Cruise ship strands 200+ passengers over skyrocketing fuel costs

Plan to book a holiday flight? You better hurry. Surging jet fuel costs are sending holiday airfare soaring. Experts say there are some ways to save money. Fox Business correspondent Grady Trimble has more. If you plan on traveling over the holidays, you may want to book your trip soon. Airfare is at its highest level in more than a decade. According to booking app Hopper, the average domestic round trip for Thanksgiving is up about 39 percent from last year. Christmas tickets are even more expensive at $452 for a domestic trip on average, up about 22% from last year. And for some passengers, the higher costs are already impacting their plans. We're going to drive back up here from Raleigh, so not too long a drive, but we don't want to spend the money on two flights. Government data shows airfare has been on the rise for 10 straight months as the war in Iran causes jet fuel prices to climb. To deal with the rising operating costs, airlines are also cutting flights and tacking on fees. We've seen jet fuel jump by 50, 75, 80% year over year. So eventually the airlines are gonna pass it along to the consumers. That's what you're seeing now, but not only in higher ticket prices for airfare, but also in higher baggage fees. But carriers are also adding more capacity on some routes this holiday season, a sign that demand is still strong. And if you're looking to book right now, experts say the key is to keep your options open. Be flexible with your travel dates. If you can travel on Thanksgiving Day or Christmas Day, or you add plus or minus a day to your request, you are likely going to save money. Airlines say they expect fares to remain high into the new year, even if fuel costs start to drop. In Chicago, Grady Trimble, Fox Business. An American cruise ship just suspended a three-year around-the-world cruise because of high fuel costs. The Florida-based Odyssey tried to slow its journey and spend more time in certain ports, but was unable to afford the fuel. Trip is billed as long-term living at sea, like a permanent home with global travel, but it was forced to dock in a Cambodian port, stranding more than 200 passengers and a crew nearly that size. The company's trying to help everyone find temporary arrangements, but there's no date on when it might be able to continue that voyage. This is wild. I mean, people were expected to live on this for years. Yeah, let's do like a year at sea or something like that. I think this was three years. Or three years at sea. Yeah, isn't that fascinating? You pay the money and then you think that you're gonna take this three and you had your plans for a whole three years. And you settle in even though they've got small living quarters, but you kind of settle in, you move in and they had eight hours to pack, I believe, and that was crazy.