The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday edition that U.S. military operations in Venezuela, a fuel crisis in Cuba and flare-ups of violence in Mexico were already putting pressure on airfares before the Middle East war sent jet fuel prices soaring. The Globe's Mariya Postelnyak and Jason Kirby write that global carriers jumped to implement surcharges as international airfares spiked more than 5 per cent year-over-year in mid-April, and were up as much as 15 per cent by early May. Travel hot spots such as Lisbon and London saw some of the biggest growth, with ticket prices to those destinations rising as much as 16 and 18 per cent, respectively. Airfare for domestic flights has grown even more. Over March break, Canadians looked to support the local economy while contending with an ever-shrinking pool of global travel destinations untouched by crises. Average domestic airfares were up 36 per cent in mid-March and 22 per cent in mid-April, Kayak data show, with cities such as Vancouver seeing spikes as high as 55 per cent.