Airfare forecast: How to get the best deals in 2015

Travelers walk through Washington Reagan National Airport on Nov. 26, 2014, the busiest travel day of the year. (Photo: Paul J. Richards, AFP/Getty Images)

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Good news, bad news for anyone hopping on a plane in 2015: Airfares will likely not rise significantly in the new year compared to 2014, and a few cities will actually see prices drop. Unfortunately, domestic airline tickets are the highest I've seen in ten years.

It's a perfect storm; perfect for the airlines, that is. Here are the storm's components.

• Competition. Where did all the airlines go? Mergers, mostly. As American puts the icing on its merger with US Airways, loss of competition has become the hallmark of early 21st century air travel. Today four U.S. carriers control about three-quarters of all domestic flights and if you're reading this in the air, chances are you're flying one of them: American, Delta, United or Southwest.