a dollar below last month's average as well as last year's average in November. 

During the Thanksgiving season of 2007, the national average for gas prices jumped from $3.01 the first week of November to $3.11 as the holiday approached.  Prices leveled at about $3.09 through the remainder of November.

However, this year the national average has dropped from $2.40 during the first week of November to $2.22 this week.

Right said the most economical way to travel depends primarily upon the number of people and the length of time for which they are traveling.

"If you are traveling with a group, it is much more economical to travel by motor vehicle," he said.

However, there are significant price differences if one compares driving to air travel for several overnight stays, Right said.

Columbia Public Works Department spokeswoman Jill Stedem said that though the airport is new to the process of holiday flight patterns, a newly contracted carrier would provide economical rates for this Thanksgiving season.

"The specials are very competitive when compared to the price of driving to St. Louis or Kansas City, and it pays to check," Stedem said.

The airport had serviced flights to St. Louis and Kansas City through Mesa Airlines, but the carrier dropped its contract last spring.

The airport did not have air service out of Columbia for the summer, but in August contracted Mesaba Airlines, which does business as Northwest Airlines and will soon operate under Delta Airlines because of the buyout between the two carriers. The airline has flights to Memphis International Airport, which flies to cities across the country.

Stedem said the buyout has been very successful.

"It has gone wonderfully," Stedem said. "Mesaba is very successful, their fares are competitive, they have reliable service and the community is really supporting this new service."

Stedem said that the load factor, or the seats sold of those available, has been 76 percent. She said the airport has not seen such statistics since 2003.