Summer travel costs rise

A summer trip that looked affordable in January can now cost hundreds more before you even buy a sandwich at the airport. Airlines are adding fuel surcharges, cities are adding entry fees, and hotels in popular destinations are collecting new local levies on top of the room rate. (blog.wego.com) The biggest new hit is fuel. Wego says jet fuel in the United States jumped from $2.50 a gallon on February 27 to $4.88 by early April, and Asian jet fuel rose from about $88 a barrel to more than $200 in the same stretch, pushing carriers to pass the increase straight to passengers. (blog.wego.com) Some of those surcharges are no longer small print. Wego says Cathay Pacific lifted long-haul fuel surcharges to about United States dollars 200 each way from April 1, IndiGo now adds as much as 10,000 Indian rupees on long-haul tickets from India to Europe, and Air France-KLM added 50 euros to long-haul round trips. (blog.wego.com) Then come the destination fees, which work like a cover charge for places that are already full. Wego says Japan’s departure tax is now 3,000 yen, Thailand plans a 300-baht entry fee, Bali charges 150,000 Indonesian rupiah, and the United States Electronic System for Travel Authorization fee has nearly doubled. (blog.wego.com) Europe is adding costs in a more fragmented way, city by city. Venice’s official access-fee system runs on 60 days between April 3 and July 26, 2026, applies to day-trippers entering the historic center between 8:30 in the morning and 4:00 in the afternoon, and requires payment or an exemption record through the city portal. (visitvenezia.eu) (cda.ve.it) That means the summer price jump is not one big fare increase but a stack of smaller charges. A traveler can now pay more for the flight, more to enter the destination, and more at check-in when the hotel adds a local accommodation tax that did not show up in the headline room price. (blog.wego.com) Now add disruption. Italy’s air traffic control staff at ENAV and Techno Sky are set to strike on Friday, April 10, 2026, from 13:00 to 17:00 Central European Time, and Wego says airports in Rome, Milan, Naples, Venice, Bari, Catania, and Bergamo are all within scope. (blog.wego.com) Italy’s Civil Aviation Authority says there are protected flight windows from 07:00 to 10:00 and from 18:00 to 21:00 local time during air transport strikes. Wego adds that even those safer slots can still be hit later if the aircraft or crew was supposed to arrive on an earlier disrupted leg. (enac.gov.it) (blog.wego.com) The timing is awkward because a four-hour air traffic control stoppage behaves like a jammed highway tunnel: planes cannot depart, arriving aircraft get sequenced more slowly, and the backlog keeps moving long after the strike ends. Wego says knock-on delays could last into Friday evening as airlines reposition aircraft and crews. (blog.wego.com) If a flight is cancelled or badly delayed in the European Union, passengers still keep rights to care, written notice, rerouting, or a refund under European Union air passenger rules. But compensation is a separate question, and air traffic control strikes are often treated as extraordinary circumstances even when meals, hotel help, and rebooking duties still apply. (europa.eu) (www.eccnederland.nl) So the new summer travel math is simple and harsher than last year’s. Budget for a higher total trip cost than the airfare suggests, and if you are touching Italy on Friday, April 10, aim for flights in the protected windows or be ready for a reroute before the first delay turns into a missed connection. (blog.wego.com 1) (blog.wego.com 2)