If you haven't booked your holiday trip yet, prepare to pay up

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- If you're taking off for the holidays, chances are you already booked your flight.

"If you want to go away for the Christmas holiday you should be booking in March," said Maureen Ward Rennie with A Premier Travel Agency in Springfield, Pa.

If you haven't booked yet, prepare to pay up.

Flight prices are up nearly $100 a trip.

According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, the average price for a flight out of Philadelphia International Airport was just over $230 in the first quarter of 2021.

However, in the first quarter of this year that cost went up to more than $330.

Ward Rennie says supply and demand issues have pushed those prices up.

"Fewer flights to most destinations and more people traveling. Every flight I have experienced has been completely sold out or almost completely sold out and that's from domestic to international travel," Rennie said.

Staffing shortages at airports across the country have also created more challenges for travelers, between last-minute flight cancelations or delays to longer wait times at check-in.

"So many didn't come back to the industry baggage handlers, travel agents, hospitality, hotel, airlines, pilots," said Ward Rennie.

It's not all bad though. Travel agents say there are still some great deals to top destinations like Jamaica, Mexico and the Dominican Republic - just wait to travel until after the holidays.

If you're trying to find the right deal, Ward Rennie says the Tuesday rule no longer applies.

People used to say book your flights on Tuesdays for the best deal but because everyone is traveling, some airlines are no longer trying to entice consumers by reducing the costs mid-week.