Buy now or wait out the conflict?
Travelers in Terminal 1 at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, March 1, 2026.
Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images
As airfare continues to climb amid the Iran war, prospective travelers may be wondering: Should I buy my plane ticket now or wait to see if things improve?
Travel experts say the best bet is generally to buy sooner rather than later.
“Regardless of whether you’re looking to travel in two weeks, two months or even looking ahead to fall travel, waiting to buy airfare … in hopes the conflict will end soon is honestly riskier than some of the fashion choices we made as teens: Our future self is not going to be happy about it,” said Katy Nastro, a travel expert at Going, a travel deal website.
In short: “If it fits in your budget now, don’t put it off,” Nastro said.
Airfare has risen, especially for international routes
A technician prepares to refuel a Delta Airlines aircraft at the Austin-Bergrstrom International Airport on April 10, 2026 in Austin, Texas.
Brandon Bell | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Airline ticket prices generally creep upward as the high-demand summer travel season approaches.
But prices have climbed more sharply than usual this year amid an oil supply shock triggered by the ongoing Middle East conflict, which started Feb. 28 when the U.S. and Israel launched attacks on Iran.
The average round-trip domestic flight cost $361 as of April 20, according to weekly data from Kayak, a travel search engine. That price is up about 8% from $335 on Feb. 23, before the Iran war started. It’s also up 19% from $304 a year ago, in late April 2025.
International fares have climbed more in recent months: The average round-trip flight hit $1,097 on April 20, a 42% increase from $774 on Feb. 23 and a 14% rise from a year earlier, according to Kayak.
The impact of jet fuel and the Iran war
A jet-fuel truck on the tarmac at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, US, on Wednesday, April 22, 2026.
Eva Marie Uzcategui | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Airlines are raising summer prices largely because of the cost of jet fuel, according to Hayley Berg, lead economist at Hopper, a travel booking app.
Jet fuel is one of airlines’ largest operating costs, typically accounting for 20% to 30% of their total expenses — making jet fuel a “significant driver” of airfare, Berg wrote in an e-mail.
Iran and the U.S. have blockaded the Strait of Hormuz — a maritime shipping route through which passes roughly 20% of the world’s oil supply — in competing attempts to inflict economic pain on the other, pushing up global oil prices.
The price of U.S. jet fuel, which is refined from crude oil, has increased about 82% since the Iran war began, to $4.56 per gallon as of Wednesday from $2.50 on Feb. 27, according to an Argus Media jet fuel price index.
Airlines must either absorb those extra costs or pass them on via pricing to recoup “materially higher”…
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