[clock ticking rapidly]
[music playing]
CARL AZUZ: From the flight deck, this
is your captain, Carl Azuz.
We expect this quick 10-minute hop to be awesome,
just like the Friday you're traveling on.
Thank you for flying with CNN.
If you're planning to board a real jet this spring
break or summer, the "plane" truth is it's
going to be more expensive.
Prices are climbing like the jets themselves.
There are several reasons for this.
One is demand.
People want to travel the head of Delta Airlines
says he's never seen demand ramp up so quickly as it has
after the Omicron wave of COVID, which
hit the US late last year.
Planes are filling up, with some flights reportedly
carrying as many passengers as they did
in 2019 before the pandemic.
But most airlines still aren't operating as many flights
as they were then.
They're still having trouble finding enough workers,
and there have been some delays in getting
new planes delivered.
Also, while more Americans are traveling
within the United States for fun,
they're not traveling as much for business.
Many people are still working from home, as they started
doing in 2020, so that's reduced a significant number
of airline bookings.
The head of American Airlines suggests
COVID rules continue to affect international leisure travel.
But he says a huge number of people still want to do it,
and that if countries remove their restrictions,
international bookings could grow back to their 2019 levels
by the end of this year.
A big reason why all bookings are getting more expensive,
though, is the cost of jet fuel.
Mirroring the cost of gas, it's taken off over the past year.
What's interesting here is that crude oil prices, which factor
heavily into the cost of gasoline and jet fuel,
they've dropped a little since last week
when they hit their highest prices in 13 years.
But fuel costs didn't reflect that right away.
Experts say gas prices rise like rockets
but fall like feathers, meaning they're quick to increase when
oil prices do, but they take a while to settle back
down after oil prices drop.
For airlines, 20% to 25% of their operating expenses
come from fuel costs alone.
It's their largest expense after paying their workers.
So when jet fuel costs go up--
PETE MUNTEAN: Spring break starts
at the airport, where people are flying
more than ever since the start of the pandemic.
And they are already paying more.
Are these friends of yours? DELEAH SHARP: Yeah.
This is my friend. - Hi.
PETE MUNTEAN: Deleah Sharp of Michigan
was about to treat herself for her birthday next month.
DELEAH SHARP: And I was deciding to go to Aruba.
And in two days, it went up $300.
PETE MUNTEAN: That's a lot.
DELEAH SHARP: And I missed the 300 less,
so I decided not to go.
PETE MUNTEAN: Jet fuel has spiked to its highest
level in more than two years.
A CNN analysis of federal data found filling up a Boeing 737
has shot up $6,800 since the invasion of Ukraine
and $13,000 in the last year.
Delta, United, and JetBlue all say they will
pass the cost on to consumers.
DARIUS DOLL: If it became unreasonable,
I think people would forgo traveling.
It would just depend on how much it would be
and how bad you want to go somewhere.
PETE MUNTEAN: To conserve costs, airlines
like Alaska and Southwest say they will slash
some flights from schedules.
But airline experts say, do not be shocked if carriers get even
more creative, charging more for things like Wi-Fi,
food, or seat selections.
HENRY HARTEVELDT: If you're paying 75% more than you were
a year ago to gas up your car, I think
you can relate to the plight airlines are facing when they
have to pump tens of thousands of gallons of fuel
into every one of their planes to transport us.
PETE MUNTEAN: Experts think carriers
could get away with charging more since
so many people want to fly.
American Airlines says demand for travel
is at an all-time high.
Now airlines will have to balance ticket prices
or push more people toward staycations.
BILL EISELE: I think this summer,
we could actually see a lot of people staying closer to home
if these gas prices continue to increase.
HENRY HARTEVELDT: I think people will travel.
But will they travel by air?
It all depends on how much airfares go up.
PETE MUNTEAN: Pete Muntean, CNN, Washington.
CARL AZUZ: 10-second trivia.
Which of these US government laws
was passed in 1913, the Federal Reserve
Act, the Hatch Act, the Social Security
Act, or the Equal Pay Act?
[beeping]
The Federal Reserve Act is the oldest of these laws.
It established the Federal Reserve System.
Airline tickets are part of a vast assortment of goods
and services that have gotten significantly more expensive
over the past year.
Inflation, that rise in prices, is
at its highest rate since 1982.
Many of the things we bought last month were almost 8%
more expensive, on average, than they were in February 2021.
That's according to the US Labor Department.
The Federal Reserve is America's central bank.
It has some actions it can take to try to lower inflation,
and one of those involves raising interest rates.
If those go up, people and businesses have to pay back
more on the money they borrow.
But that can also reduce demand for large purchases,
like houses.
And if demand decreases, prices and inflation can sink back
down to more reasonable levels.
For the first time since 2018, the Fed
has raised interest rates.
And its chairman said it had to act
because US economic conditions weren't
getting better on their own.
CHRISTINE ROMANS: The era of cheap money
is over as the Federal Reserve starts raising interest
rates to fight inflation.
You might be wondering what those higher
rates mean for you.
In short, higher borrowing costs.
Expect higher rates on car loans, credit cards,
student debt, and mortgages.
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has
already climbed to almost 4%.
Now that's still historically cheap,
but it's a sharp jump from recent lows.
Higher rates will hit the stock market, too.
0% interest rates have forced investors into riskier assets,
like stocks.
Now the stock market will face more
competition from more boring investments,
like government bonds.
And more expensive business loans
can cause companies to pause on investments and hiring.
So will rate hikes be good for savers then?
Not so fast.
Money stashed in savings and CDs has earned almost nothing
for the past couple of years.
Savers will, in theory, start to earn interest again.
But in practice, it could take a while to play out.
Those interest rates will still be
very low, well below inflation.
CARL AZUZ: There's all kinds of work
going on in the French capital.
Yesterday, we told you about reconstruction
of the Notre Dame Cathedral.
Today, we're explaining how the Eiffel Tower just got taller.
Until this week, the Parisian landmark measured around 1,063
feet from the base to the tippy Top
now it stands at 1,083 feet, and a new antenna
is the reason why.
The tower was originally built for a World's Fair in 1889.
It's a wrought iron feat of engineering
that also commemorated the 100-year anniversary
of the French Revolution.
And while it got plenty of criticism
at first, with a number of artists and writers
calling it an eyesore, la tour Eiffel
withstood that to become one of the most
famous landmarks on the planet.
Over the past century, the tower has
been used for radio broadcasts and science experiments.
The digital audio antenna that was installed on Tuesday
is one of several that have been attached
to the top of the tower, so it's not the first one that
has changed Eiffel's height.
[music playing]
Could your clothes be listening?
Researchers at MIT say they've devised a fabric
that can act as a microphone.
It's a flexible fiber that can be woven into clothing.
They say it can sense sounds in the direction they're
coming from and then convert those vibrations
into electrical signals.
Besides detecting when you're about to burp,
professors say this could be used
to monitor a baby's heartbeat or let you talk on the phone
through your shirt.
Lend me your ears.
The thought of sounds more than skin deep
could make some people "tym-panic,"
going insane in the membrane.
But could it give you good vibes?
In a tent, it could help you keep an ear to the ground.
In a flight suit, it could help pilots listen up.
And in fishing gear, it could help keep people
hooked on "micro-phonics."
So I guess it all comes down to whatever you think sounds good.
I'm Carl Azuz, and I "ear" that South High School is watching
today from Denver, Colorado.
Have a great weekend, y'all.
[music playing]