CPI — Airline Fares

## What this measures

The price of airline tickets. The Bureau of Labor Statistics price index for this item for all urban consumers, U.S. city average, seasonally adjusted, with 1982-84 = 100.

## Why it matters

Fares move with jet fuel, travel demand and airline capacity. They swing far more than most prices.

## How to read it

The level of an index means little on its own. Read the change from a year earlier, and compare it with overall CPI (fred_cpi) to see whether this item is running hotter or cooler than prices in general.

## What it does not say

It measures prices, not spending: if people buy less of something because it got dearer, this index does not show that. The BLS adjusts for quality changes, so it is not the same as the sticker price.

## Source

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index, series CUSR0000SETG01. Palanor pulls it from the FRED API (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis) nightly. Bureau of Labor Statistics data are in the public domain.