Airfares cool as peak summer travel season fades. Now what?

Passengers are seen at the Delta Air Lines check-in counters at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport ahead of the Fourth of July holiday in Atlanta, Georgia, July 1, 2022.

Elijah Nouvelage | Reuters

Flights, believe it or not, are getting cheaper.

Airfares fell a seasonally-adjusted 1.8% from May to June, according to the latest U.S. inflation data, published last week. Fares were one of the few categories to decline at a time when consumer prices rose at the fastest clip in more than four decades.

The surge in spring and summer travel — even at sky-high prices — has been a