Why are plane tickets so expensive in the US?

Question

Even if you discount the 911 tax, plane tickets have skyrocketed (presumably because of the cost of gas). However, European airlines like EasyJet can get you around Europe for next to nothing. I flew round trip from Berlin to Athens for like $50. Last I checked, gas was MORE expensive there. What's the deal?

Answer 1

EasyJet and RyanAir have totally different business models than the US airlines.

First, EasyJet and RyanAir do not use unionized labor for their flight crews or grounds crews. You do not have to pay non-union labor anywhere near what you have to pay unionized labor. That cost savings is passed along to the customers.

EasyJet and RyanAir have very few aircraft models and lots of each model. That means they don't need to stock as many different parts for repair. If you only have 2 models of planes, you only need 2 different axles or whatever. And since a whole plane is several million dollars and up, I'd imagine the parts aren't cheap either.

Finally, RyanAir and EasyJet specialize in short-haul flights which US airlines can't do-- the US is way too big. Short hauls mean each plane can make lots of short trips every day. But a US plane may only make one trip from NY to LA and back each day. Say each flight has 200 people on it. If it takes a US plane 12 hours to make the LA-NY-LA run, that's 400 customers per day for that aircraft. But if your flights are only 90 minutes each, that's 8 trips in the same number of hours, or 1600 passengers. You see how big a difference that is! And I know that EasyJet and RyanAir do fly some longer routes, the majority of their flights are shorties. In the US, there's not as big a demand for the short hauls--- we would rather drive or take the bus between NY and DC.

Answer 2

This is a matter of supply and demand and to a lesser degree, what an ailrine can get away with. Indeed, it is one of the purest forms of a supply and demand regulated product. The development of the "low cost" carriers have done an awful lot of damage to people like you - only RyanAir may be exempt from this criticism. Legacy airlines have to fly a schedule and in many cases, these airlines are compelled to fly to places that they would rather not. The low cost boys have cherry picked some of the main and very busy routes and the legacy airlines have to make up the difference somewhere. This they do by, basically, hammering secondary airport routes and those where they have little or no competition and of course, on the North Atlantic run, which is what comes down to a cartel. That said, it is not that mainstream airlines are expensive, it is just that some others are, arguably, un-sustainably cheap. Let's face it, neither you nor I have a "right" to cheap air travel any more than you or I have a "right" to a cheap house or a cheap Ferrari. Ryan Air are different in that they have opened up new routes to new airports. Rather than just cherry pick the busy stuff, they have genuinely taken a fresh piece of paper and started to do something different. There is a lot of talk about "buisness models" but when you stop playing with "models" and start looking at the real thing, the above is what we now have. This is a very curtailed answer as there are other factors - you mention one which is the great fuel rip off and frankly, very naughty. The other is where you are. Compare, for example, the best fare for a one way flight from London to Bombay bought in London and a one way flight from Bombay to London, bought in Bombay - on the same airline - and you will see what I mean.

Answer 3

George Bush :\