Gas prices are continuing to rise

Added: 2026-05-11

[00:00:00]Your time now is 647. It's hard to believe, even harder to deal with. This morning, the price of gasoline continues to soar higher.

[00:00:07]>> Yeah, and this morning, AAA is reporting the average price per gallon nationwide right now stands at $4.52 a gallon. Bill Spencer has been tracking prices since the war in Iran began.

[00:00:17]Joining us now live to break down exactly what's happening and how we can lower do something to help us because we need help.

[00:00:24]>> Yeah, good morning, Danny, and good morning, Sophia. Yes. Uh, everyone, it is hard to believe, but the price of gasoline, get this, has now skyrocketed more than 50% since the war began February 28th, and that's just two and a half months ago. Joining me now live with some expert insight on what is ahead for all of all of us price-wise is Doug Shupe. He's with AAA Texas. Good morning, Doug. First of all, how you doing?

[00:00:49]>> Good morning, Bill. Thanks for having me today.

[00:00:51]>> Hey, let me ask you. This morning, the Trump administration says it is now open to the idea of suspending the national gasoline tax, which would knock off 18 cents a gallon for all of us. All politics aside from this, what do you think of that idea? Several states are already killing off their state gas tax.

[00:01:10]>> Well, you know, certainly, you know, on its cover, on its surface, it sounds like a a good idea to bring some relief to drivers. You know, we have heard reports of that right now. Uh but at this time we really don't know exactly how much of an impact that will have and of course how long that could last. So we're going to continue to monitor this.

[00:01:30]Um obviously this is still a very fluid situation and uh we're really unable to predict what the pump prices are going to be days or even weeks from now. We're just going to have to watch it uh day by day. Hey, and I know that every year you put out a report about Memorial Day traffic and Memorial Day travel. And of course, that's coming up now for so many families across our area. Doug, can you tell me what you found, what your new report shows? Yeah, our 2026 Memorial Day uh travel forecast is out this morning and what we are seeing is uh we are projecting 3.7 million Texans will be traveling 50 miles or more away from home from Thursday, May 21st through Monday, uh May 25th. Now, that's just a very slight increase from the number of travelers last Memorial Day. just about 2 point uh 2% higher than last year.

[00:02:27]Now, the vast majority of those who plan a Memorial Day trip this year will be going by automobile. About 3.1 million Texans will be taking road trips, and that is just slightly lower than last year, uh.1% lower than what we saw last Memorial Day. About 310,000 will fly somewhere and about 178,000 will take another mode of transportation like a train, a bus or even a cruise for this Memorial Day.

[00:02:55]>> Beautiful. And what do you think? Do you think people will be cancelling their trips especially air travelers uh because the price of airfare is going up right now? Uh fuel prices, jet fuel prices have gone through the roof at this point. What do you expect as far as air travel? Do you think people will be cancelling some of these trips that they've made? What does your research show you from the past?

[00:03:18]>> Sure.

[00:03:18]>> You know, according to our survey and AAA booking data, we found that domestic airfare 3 months ago was actually uh about 6% lower than last Memorial Day.

[00:03:31]However, if you waited to book that Memorial Day uh airfare, uh you haven't booked it yet, you're not going to find any lastm minute savings or last minute deals because the airfare has gone up uh since 3 months ago. So, uh you know, it's going to be tough for those who are looking for airfare and trying to find a deal right now because of the higher uh prices with the airlines. Now, when it comes to road travel, you know, that's a great question. Will people cancel their trips? Historically, what we've found is even when gas prices are higher heading into a big holiday weekend, people have already made those plans, you know, months in advance. So, they won't cancel those trips. There will be some who will stay home, but the vast majority will still go and take their road trips for Memorial Day, but they'll adjust their plans a little bit. Maybe they don't drive as far, or they'll stay with friends and family instead of spending money at hotels, or they'll pack food for the road trip instead of spending money at restaurants. But, you know, with the kids out of school, the unofficial start of summer, there's always a lot of excitement around this weekend. And so, we still anticipating a lot of people to be traveling in big numbers.

[00:04:40]>> Beautiful. Doug, thank you. Thank you so much for joining us this morning. Thank you for your expertise. We really appreciate it. Yeah. Know, as we all struggle to cope with these rising gasoline prices, everybody, you can count on us at KPRC2 to continue searching for every possible way to lower the cost you are paying for gasoline right now. That's my promise to you. Danny and Sophia, back to you.