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Airfare increases? What airfare increases?

July 23, 2008

Time for a little reality check. Everyone is screaming about the unprecedented rise in airfares. Well, everyone is wrong.

Our good friends at the Bureau of Transportation Statistics released their first quarter airfares this morning. Granted, we’re already in the third quarter of 2008, and granted the numbers showed a healthy four percent increase from a year ago.

But look past the first chart. Go on, scroll down. See the one on airfares adjusted for inflation (Table 6)? The BTS numbers getting all the attention don’t account for inflation. But look at this …

Airfares have remained relatively steady during the last decade. But when you account for inflation, they’ve actually gone down.

Bottom line: air travel is still a bargain. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

(Disclaimer: I took a few liberties with arranging the data on the above chart — please refer to the original for the raw numbers.)

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

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10 comments

  • Jason

    I don’t watch airfares often, but I was recently purchasing tickets to Hawaii for March of next year and in the course of 6 weeks of watching fares on Delta and United (about the only 1-stop options I had) the fairs went up from $939 to $1329 where I finally pulled the trigger. They have held steady there for a few weeks now.

  • Jason

    Should have added that I’ve been using the wonderful site Yapta to do my tracking.

  • SirWired

    Does whatever source you checked include fees and surcharges? I’m not talking about the checked-luggage stuff, but rather the “fuel fees”. I know that some fees do not appear in the actual “fare” with some airlines even though there is no way to get out of paying them.

    To me, it doesn’t matter if the airline wants to charge a $1 “fare” and a $249 “fuel fee” for a $250 flight, it’s still a $250 flight.

    SirWired

  • Jasper

    Chris, Chris. Have you suddenly forgotten about all the fees and surcharges? Please throw those in too. This graph is just in line with what airline propaganda wants us to believe. But I know that on top of my $300 ticket, I am paying 2x$15 of luggage fees, several 9/11 fees, a number of suel surcharges, etc etc.

    Factor those in and tadaaa! Massive price increase.

    You say: but fees and surcharges vary from airline to airline. True. But that’s exactly what they want to accomplish with all that “unbundling” of fees and surcharges. Total mist in priceland. In the mean time, they can keep making graphs like this and convince lawmakers (who never pay for tickets themselves) that they are hurting because they can not increase price levels.

  • Christopher Elliott

    I agree. But a lot of the new fees weren’t introduced until the second quarter. I hope the government figures out a way to incorporate those in future numbers — but somehow, I doubt it.

  • Dave

    Jason: Then watch the fares DROP as the date comes closer. Quoted 2 tix for my summer vacation @ 800+, checked back and saw it was now 900+, locked in the plans and ended up paying about 1000. Checked back 1 month before the trip – dropped clear down to 600+. Coulda gone for a credit but change fees and other charges woulda probably ate up that credit I was due… not to mention being subject to the latest surcharges etc. Just can’t win!¡!

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  • SirWired

    Chris,

    If your numbers aren’t recent enough to include the latest round of fare increases, and don’t include all sorts of mandatory ever-rising fees, shouldn’t you maybe change the first paragraph from the current text, which states everybody complaining about fare increases is “wrong”? That seems like a pretty strong statement…

    SirWired

  • Bill Rowell

    No, my airfare of $81 for a next day purchase on Northwest from Atlanta to Buffalo was not bad at all…. The $180 in overweight and excess baggage was “Interesting”. Getting stuck in Detroit and being told my bags had gone on to Buffalo was “Annoying”. Finally arriving in Buffalo to see that one of my bags flew with me…..and the other was STILL in Detroit? “Priceless”.

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