BERGEN, Norway Justin Robertson, who calls himself a passionate environmentalist, blanched when he saw smoked whale meat on sale at the popular Saturday fish market in this pretty port city. The Minneapolis resident blanched again when he saw the prices for everyday items in Norway: $3 for a newspaper, $4 for a cup of coffee, $10 for a beer.

"It's just really expensive," said Robertson, who was traveling around Scandinavia on holiday. "I love Europe, but I'm trying to scrimp on this trip. I'm staying in cheaper hotels, and I'm booking flights on low-fare airlines."

Overseas travel, especially to developed nations, will be costly this summer for Americans, thanks mainly to the weak U.S. dollar, which is trading near record lows vis-a-vis the euro, pound, yen and Scandinavian currencies. In addition, airlines are charging higher air fares to many foreign cities.

Very crowded U.S. airports and airplanes await travelers during the peak summer season, which begins this weekend.

Book in advance

The Air Transport Association estimates a record number of passengers will board U.S. airlines this summer. The Washington airline trade organization predicts that 21.4 million travelers will fly in the 10 days around Memorial Day, up 3.3 percent over the same period last year. For June through August, the association expects to see 209 million passengers, a 3 percent jump over the same months last year.

Travel industry pundits say there are steps you can take to cope with what promises to be a challenging summer.

Book trips as far in advance as possible, take off in early morning if you're flying (to avoid the heat build-up that creates thunderstorms), use the Internet and automated airport check-in to save time, visit less-costly destinations instead of expensive glamour spots French-speaking Quebec City, for example, instead of Paris and combine business trips with leisure travel.

"Get your business travel on the calendar as soon as possible to give you ample opportunity to fit in a vacation day or two on the front or back end, creating a 'breakation,'" advised Chris McGinnis, editor of Expedia Travel Trendwatch.

Such flexibility could be especially useful this summer, when travel industry pros expect big crowds to go with high prices and such worrisome problems as lost luggage and delayed or canceled flights.

Record delays expected

The Federal Aviation Administration reported Wednesday that it expects a record number of flights to be delayed this summer because of crowded airport runways and the likelihood of bad weather.

The agency formulated its gloomy forecast by combining National Weather Service predictions of frequent thunderstorms and hurricanes and extrapolating from data showing that delays of 15 minutes or more affected 142,000 flights at U.S. airports in the first four months of this year. That's up from 126,000 delayed flights in the same period last year.

"Passengers can help by planning ahead, using online check-in before they get to the airport and arriving at the airport early," said Air Transport Association President and Chief Executive Officer James May.

In addition to crowds and delays, air travelers will encounter fare increases on routes to popular destinations, though there are some notable exceptions.

"While travelers will face peak season pricing, year-over-year increases are not expected to be as dramatic as in 2006, when air fares alone rose about 10 percent," McGinnis said.

However, expect fares to drop for service between San Francisco International Airport and New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. That route has become fiercely competitive, with JetBlue Airways recently joining United Airlines and American Airlines on the route, and Virgin America poised to join them by midsummer.

Internationally, fares between the United States and Paris, Amsterdam and Athens are up on average from 5 to 10 percent, thanks to high consumer demand, McGinnis said. But fares to London have dropped 11 percent on average from last year, as airlines trim fares to help offset the weak dollar for American travelers.

Of course, prices remain high for money-challenged Yanks once they set foot in Europe as Robert Colon of Houston ruefully noted recently in Copenhagen airport, where he sipped a Carlsberg beer. "This set me back 10 bucks," said the computer consultant, eying a glass of the golden Danish lager. "I'm here for business, and was in town only three days, and I'm glad. This place is expensive.

"I'm glad I didn't need to move around much," he said. "If I did, I'd be looking at the low-fare carriers, like Ryanair and easyJet, to at least save on air. My hotel in Copenhagen cost $325 a night, but it was in the central business district, and I had to be there."

United to cut flights

Back home, American fliers are already dealing with packed airplanes. In April, for example, United Airlines had a record 84.1 percent of seats filled. Other carriers are reporting similarly high numbers.

Even though its planes are full, United, the dominant carrier at SFO, said last week it plans to reduce the number of domestic flights 2 percent this summer so it can shift aircraft to more lucrative international routes.

The Chicago carrier, which emerged from Chapter 11 about 16 months ago, plans to drop one daily flight to Washington Dulles airport in June and one daily Boston departure from SFO this summer, according to United spokeswoman Robin Urbanski. United plans to restore daily service between SFO and the commercial nerve center of Taipei, Taiwan, on June 7, rolling out a new Boeing 777 on the route, said airline spokeswoman Megan McCarthy.

Other airlines are pursuing other summer strategies. Delta Air Lines plans to add four daily departures from Mineta San Jose International Airport to Los Angeles International Airport starting Friday.