Suggested data points for managed travel program metrics

• In the survey year, the average managed air ticket edged up 1.4% to 3.7% (the median was about flat) while the consumer price index for airline fares fell 3.2%.
• Since the survey, the median ticket is up 9% to 10%.
• Car daily rental rates were up slightly in the survey year (average +2.8% to +5.3%, but +1.1% to +1.7% on U.S.-only and capped tests; median +0.4%) and rose 2.5% to 3.7% since the survey.
• One-way ticketing has grown: round-trip tickets fell from about 62% to 59% of air tickets since the survey, which can lower the average ticket on its own.

Survey year: April to August 2025 against April to August 2024. Managed air: ticket price paid, including taxes, on agency-booked tickets; exchanges excluded. Consumer airline fares: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics consumer price index, all travelers.

• About a quarter of air tickets (25%) cross a border.
• 21% to 27% are international, and 2% to 4% are between the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

Share of original air tickets by route type, January to August 2026. Without the largest source, international is 27% and U.S., Canada and Mexico 2%.

• At least 3.4% of domestic round-trip air tickets return the same day.
• The share did not change in the survey year.
• Same-day trips booked as two one-way tickets are not counted, so this is a floor.

Domestic round-trip tickets whose return date is the departure date. A lower bound: same-day trips on two one-way tickets are not counted. Levels differ by window because the months differ.

• Stays of seven nights or more are 4% of hotel stays but 24% of room nights.
• The median stay is two nights, unchanged over the survey year and since.

Agency-booked hotel stays, January to August 2026. A stay is one hotel booking; room nights are nights times rooms.

• Three in four domestic flight segments (75.6%) are flown nonstop.
• That is close to the U.S. Department of Transportation's 10% airline ticket sample (75.1%).
• The typical program flies 78% of its segments nonstop (middle half 63% to 91%).

A segment is one direction of a ticket; nonstop means flown on a single flight. Typical program: median across client accounts, February to August 2026, all routes. DOT: Airline Origin and Destination Survey, U.S. domestic, second quarter of 2025.

• For every 100 air tickets, about 18 are later exchanged and 4 refunded.
• In the survey year, exchanges rose by 0.7 to 1.6 per 100 tickets and refunds by 0.3 to 0.6.
• Refunds include credits issued on exchanged tickets.

Reissued and refunded ticket records per 100 original invoiced air tickets, all records. Across our robustness tests the rise is 0.7 to 1.6 exchanges and 0.3 to 0.6 refunds per 100. January to August 2026 levels: 17.6 and 3.9.

• Price paid or booked, median and middle half, January to August 2026: prices paid, not negotiated contract terms.
• Air, per flight segment: domestic economy $299 ($222 to $396); international economy, 3,000 miles or more, $755 ($538 to $1,095).
• Hotel per night: luxury $345 ($235 to $529); upper upscale $211 ($163 to $291); upscale $160 ($132 to $203); upper midscale $139 ($119 to $169); midscale $128 ($105 to $176).
• U.S. car rental per day: intermediate $43 ($37 to $54); standard $50 ($40 to $66); premium $80 ($60 to $106).

Prices paid, not negotiated contract terms. Hotel: booked nightly rate, all countries. Air prices are the ticket price, including taxes, spread evenly across its flight segments; car bands are U.S. only.

• About four in five air tickets (79% to 86%) are bought at the lowest fare offered.
• Fares forgone come to 4% to 6% of air spend.

Lowest fare as recorded by the booking source; at the lowest fare means paid within $1 of it. Fares forgone: paid minus lowest, as a share of fare paid. January to August 2026.

• Where agencies code the reason, 17% of fare decisions decline the lowest fare.
• The typical decline costs about $90 to $120 (average $249).
• Schedule or time preference is the most common named reason, a quarter to a third of declines; connections are about a tenth.

Air tickets with a coded lowest-fare decision, at sources that code reasons, January to August 2026. Other reasons, none large enough on its own to publish: carrier or loyalty preference, refundability, approval and other.

• 59% of air tickets are bought at least 14 days ahead (domestic 55%, international 70%).
• The typical program: 65% (middle half 47% to 83%).
• In the survey year the 14-day share rose by 1 to 3 points; since then it is unchanged.

Original air tickets, days from booking to departure, January to August 2026; exchanges excluded. Typical program: median across client accounts, February to August 2026.

• In 40 major federal-rate cities, 54% to 63% of agency-booked stays are priced above the federal lodging rate.
• The median stay is 1.15 times the federal rate.
• The federal rate is a common reference, not any company's limit.

Booked nightly rate against the U.S. General Services Administration lodging rate for the city and month, in 40 major federal-rate cities, January to August 2026.

• About half of agency-booked air (42% to 52%) is booked online.
• Online bookings carry only about a third of air spend (29% to 39%).

Air booking records with a booking method, January to August 2026. Dot: all records. Line: range across our robustness tests.

• 10.2% of flight segments are in business or first.
• That is 6.7% of domestic and 22.7% of international segments.
• Premium economy is a further 3% to 3.5% of all segments (3.0% domestic, 5.6% international).

Directional flight segments by cabin flown, January to August 2026. Route type is that of the segment itself.

• Of stays at hotels with a known tier, 63% are upscale or above; the typical program 67% (middle half 48% to 82%).
• Luxury 4.5%, upper upscale 26.6%, upscale 31.6%, upper midscale 28.8%, midscale 7.7%, economy 0.9%.
• The mix is unchanged since the survey.

Agency-booked stays at hotels with a known chain scale (about 87% of stays), January to August 2026. Independent hotels are not tiered.

• 1.2% of domestic and 7.1% of international flights depart between 9pm and 2am and arrive the next morning.
• Across all flights the share is 2.2%.

Flights (legs) by local clock time, January to August 2026. Records without real clock times are left out.

• On U.S. Department of Transportation data, 74.0% of scheduled flights arrived on time from April to August 2025 (73.7% a year earlier).
• From January to July 2026, on-time arrivals slipped to 75.0% from 75.5%.
• Cancellations rose to 2.2% from 1.6% over the same months.

Share of scheduled U.S. domestic flights by reporting carriers; on time means arriving less than 15 minutes late, with cancelled and diverted flights counted as not on time. All travelers, not only managed travel.

• 46% of agency-booked hotel stays are booked within seven days of check-in.
• The typical program: 39% (middle half 27% to 53%).
• Short-notice booking did not rise.

Agency-booked stays with a valid booking date, January to August 2026. Booking date as recorded by the agency.