Here is an example.
ffcf09aa48a4ea7a2d7650d012316fd84cb18eef3491502c3b209249320185a5
They were paying almost $15k, so no wonder the average fee skyrocketed, but that doesn't mean any of us have to pay that. In the last few months I've been constantly paying below $5 for my transactions and they were always going through. Sometimes it took 30 minutes, sometimes 2 hours, but it was always done pretty fast, especially when compared with banks that don't send transactions on Sundays at all and it often takes them 2 or 3 hours to process a transaction on working days.
Don't pay the average, check what will get you processed within 5 or 6 blocks and pay that, unless the transaction is so important it doesn't matter if you pay $20 or more, as long as it's through within 10 minutes.