This is In Conversation from Apple News.

I'm Sam Sanders in for Shumita Basu.

Today, what to know about air travel this summer.

The summer travel season is upon us, and with every hard-won vacation comes the usual challenges.

Crowded airports, flight delays, unpredictable prices, and maybe some not-so-considerate fellow passengers.

But this season has some notable forces making it especially

complicated this year and more expensive. The war in Iran has driven up oil and jet fuel prices

across the globe. The recent collapse of Spirit Airlines, one of the biggest budget carriers in the

country, could drive up ticket prices at other airlines.

Add to that the possibility of a Super El Nino and international health scares in the headlines.

It has so many of us wondering how to navigate all of this.

Being prepared to roll with the punches and building some flexibility into your summer travel can go a long way.

At Zach Wichter, he's a consumer travel reporter at USA Today,

and I wanted to talk to him about how these different forces could impact summer travel.

And what you should know is you make your plans.

We began with what's on many people's minds right now.

The cost of fuel.

Fuel is a major input in terms of expenses for airlines.

And so when fuel prices go up, we typically see the costs associated with air travel also go up.

Now, airlines have been trying really hard to back away from raising their ticket prices as a result of higher fuel prices. I don't believe that. I know. But you have

seen other fees go up, right? So pretty much all of the airlines in the last month or two announced

an increase in checked bag fees. You saw Delta Airlines scale back on some of its

...