Friends and family trying to visit us here in the Florida Free State are finding that airfares are usually over $1,000 if the luxury of lugging a bag on board and picking a seat is desired. Before coronapanic, the standard price was around $500. Is $1,000 the new $500? Or is Florida a special case of high airfares? (Unclear why it should be; there are a tremendous number of airports capable of handling commercial flights and it is reasonably easy to drive to an alternate airport.)
A discount airline on final approach in Juno Beach:
Related:
- “Are EU Markets More Competitive than Those in the US?” (NBER): Industries that experienced significant increases in concentration in the United States, such as telecom and airlines, did not experience parallel changes in the EU.
- “Why Airfares in Europe Are Lower Than in the U.S.” (The Globalist; 2010): The total average fare per mile in the United States for the above five flights was 23 cents per mile, while in Europe it was 11 cents. Remove the taxes and fees and Europe’s cut-rate airfare advantage is even clearer: The base fare per mile in the United States for the five return flights is 19 cents, while in Europe it is just six cents per mile — one-third of the U.S. cost.
- “Europe Shows Us Real Airline Competition” (2015): The largest European carrier has only 13% of the market, and the top four airlines have 39% of the market. But in the US, the largest carrier – newly merged AA/US – has a 25% market share, and the top four airlines have taken 83% of the market. Another clue to the vibrancy of the two regions is that in the EU, after the top nine airlines share 64% of the market, that still leaves a huge 36% chunk for all the many other carriers. But in the US, the top nine airlines leave only 3.4% for the few remaining US airlines. Indeed, the very idea of ‘top nine’ airlines in the US is sadly a rather ridiculous concept. As you can see in the chart, by the time you start to get past the top six, the remaining airlines are struggling to get as much as 2% market shares.
We have family in the area and have always “enjoyed” comparing the airports and the family Disney tax… from Seattle, regular airfare to Orlando is easily a $1k/ticket coach experience, and during spring break season, it spikes to $1.5-2K. Meanwhile, a Tampa direct flight isn’t so bad, but then the Disney folks need to compute their personal time and effort costs for that drive.
That said, first class domestic continues to be pretty cheap into Florida; small additional cost even over premium economy. Go figure.
All the airline stonks are still at 2020 levels so that’s all fuel costs. Surprised it isn’t $1 million yet. That’s like a day of home equity during a refugee crisis.
At least the airplanes themselves + the overall experience are getting so much better to partially justify and soften the punch of the cost! I mean, we can be *sure* now that there are no fundamental flaws built into the flight control systems…and the seats are more comfortable and spaced further apart…and the cabin and flight crews are less overburdened and more congenial…and the fellow passengers less unnerved, drunk, combative and unruly. Those things almost compensate for the extra money, right?
It’s just a good thing AOC never had her chance to implement the Green New Deal and drastically curtail air travel by making it unpleasant and too expensive for the “average person” to afford…
Howza ’bout those Greyhound bus trips? Rental cars? What about limousines? Could your relatives rent a limo for around the same price?
…I dunno…those trains that haven’t been built yet are starting to sound mighty good…
We know Joe Biden has always been a big fan of the choo choo…Amtrak…Siemens…………..
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$300 round trip. Plus, about $200 to check a bag and pick a seat. Typically, they’ll let you pick a seat with a partner at the gate for nothing.
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This one is $674 which will end up being close to $900.
Google mentions that prices are “unusually high”.
Not sure how they “usually” got over $1000.
Two weeks ago on 2/19 (maybe, the peak of peak season; it’s when NYC schools are out), our flights (NYC – Tampa) were overbooked both ways. We didn’t spend anywhere near $1000 (I think it was about half that) for tickets bought “in the middle of the pandemic” last November.
$2 is the new $1 for everything. It’s just taking different amounts of time for the price changes to filter through the markets.
A family member paid $300 over four weeks in advance for a R/T non-stop Southwest flight PHL – MCO, March 1st – March 9th.
I was commenting to the wife that the glitterati along 30A in the FL panhandle need a heliport, maybe in the Publix parking lot or the green at Seaside. philg, what’s a reasonable R44 copter fare from KECP or KVPS? With summer congestion it is 2 hours at least by car. Ought to be worth $200 one way for a country music or hedge fund guy. They use KECP for the private jets, KVPS is a tenant of Eglin AFB.