KEY WEST – Joe Whitson is driving to Key West from Cocoa Beach in a 4-door pickup truck. When he gases up — he really feels it.
“At $5 a gallon in this truck, it kind of hurts,” he said. Pointing to the pump he noted, “That was half a tank, $64 dollars for half a tank.”
Gas prices are climbing all over the place. The average for gas in Miami is $4.91 a gallon. In Fort Lauderdale, drivers are paying two cents more.
In West Palm, prices are already over $5 a gallon.
“Overall, it costs about $72 to fill an average size 15-gallon tank of gas, which is $28 more than drivers were spending at this time last year,” said Mark Jenkins from AAA.
He said those high prices have some families thinking twice about hitting the road this summer. They surveyed drivers when gas hit $4.50 last month.
“About 18% of them would start looking at canceling travel plans,” he said. “That number jumps up to 28% when prices reach $5 a gallon.”
According to AAA, a family trip from Miami to Orlando in a midsized SUV will now cost more than $45 in gas alone – that’s up from $27.50 a year ago and almost $18 more each way.
If you plan to travel by air, you’re noticing a spike too.
“Everything’s been going up due to the gas prices, everything,” said one man.
“The ticket prices are insane,” another woman told us.
According to AAA, the average lowest airfare right now is $196 – that’s up 14.5% from last year.
“It’s not just us paying gasoline prices at the pump, jet fuel prices have also increased,” explained Zach Griff, senior reporter with The Points Guy.
He tells us soaring gas prices combined with huge demand is raising fares. He says flyers could see some relieve after summer.
“Likely, this September, October, November, when leisure travel pulls back and there aren’t as many families and friends traveling, the airlines won’t be able to increase the fare, the demands won’t be there,” he said.
To calculate the price of your next road trip, AAA has a calculator.
