Your ‘flexible hot girl summer’ is going to cost you

Megan Thee Stallion is more than a rapper, Broadway star and multi-brand entrepreneur: she’s a one-woman economic prognosticator. Since 2019, people have been welcoming the warmer months as “hot girl summer,” a phrase that went viral before Megan even released the track with the iconic moniker. The summer anthem sparked an association with a carefree mindset, and an ability to live without a worry to what others might think. People on social media would document their summer travels with the caption “hot girl summer,” as one would have said they were “summering” in a bygone age. Seven years, a pandemic and a long-running cost-of-living crisis later, people are wondering if “hot girl summer” is bygone itself as the jet fuel crisis, stemming from the simmering conflict in Iran, means that your super sporadic, last-minute friends are going to feel it the most. “It’s still on. Just keep it flexible,” Hayley Berg, lead economist at Hopper Technology Solutions (HTS), told Fortune. “Flexible hot girl summer.” Berg, who has been following flight ticket prices for HTS, a company that offers weary travelers with the peace-of-mind in hassle-free bookings and refunds, said she’s seen fares skyrocket thanks to the Iran war disrupting the global jet supply, but demand is still the same as last year. In fact, domestic airfares for Memorial Day weekend were up more than 50% compared to this time last year, according to data from HTS. This year’s jump is being driven by a sustained disruption to global jet fuel supply tied to the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the ongoing conflict in Iran. “Prices always spike at the last minute for a weekend away,” Berg said. “The difference is prices are over $100 more expensive now than they were at the last minute last year.” A sustained shock Jet fuel typically accounts for 15% to 30% of an airline’s opera