Jessica Shelton and her family of four usually take trips at least three times a year – during summer, winter and spring breaks.
The family used to drive places like Florida, Tennessee and Illinois, but with a budget spread thin by hospital bills for Shelton’s cancer and lupus treatments, weekly grocery bills and daily travel for school and work, she knew it would become more challenging.
But recently Shelton said with rising gas prices those road trips have become pretty much impossible for her family to afford anymore.
“We were going to … Florida because we were doing a big family vacation,” Shelton told The Dispatch. “But now that has been pushed to the side a little bit because everybody’s trying to figure out finances right now.”
Following a surprise missile strike by the United States and Israel on Iran on Feb. 28, international oil trade disruptions have led to ripple effects on gas prices. Local travel agents have noted cancellations and a decrease in summer travel plans as a result of the ongoing conflict.
On Friday, the average price for regular unleaded gas in the Golden Triangle was $3.41 a gallon, a 92-cent increase from a month ago, according to data with AAA. The average price across the country was $3.91 a gallon, up 98 cents from mid-February.
Shelton said the price hike has taken what was roughly a $30 fill up for her vehicle closer to $50. At her usual four fill-ups a month, her budget is taking an extra $80 hit over that time frame.
The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, sat at $107.07 Friday, a nearly $35 increase from Feb. 27.
Matt Dowell, Golden Triangle Regional Airport executive director, said that while the airport has not noticed a significant increase in its ticket prices, that could change if oil prices remain stagnant or keep rising.
“Obviously … prices of jet fuel is a large expense on the operating side for the airlines, and so as those operating costs increase … that means eventually ticket prices will increase as well,” Dowell said. “… There’s a lot of unknowns (for) exactly where it’s going to end up and how much it’s going to really affect (airlines) operating costs.”
Dowell said current projections have ticket prices potentially rising by as much as $100 by the summer.
“It really just depends on where that final kind of average settles out,” Dowell said. “… It’s kind of up in the air right now.”
Hitting the brakes
Melissa Bridges, owner of Making Destinations Affordable travel agency, said she’s heard from two clients who have canceled summer travel plans.
While Bridges does not expect any more cancellations since most trips are planned far enough in advance to set costs in advance, she said she does expect less travel to happen this summer overall because of higher costs.
“It’s not just affecting travel,” Bridges said. “It’s affecting people’s day-to-day. (Their) getting to and from work … those things are also important.”
Marion Kohut, owner of Robert’s Travel Agency Inc., said business for summer travel has dropped about 35% from the same time in 2025.
Kohut said these rising costs tend to have more of an impact on younger people who have less money to spend on travel than retirees.
“For your middle-class traveler, the people that have money, they’ll just keep on paying those ticket prices,” Kohut said. “(Eventually these prices) will hurt the airlines (and) their capacity. … It’ll hurt the whole economy if gas prices go up, because everything goes up.”
Kohut said international conflicts also tend to cause hesitation for local travelers looking to leave the country.
“A lot of it has to do with the breaking news (situations) and (those do) scare people,” Kohut said.
While a longer road trip may be out of the question for this year, Shelton said she is planning to find more local events to take her family to this year.
“I have told (my kids), this year we won’t be able to do as much,” Shelton said. “We’re going to find things to do around the city (and) at home. I will make something happen at home where they can have fun and can go back to school and talk about the things that they (did).”
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You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 24 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
